ChoiceHotels

rankourabu

Thank you so much for your interest in Choice Hotels and the Choice Privileges program. It is truly appreciated.

I regret to hear of the issues you experienced when searching for a Reward Night reservation. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. I understand this is important and I am happy to help.

There have been a few issues with the correct messaging being displayed on the website for this new feature. We are working to have this updated and we thank you for your patience while we take care of this.

I see from your post that you have been logged into your online profile before searching which is great! Without logging in you will only be able to search for Reward Nights 30 days in advance of arrival. Also, reward night reservations need to be confirmed online at our main website www.ChoiceHotels.com. Reward Nights cannot be redeemed from the international or regional sites.

Currently, when logged into your online profile and searching for a Reward Night (outside of the current booking window for your elite status), the site will return a message stating that it can only be reserved up to the limit of the previous booking window determined by your elite status. If you click or tap the CONTINUE button on the message, it may allow you to confirm the reservation.

If this has not been the case, would you be so kind as to send us a private message with your Choice Privileges membership number and information on the hotel you are trying to confirm? Please also include your dates of travel. We would love to check into this further so you may take advantage of this exciting new feature. In the meantime, you may certainly reserve a Reward Night by contacting our central reservations team by phone.

As you probably know, before this change, the Reward Night booking window was 30 days without elite status, 50 days with Elite Gold, 75 days with Elite Platinum and 100 days for Elite Diamond.

Thank you for your interest in Choice Hotels and Choice Privileges. I look forward to hearing from you!

Kevin C.
Executive Guest Services

OhDoctor

Does this include both domestic and international reservations? As noted in my above post, I appear to still be limited to 75 days for Scandinavian properties as a Choice Platinum member.

sdsearch

It's legit. Our resident official Choice Privileges representative announced it officially in another thread, in this post:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29739404-post13.html

satori

I booked international hotel stays more than 75 days out over the past 24 hours. The new window has worked for me. Choice Privileges Gold.

OhDoctor

Ah, I see the problem. You can indeed book international award stays up to 100 days out; however, if you attempt to book beyond 100 days, you get the original outdated message indicating the booking window is 75 days (for me as Platinum).

So, award bookings appear to be available, though the error messages are still outdated.

It's nice that my award book window is extended, but they've eroded a major benefit of Choice elite status. Maybe it could have been 100 for general members and en even longer extended window for elites?

n dakota

With 100 day window for everyone now available, tell me the benefits of being diamond level again? The small difference in bonus points? I hate to be the Debby Downer but geez...

jackal

Space-available room upgrades to rooms that don't exist at most properties (or magically "aren't available" if you pay enough to stay at a higher-end property that has them)
50% bonus points that end up not posting when the Stay Twice, Get One Free Night promo is running
An exclusive reservations phone number staffed by agents who can't help when a franchise decides to unilaterally cancel or not honor your reservation
Weekday stay welcome bonus points worth 50 cents to $1.25 or a bottle of Kirkland Signature water that cost the property 10 cents to buy at their local Costco

What an awesome program!!

(Though to be fair, I pretty much find elite status at every other hotel chain nearly as worthless, except Hilton Gold for the breakfast benefit. And Hyatt Diamond's suite upgrades were nice when I had them, but I cringe at paying even the base standard-room rate at most Hyatt hotels. There's a reason I'm Choice Diamond...)

Dadofsix

Thanks for the heads-up. It seems strange to me why Choice didn't have an official announcement on their website and it was just buried within the membership level info. It's also strange to me why they increased the booking window significantly for general members but then gave no additional days above the general membership window for Elite members. Almost no incentive remains for people to earn Elite membership levels any more.

By the way, the app is still not working yet for the 100-day booking window and it appears that you can't move past the error message within the app.

Dadofsix

Now the previous booking window verbiage for general members, Gold, and Platinum elite members is back on the Choice membership levels web page (link referenced above by sdsearch and copied/pasted below by me - see my bolded text). ChoiceHotels- What's going on?

