U.S. Travel Association's Daily Getaways 2016
Mar 29, 2016, 1:34 pm
#46
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: ORF
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Mar 29, 2016, 1:55 pm
#47
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It's maximum advance booking window is 30 days domestically and 60
days internationally for base members. For Gold elites (10-19 nights/year), it's 50 days domestically and 60 days internationally. It's 75 days everywhere for Platinum elites (20+ nights/year). I thought Diamond elites (40+ nights/year) elites get 100 day windows; but (as I have only been Plat for years) I hadn't checked to see if they had changed that for the worse. Is it different for Choice vs Preferred?
Mar 29, 2016, 2:27 pm
#48
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: NCE
Posts: 276
Is it possible for a non US resident to book those packages ? Do we have to use a fake US adress or something like that?
Mar 29, 2016, 2:33 pm
#49
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: ZRH
Programs: M&M SEN (*G), HH Diamond
Posts: 2,418
Mar 30, 2016, 8:19 am
#50
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Choice Hotels' program seems to have snuck in some sort of reward night price increases that are pretty much new as of this month.
I'm now seeing 35,000 points award nights for hotels in places where (until around 5 weeks ago, if not even more recently) the most expensive award used to be 25,000 points/night. And in a growing number of cases with this Choice Hotels program, I'm finding the cash portion of the Points+Cash nights exceeds (sometimes by over $120) the cost of a cash only stay not using points. For an example of this, do a search using points at the Quality View hotel in Malmo, Sweden.
Buyer beware.
I'm now seeing 35,000 points award nights for hotels in places where (until around 5 weeks ago, if not even more recently) the most expensive award used to be 25,000 points/night. And in a growing number of cases with this Choice Hotels program, I'm finding the cash portion of the Points+Cash nights exceeds (sometimes by over $120) the cost of a cash only stay not using points. For an example of this, do a search using points at the Quality View hotel in Malmo, Sweden.
Buyer beware.
Last edited by GUWonder; Mar 30, 2016 at 8:27 am
Mar 30, 2016, 8:44 am
#51
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: FL, USA
Programs: AA Plat, Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Diamond, IHG Plat, Marriot Gold
Posts: 1,666
Choice Hotels' program seems to have snuck in some sort of reward night price increases that are pretty much new as of this month.
I'm now seeing 35,000 points award nights for hotels in places where (until around 5 weeks ago, if not even more recently) the most expensive award used to be 25,000 points/night. And in a growing number of cases with this Choice Hotels program, I'm finding the cash portion of the Points+Cash nights exceeds (sometimes by over $120) the cost of a cash only stay not using points. For an example of this, do a search using points at the Quality View hotel in Malmo, Sweden.
Buyer beware.
I'm now seeing 35,000 points award nights for hotels in places where (until around 5 weeks ago, if not even more recently) the most expensive award used to be 25,000 points/night. And in a growing number of cases with this Choice Hotels program, I'm finding the cash portion of the Points+Cash nights exceeds (sometimes by over $120) the cost of a cash only stay not using points. For an example of this, do a search using points at the Quality View hotel in Malmo, Sweden.
Buyer beware.
Mar 30, 2016, 9:58 am
#52
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I think they are calling it flex rewards or something but basically if you go over to the choice threads, the rep was trying to sell it as some discount when in realilty what they did to make it a "discount" was up the rewards on some days and leave it as is on the rest. Just plain sneaky
Mar 30, 2016, 2:31 pm
#53
Join Date: May 2010
Location: WAS
Programs: Lotz
Posts: 1,534
How Much Do Points Cost This Way?
The program has been getting more "innovative" -- including in the way mentioned by Firewind -- in the past year or two. To me that has been an indication that the values I got out of the Choice program before may be subject to "innovation" as Choice reviews and adjusts the program in ways that are more likely to include a devaluation of my still rather large balance of Choice points than to lead to an appreciation in value of those same points. When that will happen is to be seen, and I could be entirely off on this.
But I wouldn't spend a lot more of my own money to keep a lot of points in a Choice account when, at a future time to my liking (even late this year), I can use even a small balance to buy Choice points via the book cash+points & cancel game. If you have as few as 6k points, this can be done without locking up money (in a Choice account) for a long time and hoping not to get hit by a rather sudden devaluation of Choice points when you have a relatively large Choice account balance.
