sdsearch

As already mentioned above, the 6000 points + dollar rates are always the same (for a given all-points rate). It's simply a method of buying points, nothing more. I has zero to do with the cash rate of the hotel. It looks silly sometimes to have them shown side by side, but it's not a devaluation, it's just a silly thing to display (as also already discussed above).

All it does is point out that buying points is not necessarily a good value. Which anyone who's ever done math on buying points or miles in other programs could have already guessed.

charlesonmission

So, I just booked the 20K/nights for the hotel near Sequoia in CA. Choice, it seems, like other chains, allows one to book the best room available. We got the king suite. This puts the rate at 20K for $142 (though I'm not sure we fully value the suite aspect for the extra $30/night).

Box10

Seems like early this year, I redeemed two 6000 point per night stays but now 16,000 and 20,000 points seem to be common.

I haven't calculated it but I am starting to think maybe airline miles are better. Don't they award airline miles instead of points?

Box10

They also had earlier this year some promo that was along the lines of stay twice, get one stay free with the disclaimer that they were giving away something like 6,000 points.

Now that is more like you got 1/3 of a night free if you stayed two separate times.

Box10

Seems to be now you need to stay about 15-20 times for a free night but before 5-7 times would get you a free night at a cheaper location.

charlesonmission

There are still rooms from 6 to 12K out there. I think what has hit some of us though, some locations have just gone straight to the max 30K.

lougord99

Has there been devaluation? sure. Are their promotions still excellent? I think so.

Even if the hotels your are staying at are 16,000-20,000 ( and many of mine are less ) that is 4-6 stays for a free room.

Also remember that on top of the 8,000 you get 'My extras' for more points and if you have any status you get the status multiplier over and above the 8,000.

For me, the 8,000 points is clearly superior to airline miles

sdsearch

No way are airline miles better. They award a puny 250 miles per stay. That's 500 miles for 2 stays. As opposed to (during most of the year) 8000 points for 2 stays.

So for 4 to 6 paid stays you're getting a free night. How is that so bad? Unless you're making the mistake of doing multi-night paid stays instead of "hotel hopping". If all your paid stays can be one night, then for every 4 to 6 nights you get a free night (at 16k to 24k per night), and that's just about unheard of in most other hotel programs!

Meanwhile, it would take 100 stays to get a domestic saver round trip coach airline ticket with most airlines. How is that so good?

That sounds like math that ignores the fact that most of the year Choice is running a promo which totally dwarfs normal earnings (if you work the promo right).

Box10

That's good. Choice hotels are good choices for me for airport hotels and in suburbs and medium ciites, not the big cities like NYC.

carraher

I think you are generally right about NYC. However, the Sleep Inn Long Island City is an exception. Very well managed and much less expensive than hotels in Manhattan. It is three subway stops to Central Park. Hardly an inconvenience for the value delivered.

Firewind

+1

GUWonder

Another aspect of the program devaluation -- an aspect played directly by the individual hotels' owners/managers rather than by Choice Corp (brands-owner) -- is that more hotels have cracked down on available room types using points. Increasingly at a growing number of Choice properties, the only rooms allowed using points is "standard" or sub-"standard" rooms; wth that, "superior" rooms are moved out of the award availability. And the amusing thing is that then you sometimes get hit up at the front desk to pony up a bit of cash for a room that was previously available using points but has since been assigned to the "non-redemption" pool of rooms.

Given the increased gaming going on by hotels in this regard, it seems like Choice Corp may not only be fine with such hotels' games but actually want/benefit from such hotels' games being played.

iahphx

I've tried to book some more Choice award nights and I'm 100% certain that a major devaluation has occurred this year. But it's definitely hit or miss. There are still some great award values in some locations. For instance, I just stayed at the very-mediocre-but-fine Clarion Liffey Valley in suburban Dublin for 8000 points. That's an (overpriced) $180/night hotel. But Choice also now has plenty of 30,000 point awards for hotels going for less than $100/night.

We could really use somebody to develop a good Choice Privileges blog to keep track of this nonsense, but I guess nobody cares enough about it to analyze the program in great detail.

For me, the changes mean I'll need fewer Choice Privileges points (that I try to buy annually in the Discover America promo) because there are fewer redemptions I'll be making. Choice was my "go to" program for "small town America" and random overnights near airports. I'd also use the random good overseas deals, and find some good deals on nicer Ascend and Bluegreen vacation resorts. Now that many of these redemptions don't make sense, I'll use more points at other chains and probably buy more independent hotel stays using techniques like the cheaptickets 18% off codes. This game constantly changes. It's a shame Choice is now less useful, but we all know that this stuff happens in this game.

EDIT: I need a weekend night in Portland, OR in September and most properties -- including Econolodges amd other sub-$100/night motels -- are 25,000 or 30,000 points. I've previously stayed in some of these properties for about half of that. It could have something to do with summer quarter redemptions, but these prices are terrible. The program has gotten pretty bad, pretty quickly.

lougord99

Given all the points that Choice gives out with their stay 2 get 8,000 promos, it seems inevitable that devaluation would occur. A free night for every 2 stays is just not sustainable.

GUWonder

Those promos have been going on for so many years -- and well before the program's points devaluation within the past twelve months.

The program owner/operator has decided to get increasingly innovative, including by way of some kind of devaluations that seem meant to boost the company's profitability and margins for the points program beyond what it used to be.