MEMBERS
Express reservations and check-in
Extended check-out as late as 2 p.m**
Book 30 days in advance for reward nights
From extra points to gift cards to free nights – members have access to some of the most rewarding promotions around
Choose a collectible coaster at check-in (good for a "buy one, get one free" beverage offer at the bar) or 250 bonus points for stays at Cambria® hotels & suites1

GOLD
10 nights required per calendar year (reward nights count toward elite status)
10% elite point bonus
Book 50 days in advance for reward nights
Exclusive reservations and customer services phone numbers (US and Canada members only)
Exclusive Elite member offers
Choose an elite welcome gift or bonus points at participating U.S. hotels.
250 bonus points at Ascend, Comfort Suites and Comfort Inn hotels
200 bonus points at Clarion, Sleep Inn, Quality and MainStay hotels
100 bonus points at Econo Lodge, Rodeway and Suburban hotels
Choose an elite welcome gift or bonus points at participating Canadian hotels.
250 bonus points at Ascend, Clarion, Comfort Suites, Comfort Inn and Quality hotels
200 bonus points at MainStay and Sleep Inn hotels
100 bonus points at Econo Lodge, Rodeway and Suburban hotels

PLATINUM
20 nights required per calendar year (reward nights count toward elite status)
25% elite point bonus
Book 75 days in advance for reward nights
Exclusive reservations and customer services phone numbers (US and Canada members only)
Exclusive Elite member offers
Elite luggage tags (US members only)
Choose an elite welcome gift or bonus points at participating U.S. hotels.
250 bonus points at Ascend, Comfort Suites and Comfort Inn hotels
200 bonus points at Clarion, Sleep Inn, Quality and MainStay hotels
100 bonus points at Econo Lodge, Rodeway and Suburban hotels
Choose an elite welcome gift or bonus points at participating Canadian hotels.
250 bonus points at Ascend, Clarion, Comfort Suites, Comfort Inn and Quality hotels
200 bonus points at MainStay and Sleep Inn hotels
100 bonus points at Econo Lodge, Rodeway and Suburban hotels

DIAMOND
40 nights required per calendar year (reward nights count toward elite status)
50% elite point bonus
Book 100 days in advance for reward nights
Exclusive reservations and customer services phone numbers (US and Canada members only)
Exclusive Elite member offers inserts (US members only)
Elite luggage tags (US members only)
Complimentary room upgrade***
Choose an elite welcome gift or bonus points at participating U.S. hotels.
250 bonus points at Ascend, Comfort Suites and Comfort Inn hotels
200 bonus points at Clarion, Sleep Inn, Quality and MainStay hotels
100 bonus points at Econo Lodge, Rodeway and Suburban hotels
Choose an elite welcome gift or bonus points at participating Canadian hotels.
250 bonus points at Ascend, Clarion, Comfort Suites, Comfort Inn and Quality hotels
200 bonus points at MainStay and Sleep Inn hotels
100 bonus points at Econo Lodge, Rodeway and Suburban hotels

mster

What a total scam. I bought points to make a reservation after the new 100 day award window announcement. Choice point purchases take 24-48 hours to post. Choice reversed the changes before my points even had time to post. It's hard to describe how mad I am about this kind of nonsense.

Dadofsix

Also, I noticed that Choice has not yet updated its 'RULES AND REGULATIONS' page with any Reward Night booking window changes (https://www.choicehotels.com/choice-privileges/rules-regulations - see 'HOTEL BENEFITS', 'CHOICE PRIVILEGES REWARD NIGHTS (ALL MEMBERS)', and 'PREFERRED HOTEL GROUP (ALL MEMBERS)' sections). But it appears that the regular website does currently allow Reward Night bookings up to 100 days out (for U.S. reservations), so I'm not sure what's going on here. It seems like the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

mster

Can anyone without status book properties in Europe more than 60 days out? Seems that anyone without status can only get the 100 day award window to work in the US...

OhDoctor

I can get 100 days out at Scandinavian choice properties logged into my Platinum account.

rankourabu

Sure, all the hotels display, you can go to the room selection, and then no matter what you click - its the same error as US and Canada properties

rankourabu

If I search more than 100 days out, I get this, saying only bookable 30 days out