Originally Posted by
TallestHotelInJapan
The promotion seems to be ok if one needs to stay iin hotels. But if one's intention is to collect point, one better purchases a reasonable amount of points from the ChoiceHotels website. Me personally, I will change two one night stays from Marriott (ps: I don't like that chain anymore after the devaluation etc) and switch to Choice Hotels. There are some cheap dump hotels in Berlin and Frankfurt. If you are in transit for one night it can be considered.
I would say, it depends. 8k cost is 88$. If you live in a big US city you can find some local choice hotels below 50$ (and I am not even considering Econolodge or Rodeway Inn). So the cost is about the same.
BUT you can only buy 20k points per year (so if you need to spend more than 3 night in Europe, you won't have enough).
Also, MRunning allows to earn status night, you can be gold with 10 nights and Plat with 20, which is very helpful for booking reward night (and easy to reach as your reward nights count for status).