Do CP points expire at the end of the third year, regardless of other activity? I have a single stay from July 2006. My account shows that exact number of points expiring 12/31/08. No mention of points earned in 2007 or 2008 expiring.

Yep, that's how it works.
Your online statement, though, should break out all of the expiration dates for you (mine has: POINTS EXPIRING 12/31/08, POINTS EXPIRING 12/31/09, and POINTS EXPIRING 12/31/10).

Points earned in 2005: already expired (12/31/07)
Points earned in 2006: expire 12/31/08
Points earned in 2007: expire 12/31/09
Points earned in 2008: expire 12/31/10

Ok, just to clarify - one does not automatically see which points expire which year. But from the "My Activity" page if you click on the drop-down menu to look at your most recent statement (in a popup window) you will see the expiration date breakdown.

My question is what does this mean exactly? That you have to book your points stay by Dec. 31 or that you have to complete your points stay by Dec. 31?

BTW, Choicehotels will make their program more attractive if they at least allow customers a path to extend the expiration date (similar to the way many airlines do, e.g.).

Here is all I could find out about this on the website:
This brings up the additional question, what are the "inactivity" criteria they allude to? I also could not find this specified anywhere.

#14 of "Other Terms & Conditions":
"If you have no activity for a period of 18 consecutive months, Choice may remove you from the Program and therefore terminate your account. If Choice removes you from the Program, you will forfeit your points."
http://www.choicehotels.com/ires/en-US/html/GPRules

I'm not sure they actually terminate accounts--it might sort of be like CO.
I wouldn't recommend tempting fate, though.

And does the points stay have to be completed by Dec. 31, or just the reservation made by Dec. 31 of the year the points expire?
I guess it is safer to just assume the former is true unless I can find it explicitedly stated otherwise.

I think it's just the reservation, but I don't know for certain. You are, of course, limited by the 30/60/90 day advance booking windows. Note as well that if you cancel a points reservation, the points are returned into your account with their original expiration dates.

I've got over 21k points expiring at the end of the year. I've sent them an email asking if there's any way the expiration date can be extended, so we'll see what they say.

I'm living on a military base outside the country, and won't come back to the US for nearly another year, so I won't be able to use these miles. I've let them know that, so we'll see. Maybe they can make an exception. Airline miles don't expire if there's activity in an account, but that doesn't appear to be the case here (I have the CP Visa card).

If I can't get the expiration date extended, it looks like I can redeem the miles for airline awards. I'd rather have hotel points than airline miles, but something is better than expiration. tls

You can redeem points for stays outside the U.S., if that fits with your plans.

Indeed, that's where some of the best deals are.
Redemption is worldwide.
http://www.choicehotels.com/ires/en-...ceDestinations

Alternatively, you could treat a family member or friend to a night or two (20K will get you one night in Manhattan, for example).

Whoa, I had no idea that these could be redeemed outside the US! Thanks for the info, that is good to know. But it looks my only travel between now and the end of the year will be for business, so I won't have an opportunity to use these points.

CP replied to my email, saying that my points would expire, but since I was active duty, if I contacted them at the beginning of next year they'd reinstate them. Problem is, I'm not active duty. I'm a civilian living on a military base (most folks here are active duty, but there are a few civilians). So, I decided to redeem 25k points for 5k AA miles. Would rather have had the CP points, but this is a good alternative. tls

Well, sometime in the last 4 days my AA account was credited with the 5k miles, so it took between 4-8 days for the transfer to occur. That is pretty good; much quicker than the 6-8 week timeframe that was listed as a maximum on CP's web site at the time of transfer. Overall, even tho I didn't want to use the points this way, still a good experience. tls