Points Plus Cash Alive Again! (was: End of Points Plus Cash program ?)
Jun 21, 2018, 8:35 am
#46
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: YYZ
Programs: AA LT Plat, AC 25K, Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 1,137
I tried changing my address to my US mailbox, and it still doesn't work. I suspect the restriction is based on account number format (I believe Choice US account numbers are ABC12345 while Choice Canada account numbers are 12345678901).
Yes.
Jun 21, 2018, 7:48 pm
#47
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,933
The only other hotel chain that does points + cash in the same way (as a purchase of points) as Choice is IHG, and it's had cash + points working that way for over a decade I think. So any early problems they may have had, that was many years ago. But Choice is still just figuring this out.
Btw, how does IHG Cash + Points work in Canada? Does it display the same $40, $70, etc that it does in the US? Does it charge you in USD and count on your card to convert to Canadian dollars?
Jun 22, 2018, 10:02 am
#48
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: YYZ
Programs: AA LT Plat, AC 25K, Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 1,137
IHG displays the cash co-pay in CAD in the search results, but makes it clear it's being charged in USD when booking.
Nov 4, 2018, 6:54 pm
#49
Join Date: May 2006
Location: BOS and ...
Programs: UA 2MM, AA 600k, DL 500k, Hyatt GP 1M, HH Gold, Rad. Gold, CP Gold, Miracle Fruit-su Club
Posts: 9,950
5-10% less than AAA rates is usually the best I seem to find with Choice in rather rural areas. Still, it rarely ends up being less than $70/night inclusive of tax for me. Doing 2 such one-night stays for $140+ (and that's lower than it ends up being for me) of Choice hotel stays for 8,000 Choice points is less ideal for me than using CP Points+Cash to get 8,000 points for $60. Also, my time is rather valuable -- no jokes about my time on FT 
-- and it's not natural for me to want to stay at a variety of cheap US Choice properties for a single-night stay when I'd rather use my time to stay elsewhere (and often outside of the US at that).
-- and it's not natural for me to want to stay at a variety of cheap US Choice properties for a single-night stay when I'd rather use my time to stay elsewhere (and often outside of the US at that).
Nov 4, 2018, 7:41 pm
#50
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: ORD, MDW or MKE
Programs: American and Southwest. Hilton and Marriott hotels primarily.
Posts: 6,459
Points Plus Cash reward nights do not:
1. Qualify for bonus points offered as part of any other promotion through Choice Hotels. This includes, but is no limited to, national promotions such as Stay Twice, Get a Free Night.
1. Qualify for bonus points offered as part of any other promotion through Choice Hotels. This includes, but is no limited to, national promotions such as Stay Twice, Get a Free Night.
Nov 5, 2018, 2:59 am
#51
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
Nov 17, 2018, 11:55 am
#54
Join Date: Mar 2013
Programs: IHG Spire
Posts: 163
I can log in now...I suspect they're doing work on the website because points + $ still shows up in the FAQ
Last edited by Cyberian; Nov 17, 2018 at 12:09 pm Reason: Couldn't log in to Choice
May 6, 2019, 3:29 pm
#55
Join Date: May 2006
Location: BOS and ...
Programs: UA 2MM, AA 600k, DL 500k, Hyatt GP 1M, HH Gold, Rad. Gold, CP Gold, Miracle Fruit-su Club
Posts: 9,950
Crazy
With Daily Getaways coming up next week, thought I'd nose around recent haunts to see what dynamic pricing is doing to them right now. The first one I tried was the Quality Inn in Santa Barbara. (I had many stays there at 6,000+$45, during the winter of course.) At this moment, next Monday-Tuesday (5/13-14) the Net VIP revenue rate is $94. Its Points Plus Cash rate is 6,000 + $143. The Ventura Rodeway's Net VIP is $63, and Points Plus Cash is 6,000 + $45, which haven't budged much from the winter nadir. I would note that the Cash+Points penny fell my way at a couple of Ascends over the winter, each at 6,000 + $45. I snapped them up, and wondered if it were because they didn't know the game yet, or if it were because they were "still in the process of becoming". (Off topic: My Ascend samples were still very much in the process of becoming.)
An invite: Have you seen any crazy Points Plus Cash lately (not following the strict points-per-$ logic cited in the thread)? I'll bump it again in a while, but this thread can be a place to list such.
An invite: Have you seen any crazy Points Plus Cash lately (not following the strict points-per-$ logic cited in the thread)? I'll bump it again in a while, but this thread can be a place to list such.
May 6, 2019, 6:34 pm
#56
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 610
With Daily Getaways coming up next week, thought I'd nose around recent haunts to see what dynamic pricing is doing to them right now. The first one I tried was the Quality Inn in Santa Barbara. (I had many stays there at 6,000+$45, during the winter of course.) At this moment, next Monday-Tuesday (5/13-14) the Net VIP revenue rate is $94. Its Points Plus Cash rate is 6,000 + $143. The Ventura Rodeway's Net VIP is $63, and Points Plus Cash is 6,000 + $45, which haven't budged much from the winter nadir. I would note that the Cash+Points penny fell my way at a couple of Ascends over the winter, each at 6,000 + $45. I snapped them up, and wondered if it were because they didn't know the game yet, or if it were because they were "still in the process of becoming". (Off topic: My Ascend samples were still very much in the process of becoming.)
An invite: Have you seen any crazy Points Plus Cash lately (not following the strict points-per-$ logic cited in the thread)? I'll bump it again in a while, but this thread can be a place to list such.
An invite: Have you seen any crazy Points Plus Cash lately (not following the strict points-per-$ logic cited in the thread)? I'll bump it again in a while, but this thread can be a place to list such.
Last edited by klanfa; May 6, 2019 at 7:15 pm
Mar 17, 2021, 5:24 am
#57
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
Points+Cash has been devalued. It's now $16 per set of 2k points, where previously it was $15 per set of 2k points.
Mar 17, 2021, 6:46 am
#58
Moderator: Southwest Airlines, Capital One
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: California
Programs: WN Companion Pass, A-list preferred, Hyatt Globalist; United Club Lietime (sic) Member
Posts: 21,622
Providing some advance notice of this minor devaluation would have cost Choice almost nothing. Yet even that tiny cost was worth more to Choice than playing fair with customers.
Mar 17, 2021, 8:00 am
#59
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
I am definitely a critic of these no-advance-notice devaluations, just as I am a critic of the devaluations of other sorts too.
I've been able to milk the Choice US program so much over the years -- continuing to this day -- that whatever devaluations Choice has put in have hit me as being marginal devaluations and as being so much more minor than the devaluations that have come my way from the Best Western, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Marriott/Starwood, Radisson and Wyndham programs over the course of my time using these programs. This devaluation in the cash+points aspect of the program is minor but the failure to provide notice in advance and devaluing the points during this time -- with a pandemic having brought a major decline in travel demand -- does say something about what this program and some other programs think about their customers at this time.
Sep 10, 2021, 1:49 pm
#60
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
Given the increased cost of points gotten/paid for via cash+points, program participants may save money to make standalone purchases of points directly during point sale promotions like the current one.