It seemed easier to buy points this year than the past couple of years. Probably a combination of more inventory, slightly higher prices, fewer point transfer options, less publicity, fewer Choice award hotel "bargains" and a new and somewhat confusing Daily Getaways interface. Amazingly, the 28,000 point offer is still available as I write this! (Not surprised that the 14,000 offer is left, as that one was materially more expensive and somewhat marginal.)

Because of the ease of purchase, my wife and I bought more points than we usually do -- everything except the 14K offer. Given the risk of devaluation, we probably bought too many points, but we did use a ton of points last year with some VERY cheap redemptions. I think we averaged about 12,000 points/night with regular room rates averaging about $175. Most of the points were used in Europe, but I also had some very good Bluegreen stays. We actually had to throttle down our Choice stays as the year went on because we were running out of points!

I'm skeptical I'll get as good a value this year. The current redemption levels seem almost random. Where are folks finding the most value now? It's always a problem to track this stuff down, because the blogger community almost completely ignores Choice.