Any way to extend validity of Choice points?
 

So, I have some Choice points I earned in 2006...not a ton, but enough that I'd like to keep them from expiring. (I don't stay at Choice hotels frequently.)

I thought the rule was, points expire at the end of the 2nd year unless you have qualifying activity to keep the account alive. Ergo, if I earned some points by the end of 2008 I'd be okay.

I just had a stay last week, and the points have posted, but it's still showing the 2006 points as expiring 12/31/08. After rereading the rules, I now think I misread them the first time, and the correct reading is:
1. points do expire at the end of the 2nd year after earning, PERIOD.
2. In addition, if you have no activity for that period, your account will be closed.

First - am I reading the rules correctly? If so, it seems there is no way to extend the validity of these, is that true?

Second - if there is no way to extend them, are any of the partner rewards a good value? I do not plan to stay at a Choice hotel again in 2008 so the hotel rewards would not be of benefit to me. I have roughly 10k points.

Thanks for any advice.

I know of no way to extend the points.
With 10,000 points, a lot of the partner options aren't open to you. You could, though, transfer those points to be 2,000 airline miles with a number of different programs or 4 credits with Southwest.

10,000 points can get a nice free night at some properties. Maybe you could see if you could use it for a booking this year or try to trade with someone in Coupon Connection.

Unfortunately you are reading the rules correctly!

As a last option you can book a room for someone else as a gift. It can't be done online but Choice Privileges will gladly do it over the phone

Along those same lines, I've always wondered. If you were to book Choice Points reservation a day or two before they expired, and then canceled the room at a later date, would the points be refunded to you with a new expiration date, or would they simply not refund them at all?

That's a good question and I don't know the answer. I think there is a risk in doing so. I have canceled Choice Privileges reservations and when the cancellation is made, the points are returned with their original expiration date. Based on that, it might be that the points would evaporate.

Considering the many Choice options for gift cards, airline miles, etc., I wouldn't want to let that happen.

Guess I haven't been paying attention to these specific rules either...! Spouse has around 10K too (and I foolishly just added to those hoping to extend the 2 yr. period, not realizing that wouldn't happen...) Is there any way to "gift" those to my account and if so, would they have a new expiration date?

I have booked and cancelled several rooms throughout my years with choice and each time the points that have been refunded retained the same expiration date they had when booked even after Jan 1st when booked the previous year. I would say you would lose the points since they have expired.

To double-check expiration dates, go to choicehotels.com, log in, click on Stay Activity, then on a range of dates under "View Recent Statements."
At the bottom of a statement, it will give U all the exp. dates of your points.

Just a quick zombie revival: Still no way to extend my Choice points, right?

Absent a play with death or medical notices, doubt there is a reliable way to extend them -- that is why I will be redeeming them for at least ten award nights this year.

Re: Sixalpha & Soitgoes: In December 2012 I reserved a room for Jan. 2013 using points expiring 2012. The morning of my day of arrival, the motel's water heater broke down, so they cancelled my reservation! The motel left it to me to deal with Choice & probably had no clue that I had used expiring points.
I got my 8000 points back with an expiry of 12/31/2015 without a problem. IDK whether I got lucky with their computer system, or if it normally does that.

I see a third possibility: It could be that since the reservation was cancelled by the hotel, that Choice did the return of points differently than it the cancellation had been requested by you.

Sdsearch, I also thought of that, but the motel phoned to cancel my ressie, then I had to go online alone to cancel. How could the computer or CP employee have known so smoothly? I thought I would have to explain & fight to get my points back.

Perhaps the manager put in a note: "Cancelled by motel due to disaster," which I could not see!

It's probably worth noting to people not familiar with the letter of the rule, who are looking at this thread for hope, that such would apply, if one did get lucky, only to the expiry on that block of points, not all or any other of an account's points. Just chiming in here as we close in on year-end, and more people may be looking here for hope. (My reason, too, as I haven't been back to this board for some time ... Now back to looking for Europe award flight availability for a vacation Choice is making me take :D).