Choice blows
 

I am pretty stale on Choice because I spent $190 on a room in Australia and I got zero points. Sorry, no points for rooms outside the US and a couple of other countries. What???? Why even bother having a program if you're going to exclude hundreds of properties?

The other reason I hate choice is the whole December 2007 Amtrak/Choice/Southwest fiasco. There has already been enough written on that topic. Suffice it to say that choice does not respect its customer enough to provide advance notice of program changes, and also will freeze accounts even when there is no reason to do so.

So Choice is perhaps a cut above Motel 6, but not much.

From what I understand, choice is going through a global expansion of the CP program. I think i've read on flyertalk that Europe is up next sometime this summer. I'm guessing the Australia would not be far behind.

Regarding the December situation, though I abhor sudden program changes as well, if a program is being "used' as a mill, I can't really blame them for making a fast change. Im pretty sure they are in business for their staying customers, not to provide a conduit from one program to another for those who rarely if ever stay at a choice hotel.

Precisely. I have a ton of Choice points, and I didn't get to be a Diamond by clipping coupons or laundering miles.
Gross exaggeration. I've stayed at Motel 6 when there's no particular promotion going on at any of my other chains (Hilton and Marriott)to make the price differential worthwhile. I know Motel 6. It is what it is, and that's all it is, but it works.

I've spent much more time in Choice properties and, while the overall 'quality' of the properties varies, they are consistently much more comfortable that Motel 6's.

I agree that the lack of global earning is a drawback to the program, however these limitations are pretty clear from the Choice website.

Choice Privileges Australasia is currently a separate program, run by the Choice Hotels International subsidiary Choice Hotels Australasia. If you are a member of that program, you could earn for Australia stays.
http://www.choicehotels.com.au/hotel...96E7ADA8C7A503

(In addition, Choice Hotels Scandinavia, which is a licensee of the Choice name, runs its own rewards program for its territory.)


It still includes 4,500 properties.

Choice has said publicly that they will be expanding the scope of the program throughout 2008. Hopefully we'll see some action on that soon.

it seems bizarre thayt they allow you to use miles internationally, but not earn it there. I don't mind as it fits my profile, but it does make me wonder if they are going to cut the ability to use miles internationally as well.

Not sure what you're saying here:

1. Internationally, you can't earn anything (points or miles except in Ireland. They are planning to expand the preogram to allow international earning (Ireland was the first).

2. Once you have points or miles, they are fungible. There's no way anybody keeps track of where your miles come from, so you can spend them domestically or internationally.

If you meant to say "points" instead of miles, I don't see that coming from anybody. What would be the purpose of allowing points earning but not spending?

Yes, sometimes companies do strange things, but I don't think this is about to happen

Mistyped. Substitute points for miles.
+ You cannot earn miles abroad
+ You can use miles abroad

This is odd as there must be some compensation scheme for the using of points. And since proerties in Europe on the whole are more expensive than here, it makes the imbalance even greater.

Hence I worry that they may curb the usage in Europe by either disallowing it, or more likely, raising the # of points required there.

This is just a guess, but maybe there is less computer system integration with some foreign destinations. For example, it's easy to take an award reservation in the USA and send it along to a hotel in Kyoto than it would be to get the same hotel in Kyoto to post points to the CP account of a USA resident, especially when there is no CP program for residents of Japan.

It's also easy to calculate that X number of points should be good for a free room in Kyoto. They can base that on the same algorithm they use to determine that X number of points should be good for a free room in Pigeon Forge.

I know that some chains have used paper and pencil for stay credits in far flung hotels. More than once I have seen the desk clerk for a distant outpost of some chain write my name and number on a list of people to get stay credit. I never expected those stays to actually post to my account, and they didn't.

Heck, maybe computer integration is why it took them so long to move Econo Lodge and Rodeway from stamps to points. I wish this forum had a Choice Lurker who could answer stuff like this.

Definitely true. I recently had an award stay in Germany and the hotel fouled up the reservation. I had had a stay for 2 nights, then needed to change it to one night, but was instructed by the Choice Service Center to cancel the one reservation and make a new one as it would be ´easier´. Well, long story short, the hotel ended up not having a record of the new res, just the old cancelled res. They apparently just get emails and faxes from Choice and then have to enter them into their internal system, and reservation numbers, etc. are meaningless to them.

In most of Europe, there is a frequent guest program, but it operates on getting stamps in a little booklet--10 stamps equals one free night.

Systems integration (see above) is one issue. Another is the existence of multiple operating units. Choice Hotels Europe is now (but has not always been) a unit of the main company Choice Hotels International which is based in the US. Choice Hotels Scandinavia is under separate ownership, operating with a licensing agreement. Choice Hotels Australasia is a unit of Choice Hotels International. Scandinavia and Australasia have their own rewards program for their properties. Europe has the above-mentioned stamp program.

Motel 6 is part of Accor, which also includes Etap, Ibis, Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, Dorint, Pullman, Suitehotel and a few others.
To claim that Choice is "a cut above" Accor is bizarre. To state that trying to present Choice in a negative light is hilarious. :p

And for all of Choice's lack of global unity its reward program, Accor's mess of programs and cards is on a whole other level of dysfunction!

Absolutely!

Another issue is currency. Since points are per dollar spent, they have to figure out how to award them in other currencies. I guess they figured it out for Euros already (Ireland), but that won't help for UK, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, etc.

No such issue on awards, as the points needed are flat.

That's my point. When we can use awards at a remarkably better rate in Europe than here because the price they substitute is higher, something's bound to get adjusted.

Who knows how that works?

In another thread, I reported that the Clarion Stockholm (one of the most expensive cities in Europe) is now available for 10,000 points/night. When I originally compiled my spreadsheet last October, it was 16,000 points/night.