lwildernorva

There may be some correlation (it allows Choice to advertise a certain percentage of properties are available at 8K during the time that they run their "stay two, get one free" promotions--which they really don't need to advertise now since the current promotion, earning the same 8000 points, has been disguised as an "earn a $50 gift card" promo), but don't count on it. This has been standard Choice Privileges procedure. Redemption levels suddenly go up, and sometimes, just as suddenly, come down.

There are two lessons. First, as your booking window increases as you gain status, find ways to get status (holding the Barclay's Choice card gets you Gold status, which increases the booking window from 30 to 50 days). Second, if you see a good deal while in your booking window, don't delay--book immediately.

Choice can be frustrating, but I have found good value here by being patient and keeping an eye on this forum and the Choice website.

Yul_voyager

Lots of hotels at 8k / night between 16 sept and 30 nov, in Europe (at least in Paris)
Linked to the promo as expected...

Firewind

Woot! Thanks, Yul_voyager.

Seeing this for several rounds now, I'm beginning to hazard a hunch that this may (also) be a bone to the Europe properties to boost occupancy to keep them in the fold by introducing their most frequent travelers (us) to them.

lwildernorva

Dublin properties all at 8K through the end of the published award schedule, the Comfort Inn Hyde Park on Queensborough in London where I stayed last December at 8K goes from 25K to 8K the middle of September and rises to 10K the first of December, and the Nova Domus and Bolivar in Rome do a 10K-8K-10K dance over the next three award periods (in fact, in a quick check of hotels in Turin, Bologna, Venice, and Rome, only three in Italy don't follow this pattern, all in Rome and all maintaining a steady 8K through the end of the award schedule).

I'll probably take advantage of the Dublin Clarion IFSC in late November/early December with two rooms booked for four nights for a total cost of 64K points. With Choice stays planned before this trip, I'll probably earn half of those points before I go. Just waiting for my booking window to open in a week or two.

Using my points in Europe is now my favorite part of the Choice Privileges program.

BigLar

Whoa!! Great catch.

I must admit, I've been falling off as of late on keeping my eyeball peepers glued to the Choice website.

Man, I hope so!

I'm planning another longish stay in Europe next Fall, and bringing (or at least sending) the rest of the family with me. I'm trying to introduce them to the joys of finagling the system, and if their (Choice's) schedule of running some deals like this one for the Fall continues, I suspect they will be impressed.

It's not easy to impress your kids, but this certainly can't hurt.
Yup!!

BTW, the Clarion IFSC (as I've mentioned before) is a good choice. Be sure to get the suites (if they're offered) because they are really neat. And huge!

BigLar

Uh-oh.

Looks like the Carlton Beaulieu is no longer a Choice hotel. At least it's not listed on the Choice website now. Their own website still calls itself a Quality Hotel, but that may change.

Color me depressed.

lwildernorva

They are so far, but with my Platinum status, I can't book for another week. I'm actually putting two people in the other suite, both of whom snore, so I'm hoping the suite is big enough with the sleeper sofa to take care of that problem for both of them.

I, of course, will take care of that problem for me by booking an entirely separate room!

KathinJax

My sister's suite was a family room and she had 2 separate bedrooms, which worked great as my 2 neices could have the second room. My parent's room was one of the huge corner suites and my nephew had the extra bed, but there was no dividing wall.

My other sister and I both had executive river view rooms on the 7th floor. The wrap around balconies could have been great, but it was raining and very windy, so the doors were kept locked. I did ask them to open the door for me, but it never happened. But the room was huge with a walk-in closet area, windows the length of the room (including bathroom) and tons of electrical outlets. I kept looking around and saying - "I think this is one of the best redemptions around!"

To top it off since I booked one of my sister's stays out of my account, I received the night credits for her room. My Dad received the credit for my other sister, which made him gold.

Firewind

KathinJax, did you intend to leave the name of the hotel out? If so, I'll leave you be. But if not, where? Thank you.

lwildernorva

I'm almost certain that she's referring to the Dublin Clarion IFSC.

Firewind

Thank you.

KathinJax

I.m sorry for leaving that out. Yes, I was referring to the Dublin IFSC.

Firewind

Good one, anyhow.

lwildernorva

Again, showing the incredible value of award redemption with these European properties, I just booked two rooms for four nights in late November at the Clarion IFSC Dublin. 64K points for two suites would have cost me $1760 total if paid in cash for those dates.

Or, I could have spent 110K HHonors points to get one night in a junior suite at the Conrad Dublin--a room that for the same period of time goes for slightly less than $300 (and other than credit card signups, would have cost thousands of dollars to earn the points to redeem). Or, 60K Choice points to get three nights in a Comfort Inn on the oceanfront near my home in Virginia Beach--also at a cash cost of around $300.

Not every European property offers this kind of value, of course, but given that with the "2 nights, 1 night" promos so prevalent the last couple of years, it's relatively possible to earn 32K points for $500-600 in hotel spending, I've been funding a fair amount of European travel off domestic Choice stays while maintaining a hefty balance of CP points--not all of them purchased through the Daily Getaways promotion (although, I again offer thanks to the FT members whose interest in Choice first made me look closer at the program).

BigLar

It's been about a month since the last post, and every hotel in London, Paris, Rome and Nice is still at 8K/night until Nov. 30.

Who'da thought you could spend a week in London or Paris or Rome or on the Riviera for 56K points, which one could get with a few nights in a run-of-the-mill Quality Inn by doing a little judicious hotel-hopping, and/or spending a few bucks with the Discover America deal?

Gotta love it. I hope they keep up doing this in the Fall, 'cuz that's when I like to travel to Europe.