In other words, I would be more open to buying a single package to use for the cash+points & refund game than to spend $500+ on these Daily Getaway Choice package sales in anticipation of using the points next year (or even in the last quarter of this year). Most Choice customers can not book Choice award nights more than 30-60 days in advance. And more and more Choice properties outside of the US are cutting back on the proportion of their rooms that they make available for redemption.
Will I be buying some of these packages for others? Yes, but I am no longer eager to see my family and friends pick up the maximum amounts of points this way. A maximum advance booking window of 30-60 days when using points makes hoarding points for some peak vacation period redemption several months or a year out look increasingly like a gamble that won't pay off like it used to do.
But I wouldn't spend a lot more of my own money to keep a lot of points in a Choice account when, at a future time to my liking (even late this year), I can use even a small balance to buy Choice points via the book cash+points & cancel game. If you have as few as 6k points, this can be done without locking up money (in a Choice account) for a long time and hoping not to get hit by a rather sudden devaluation of Choice points when you have a relatively large Choice account balance.
In other words, I would be more open to buying a single package to use for the cash+points & refund game than to spend $500+ on these Daily Getaway Choice package sales in anticipation of using the points next year (or even in the last quarter of this year). Most Choice customers can not book Choice award nights more than 30-60 days in advance. And more and more Choice properties outside of the US are cutting back on the proportion of their rooms that they make available for redemption.
Will I be buying some of these packages for others? Yes, but I am no longer eager to see my family and friends pick up the maximum amounts of points this way. A maximum advance booking window of 30-60 days when using points makes hoarding points for some peak vacation period redemption several months or a year out look increasingly like a gamble that won't pay off like it used to do.
If one does the Points+Cash refund method how much do the points cost? Much more than the $90 for 20K in this deal? Doing a quick test run I see 2000 points costing $15, a good bit more than here where 2000 is $9.
Last edited by tassojunior; Mar 30, 2016 at 2:57 pm
Mar 30, 2016, 2:39 pm
#54
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Mar 30, 2016, 6:43 pm
#55
Join Date: May 2006
Location: BOS and ...
Programs: UA 2MM, AA 600k, DL 500k, Hyatt GP 1M, HH Gold, Rad. Gold, CP Gold, Miracle Fruit-su Club
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I can use even a small balance to buy Choice points via the book cash+points & cancel game. If you have as few as 6k points, this can be done without locking up money (in a Choice account) for a long time and hoping not to get hit by a rather sudden devaluation of Choice points when you have a relatively large Choice account balance...
2) Glad it's being discussed on this board.
Mar 31, 2016, 2:18 am
#56
Join Date: Mar 2011
Programs: AA, UA, DL, AS, LH, BA, VS, HHonors, Hyatt, Club Carlson, IHG, Marriott
Posts: 833
Mar 31, 2016, 2:27 am
#57
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: ZRH
Programs: M&M SEN (*G), HH Diamond
Posts: 2,418
I know of many others based in Europe that have successfully done the same.
Mar 31, 2016, 3:19 am
#58
Join Date: Mar 2011
Programs: AA, UA, DL, AS, LH, BA, VS, HHonors, Hyatt, Club Carlson, IHG, Marriott
Posts: 833
No, it does not have to match. I have used various credit cards with a billing address in Switzerland to buy points through Daily Getaways over the years. I simply entered a US address when paying.
I know of many others based in Europe that have successfully done the same.
I know of many others based in Europe that have successfully done the same.
Only after I entered the correct billing address, it was approved.
It may depend on the security of the bank that issues the card but in the US, addresses have zip codes and other standard formats that need to match the bank's for the purchase to be approved. Foreign addresses are different which may be why the purchase was approved in your case and others.
Mar 31, 2016, 3:35 am
#59
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No, it does not have to match. I have used various credit cards with a billing address in Switzerland to buy points through Daily Getaways over the years. I simply entered a US address when paying.
I know of many others based in Europe that have successfully done the same.
I know of many others based in Europe that have successfully done the same.
Mar 31, 2016, 6:13 am
#60
Original Member, Moderator: Hotel Deals and MilesBuzz
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 14,257
The price is almost double what I paid for it 5 years ago but the New York New York (Las Vegas) suite package with dinner at Gallagher's and Zumanity tickets was terrific. ^