To avoid this problem in the future you can book contiguous one-night stays.
For example if you have a 5-night stay in mind, make five reservations, one per night. You must be careful to book the exact same room type (i.e. King bed) with the exact same amenities if your goal is NOT to have to switch rooms during the stay.
You then will have the free-cancellation for any one or all of those nights with the cancel requirements of that property (same day 4PM or 6PM, 24 hr 4PM, etc.) If the price goes down, re-book THAT night then cancel the existing booking (never do it the other way around.) Then there's no jeopardy if you want/need to leave early - considering the timing of the free-cancel policy.
To assure the contiguous nature of your stay with the hotel, at check-in, inform the desk personnel that you have five separate nights booked and you want to stay in the SAME ROOM. It has never failed in my experience. It may be a bit inconvenient to have to go down each morning to check in/out and give up your credit card, but it's the price I pay for this flexibility.
Now as to point collection, five contiguous nights will be interpreted by Choice's computer as ONE STAY and will effect your bonuses during the spring, summer or fall Stay twice, get 8K points promotion.
You will also need to be vigilant and know what bookings you have and their booking/cancellation
#s . It can be a bit confusing if you don't pay attention to what you are doing. It could cost you too. If you book a 5-day stay and no-show, at most properties (not resorts), they will charge you for one night. If you have 5 separate reservations and no-show, you possibly be on the hook for five charges. It's never happened to me because I stay on top of my bookings!
One time, in a New York City hotel that had a 2day/4pm free-cancel policy I saw the night before my last day that the price for my exact room had dropped (Wintertime in NYC is not a big demand time and the computers must have adjusted the price to stimulate more action.) I had been there three nights. I went to the desk and told them I wanted to cancel and re-book but I need them to tell the computer to allow an 11th hour cancellation. She had no problem with this. It took less than 5min to save $30 bucks!