I was wondering the same question, thanks for replying, saved me search time and creating of a new thread.

I do have a few other questions:

1. Where do I choose whether to earn Choice Hotels Points or Rapid Rewards? Is there an option during my reservation process or do I need to go into my profile and switch over "Loyalty programs" to Choice Hotels points?

2. How about purchases that are not Hotel stays? Will those go towards Hotel Choice points or will it default to my Loyalty Program choice, in this case Southwest? Will the answer to question 1 apply to this also?

Reason I ask is because receiving 5x the Choice Hotel points is more valuable when transferred over to Rapid Rewards Points.

3. It appears the Southwest deal is to receive 600 points per stay when booked thru Choice Hotels. Is this in ADDITION to the points earned due to the base hotel cost? Say the hotel is $100, I use my southwest card to pay for the room - Points earned - 600 + 100 = 700?

By the way, I am new to this forum board.

I just recently signed up to Choice Hotels program to use along with my Southwest Rapid Rewards.

1. Yes - you specify which program you want to earn for within your profile. I don't believe this can be done on a reservation-by-reservation basis.

2. I'm not sure what you mean by this - do you mean Choice credit card purchases? Or charges related to the stay (but not the room rate)? I think in either case, you would not be able to earn airline miles - credit card purchases would always be Choice Privileges points.

3. No - the 600 Rapid Rewards points is all you earn for the stay; nothing additional based on rate. This disproportionately favors one-night stays and/or bouncing between hotels.

Hope this helps!

In regards to 1.

How often can i change this setting?

Say today I want to make a hotel reservation and earn 600 southwest points. Tomorrow, I want to make a Cruise reservation and I want to earn Choice Hotel points...

In regards to 2.

I have my southwest card as my default payment method on Choice Hotels.

Currently, there is a promotion for 5 Choice points per dollar when booking a Carnival Cruise.

If I book a cruise, say it is $1000, I will get 5,000 Choice points, regardless if I have my loyalty program set to Southwest, or do I have to go into my profile and change my loyalty program to Choice?

I think the manner in which points/miles are earned is determined at the time of your stay and not the time of reservation (for hotel stays), assuming you are paying at checkout. I don't know the answer regarding your second question - if I had to guess, I'd think you would earn Choice points regardless for an external promo.

Thank you Carp.

I guess I will have to figure it out

Hi ramonortiz55,

The earning preference in your profile applies to qualifying Choice Hotels stays and can be changed as often as you'd like. You will earn based on your preference at time of check-in.
You can also have the front desk help you change what you will earn for a specific stay when you check in (this will only apply to that specific stay and earning for future stays will still be based on the preference in your profile).

Earning Choice Privileges points for cruises is separate from earning points for stays, so your profile earning preference will not impact your ability to earn Choice Privileges points when booking cruises. If you book your cruise through the link on this page (https://www.choicehotels.com/choice-...-points/travel), you can earn Choice Privileges points, regardless of what your earning preference in your profile is set to.

Regarding your other question about earning Southwest Rapid Rewards points for Choice Hotels stays, you will receive 600 points for your qualifying stay, plus any additional points through your Southwest credit card per your credit card benefits, since these are separate programs.

Hope this helps and let us know if you have any additional questions!

Thank you!

You answered all my questions.

Gold Star for you! :-:

This autumn, we made a reservation through choice hotels web-site for Quito Airport, Ascend hotel. Stayed 2 nights in October and no rewards for this stay. I wrote to csv and the response was, that this hotel does not earn rewards. Why then does it appear on their web-site? No satisfactory answer. We have an upcoming trip, won't choose Ascend hotel, for sure. Honestly, what gives?

The problem is not Ascend, it's Quito.

Quito is in Ecuador, which I think of as being in South America.

At:

https://www.choicehotels.com/choice-...gulations#earn

it says:

I don't see South America anywhere on that list, do you? And under Caribbean, it says "excluding Ecuador", meaning you don't earn points in Ecuador (whether you consider it to be in South America as I do or in the Caribbean as they appear to do).

There are certain parts of the world which are burn-only (in that you can redeem points there but you can't earn them there). The most often discussed-ones in this forum are Scandinavia and Japan, but South America is another one.

Thanks, sdsearch, for your explanation. Yes, Ecuador is in S. America, I can swear to it. Just wish I had seen these exceptions. Things are getting so complicated - each hotel program has its onw rules, naturally. I hardly keep up - as you can see.
Thanks again.

Apparently some Choice staff need geography lessons as much as some Marriott staff (who, for things that didn't qualify outside North America, claimed that Canada and San Francisco, among other places, were not in North America ).

Groan - Canada and S. Francisco not in N. America. For these people it is a whole new universe out there.

For Credit card holders, when you spend 10K in a year you get a free night. How does that work and when do you get the points.
I am assuming just 8K pts. Has anyone done this? thanks!

Choice, I have sent you a PM in regards to a cruise booked thru Choice Hotel Parner site.


Thank you.