SimpleManToo

The current promotion is coming to a close in the not to distant future so I was wondering if anyone thinks that Choice is going to role back out the popular stay two nights, get one free promotion or better yet a stay one, get one free promotion.

It needs to be a pretty aggressive promotion to take business away from Hyatt and Hilton promotions.

sdsearch

What stay 2 nights, get one free promotion at Choice???

Hasn't it always been a stay 2 times, get one night free? (Ie, it's only 2 nights if you hotel hop or if your stays are "naturally" 1 night each.)

And, btw, although it's not pitched that way, that's exactly what the current promotion is. Stay 2 times (not 2 nights), and earn enough points for a one-night stay at hundreds of properties. (It just so happens that they are temporarily letting you redeem for a restaurant gift card, which requires the same number of points, and it's that gift card that they're touting in the promo.)

But the problem is that for the very first time, this summer promo is capped (and quite severely, for the frequent hotel guest). You can only earn 2 x 8000 points (what they call a "free night") if you're not elite, and you can only earn 4 x 8000 points if you are elite.

So the important thing is not exactly what the next promo is, but whether they go back to it being uncapped. Because for those who need lots of stays in the fall, a promo that pays less points per stay but isn't capped would be much superior to a promo that pay a bit more points per stay but is as severely capped as the current promo.

scruffy

Last year:
http://investor.choicehotels.com/pho...cle&ID=1326906

FT thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/choic...new-offer.html

MikeInMass

I voted with my feet: after earning my 4 x 8000 points, it's been Starwood for me. I hope enough people did the same thing so that Choice got the message.

Firewind

Yes, and I think the general consensus was that it was aimed at vacation travelers, and it was panned here. I hope it failed, and that they don't do it again.

sdsearch

I only idd 3x8000. I was planning a 4th, but holding off and not sure if I'd have more opportunities for Choice stays in late July or early August, and then the rates shot up temporarily where I needed to stay and the rooms had just about sold out when I redeemed 3x8000 for a 3-night stay that I had to do somewhere in the near-sold-out area, and so I ended up with not enough low-rate days left in August to do a 4th pair of (paid) Choice nights before the promo ended.

But Starwood? Are your stays on your own dime? I can't afford Starwood, my stays were a mix of other budget/midline hotels, none of which had a great alternative promo. (Among other things, I capped out a Best Western promo too.)

enginero

I'm in the same boat with sd on this one. I'm not in a position of scaling up to Starwood properties, so I normally look for IHG, CP, and Hamptons (on occasion) I've long since burnt up the 4x8000 for this summer promo, but I'm still hopping to keep the average nightly down and the stay count higher at IHG. Unfortunately, most of my recent travel hasn't been to anywhere that Hampton cares to compete on price points with the other local properties.

MikeInMass

Nope, my employer negotiates a travel budget with clients. Only way I can fit Starwood into the budget is that my smallish employer was bought by a mega-corp with negotiated $119 rates at some Starwood properties (economizing on airfare helps too). I am still planning to head back to Choice if they run a better promotion: I miss the in-room fridge at the Comfort Suites, and the Westin restaurants would bust my budget if I ever ate there.