GVR Bill

Has anyone had this bonus post? This was for new signups who charged $150+ - my bonus has not posted and I was wondering if they are just slow if I should be calling them.

BigLar

I'm not sure I've ever heard of this bonus.

Typically, you sign up for the card and they give you 8K (or whatever) when you spend anything. I've never heard of them requiring you to spend a particular amount.

At any rate, the bonus would show up in your Choice Privileges account, at about the same time your Visa bill shows up. On the bill, they usually tell you how many points have been posted to your Choice account.

If you have that information on the Visa bill, then the problem is with Choice. If it hasn't shown up on the Visa statement yet, then the problem is with Visa.

dhammer53

This bonus was posted over in the Spam forum. I searched for it over there (and here too!).

Here's the link to the original thread. http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthrea...ghlight=choice

Not that I'm able to answer the OP's question, but I want BigLar kept in the loop since he's our Choice expert.

ksucats

it posted for me along with the second statement - not the first

timrick

He should be in the loop as he has posted on a related thread in this forum.

Choice Hotels Visa Signup Promo: 16,000 Points Good at ANY Hotel?

But seriously, if one can get 16K points from merely 3 stays; why get another card?

BigLar

Well, the 16K/3 stays promo is over. The current one is 4000 points/stay (actually, 8000 for two stays, but the net result no matter what rate you pay is 4000 points/stay).

You can get more with an elite bonus, and the credit card. It is my understanding that the elite bonus is on top of the 8000 point promo value; at least, that's how it worked last time.

Happy

Why not? We got both.

The 16K bonus from CC posted with 2nd statement, but you cannot readily see it on Choice side if the posting does not fall into the month when the Quarterly statement is issued - but it should be included in the lump sum total. If you keep track of the total you will know it. If you dont, then you wouldn't see any itemized entry untill quarterly statement. Unlike hotel chains such as Hilton, Starwood, Marriott etc Choice does not issue monthly statement. Credit card related points can only be viewed as itemized entries on the quarterly statement, though if they are posted, they are in the total tally.

Havebrainswilltravel

I applied for this card, received the card, and used the card for my $150 in purchases. The points did not post, and Choice Rewards, and Visa are saying this promotion never existed. When I click on the links provided in the old posts they go to their most current promotion which is 8,000 points. Can anyone get me the promotion code for this or the link which originally went to this offer so I can argue with Choice and Visa for my $16,000 points? Thanks so much!!!

BigLar

You've been around long enough to know we frown on cross-posting.

In any event the original links should be in the SPAM thread. It's always a good idea to keep emails, screen shots, etc. as backup until the deals finally close.

vaikinas2

I also signed up for this offer before the deadline using the special online link. Made over $150 in purchases soon after I received the card and well within 75 days of the account open date. Received 8000 points plus the points for the new purchases on my September statement, but not the 16,000 points. When my October statement arrived with no additional 8000 points, I called Bank of America VISA customer service. The first agent I spoke to said she never heard of the bonus offer but transferred me to the Choice Privileges desk, agent there said I have to take this up with B of A. I called back and asked to speak to a supervisor. She told me to wait until my November statement, as it sometimes takes a full 6 weeks to post. When my November statement arrived with still no points, I called B of A VISA again. Told the agent about the offer and that I didn't receive all the points I was entitled to, she said she would transfer me to some department called WORLD POINTS. When that agent answered, she said she has nothing to do with Choice Privilege points. So I called again and asked to speak to a supervisor. He said he was really sorry I had all these problems, that he would look into this personally, and that I would receive a call from him within a week, plus he gave me his name and his 602 number to call him if I didn't hear from him in a week. Since 10 days passed since I spoke to him, I called the area code 602 number he gave me, the recording said that I have reached a non-working number! So I called the B of A VISA customer service number again today and asked to speak with that person, agent said she never heard of that name. So again I asked to speak to her supervisor, the story I got today was that it might be a Choice Hotels promotion and not the bank's promotion!

Any ideas how to proceed further? The promised points never posted, and because of such poor customer service, I'm about ready to cancel this card along with my other Bank of America accounts.

BigLar

For the record, I don't think BofA has ever gotten the points correctly.

The way they issue points is:

1. You get the 2 pts/$ on everything. This, they always get right.
2. You get an additional 3 pts/$ for Choice spend. They never seem to get this right. Sometimes it's over, but usually it's under. The under never seems to have any relation to the actual amount, or the taxes or anything rational.

I've called BofA a couple of times, but they never seem to know up from down, much less how their Choice connection is supposed to work. They have great difficulty in even understanding the problem.

I'm resigned to getting most of my points from Choice (they always get it right), and whatever I get from BofA is just gravy. It'll be about right, and that's the best they can do.

It's disgraceful, but that's life.

Stefan Daystrom

Assuming it's bonus points from a card you want more than the card itself, stop worrying about 8k points and get yourself 25k to 50k Choice points from Juniper, a much more reliable company for bonus miles/points. Well, if you haven't maxed out Amtrak Guest Rewards for this year yet, that is...

Here's the story. Midwest miles transfer to Amtrak Guest Rewards points 5k:5K. Then Amtrak Guest Rewards points transfer to Choice points 5k:25K (but max 25K out of AGR in any calendar year).

Meanwhile, Juniper has cards for Midwest (as well as Frontier and Best Western, among others). And they seem to have less problems with bonuses than BofA. Meanwhile, they give 5k bonus on signup for a no-annual-fee card, or 12.5k for an annual fee card. (But you can only transfer out of Midwest in 5k chunks, so unless you have a way to "top off" your Midwest account, only 10k of that 12.5k is transferrable.)

So a no-annual-fee Midwest card from Juniper gets you 25k Choice points, or the 10k transferrable from the annual-fee card gets you 50k Choice points.

Or Amtrak itself has a credit card through Chase which again earns 5000 bonus points (redeemable for 25k Choice points) with no annual fee. (And you could combine these two cards, again if you haven't maxed out AGR transfers out yet for 2007.)

And/or if you can find a Continental card signup that looks good to you, CO:AGR is also 5k:5k...

sdsearch

No more. As of today, AGR points transfer to Choice points 5k:15k (a 40% devaluation from yesterday).

Final Boarding Call

Here is a link to the press release from Choice for the offer - hope it helps:

http://www.choicehotels.com/ires/en-...e?pr=20070426a