Originally Posted by
Lyssa
This is the thing I don't like about Choice. I do stay with them at least a couple of times a year when I travel to smaller towns in Kansas and Ohio that don't have many options. Then I will stay with them sometimes in bigger cities because of price. I have been thinking of getting the credit card, but I'm not sure I want to invest that much into the program when you can't stop the points from expiring.
Not sure there's anything to invest other than the credit inquiry. The card has no annual fee, gives you an extra 5 points per dollar spent on bookings at Choice hotels, and awards Gold status, earning you an extra 10% on points and extending your booking window on points from 30 to 50 days, thus making it easier for you to use the points you have accumulated. That's not as much of a window as Diamond, which affords 100 days, but every little bit helps in trying to make bookings.
The bigger bonus offer of 40K for this card disappeared earlier this week, and the Choice website is now showing only a 16K offer. However, this offer page still seems to work to get 32K (click on the Terms and Conditions link and then scroll to the bottom for the "Bonus Points" section):
https://www.barclaycardus.com/app/japply/WebAppGate.jsp.