Earning a free night takes $1,000 in hotel spend at 10 base points per dollar for most brands except

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Yesterday I located a spreadsheet created by FlyerTalk member "SC Flier" in May 2010 . The spreadsheet is one year old now and I am just happy to finally have seen it.  SC Flier is a name I come across frequently on FlyerTalk with good value information and now I learn he has some great computer skills too.
I added country and state columns to allow an easy sort by point levels and geography. Several observations from these sorts give me a much clearer picture of how Choice Hotels compares with other major hotel loyalty programs.
Driving from Monterey to Las Vegas for Easter week also opened my eyes to to the fact that the 500 mile drive offers only one Starwood Hotel with Four Points Bakersfield and there are no Hyatt Hotels on this route. IHG, Marriott and Hilton options averaged around $100 or more per night while many of the towns along the way offered Choice Hotels options for under $60 per night.
Monterey, California EconoLodge is 8,000 points spirit airline coupon code from April 16 to June 30, 2011 and then increases to 20,000 points for July 1-September 15, 2011. Clarion Collection Rendezvous Hotel in Auckland, New Zealand is 40,000 points from April 16 to June 30 and then drops to just 8,000 points from July 1 to September spirit airline coupon code 15, 2011.
The third unique aspect of the Choice Privileges program is short booking windows for hotel rewards spirit airline coupon code using points. Choice Privileges members with no elite status can only book reward nights spirit airline coupon code for U.S. and Canada hotels within 30 days of stay. Hawaii and International hotels allow 60 days advance booking using points. Elite status is valuable for Choice Privileges members traveling U.S. and Canada and planning spirit airline coupon code to use points for reward nights with extended booking windows for Gold elite to 50 days, Platinum elite to 75 days and Diamond elite to 100 days.
Unlikely this will become my primary program, but there is great utility in accumulating Choice Privileges points for locations where there are no Starwood or Hyatt hotels and the rates of Marriott, Hilton, and IHG are twice the cost of a Choice Hotels option.
I have never seen a distribution of Choice Privileges reward tiers posted anywhere. Analyzing one year old 2010 reward levels in Choice Privileges is useful as a benchmark for what value in points spirit airline coupon code the Choice spirit airline coupon code Privileges hotels had in recent time and see how trends evolve in reward changes for 2011 and beyond.
The only general trend I noticed is many hotels in Canada appeared to increase in reward cost from 2010 to 2011. The Canadian dollar is worth about 6 cents more than the U.S. dollar right now (USD $1 = CAD 94 cents), so an increase in points is an expected adjustment.
SC Flier spreadsheet shows 5,236 hotels in Choice Portfolio from mid-2010. Here are some numbers derived from hotel sorts using mid-2010 data. I checked about 50 hotels for 2011 Q2 (April 16-June 30, 2011) reward rates and 2011-Q3 (July 1 – September 15, 2011) reward rates. I found mixed results, but most hotels were within 4,000 points of 2010 levels, spirit airline coupon code and about evenly up and down.
While the distribution of hotels across reward categories spirit airline coupon code may be essentially similar between 2010 and 2011, individual hotel reward rates may be up, down or the same depending on local economic conditions. Check hotel properties spirit airline coupon code individually for current Choice Privileges hotel reward rates.
Choice spirit airline coupon code Privileges had over 1,500 hotels in the lowest tiers for 6,000 points or 8,000 points per night. This can be as little as $100 in spend to earn 8,000 points during Choice Privileges recurring promotion for 8,000 points after two stays. When Choice Privileges offers double points then these low tier rewards take just $300 to $400 in hotel stay spend to earn a free night at any of 1,500+ hotels.
spirit airline coupon code Earning a free night takes $1,000 in hotel spend at 10 base points per dollar for most brands except extended stay brands of MainStay and Suburban and budget brands EconoLodge and Rodeway Inn that earn 5 points/$1 in hotel spend.
Top tier hotels in U.S. cities spirit airline coupon code and resort locations fall in the 20,000 points to 25,000 points range. These hotels require $2,000 to $2,500 in hotel spend or as little as $300 for an elite during spirit airline coupon code an 8,000 points per two stays promotion that is not limited to one or two bonuses.
Most hotels 25,000 points and above are located in New York City and international countries. The spreadsheet by SC Flier shows many hotels in Italy at 40,000 points and these hotels were all 6,000 or 8,000 points for Q2 and Q3 reward nights in 2011. Australia and New Zealand comprise most hotels spirit airline coupon code 30,000 points and more. Peak rates are only for select seasons. Many of the 40,000 points hotels in Australia and New Zealand drop to 8,000 points in July and August 2011.
I spent a week in Paihia at Bay of Islands in New Zealand in August 2005 and I thought it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I loved it. I didn't stay at the Clarion Edgewater Palms, but at 8,000 points per night I'd give it a go.
About 3 years ago, Choice raised their redemption rates without notice. Many properties raised their redemption rate from reasonable to unreasonable. I spend time upstate NY, where there are plenty of Choices (no pun intended). The program was good for me prior to serious rate inflation.
1. Read Tripadvisor reviews before picking a hotel. The quality of Choice hotels varies widely. I don t demand much from a hotel, but a basic level of cleanliness is required. Based on Tripadvisor reviews, I often opted not to stay at a Choice hotel.
2. As with any hotel program, I felt that there were a large number of properties that were poor redemption values (even though I was not traveling in major cities, I still encountered far too many hotels at the 16K-20K level). But there were several instances where I was able to put my points to good use, and stay at a quality hotel for much less (based on how much I paid for my points) spirit airline coupon code than any other decent option available.
If you have their PC credit card, you get a 10% discount on rewards, which is what a cash and points stay technically is. So at 22,500 * .6, you re staying in NYC for the equivalent of $135 all-in. Of course, you don t get elite credit, but at PC that s not worth much anyway.
spirit airline coupon code [...] Choice Privileges reward night cost analysis. Using a spreadsheet of 2010 reward cost, I calculated the percentage of hotels in various reward levels worldwide from 6,000 points to 40,000 points. This is the only breakdown of hotel reward tiers I have ever seen for Choice Hotels. Loyalty Traveler post May 1, 2011. [...]
[...] Choice Privileges reward night cost analysis. Using a spreadsheet of 2010 reward cost, I calculated the percentage of hotels in various reward levels worldwide from 6,000 points to 40,000 points. This is the only breakdown of hotel reward spirit airline coupon code tiers I have ever seen for Choice Hotels. Loyalty Traveler post May 1, 2011. [...]
[...] Choice Privileges reward night cost analysis. Using a spreadsheet of 2010 reward cost, I calculated the percentage of hotels in various reward levels worldwide from 6,000 points to 40,000 points. This is the only breakdown of hotel reward spirit airline coupon code tiers I have ever seen for Choice Hotels. Loyalty Traveler post May 1, 2011. [...]
[...] Choice Privileges reward night cost analysis. Using a spreadsheet of 2010 reward cost, I calculated the percentage of hotels in various reward levels worldwide from 6,000 points to 40,000 points. This is the only breakdown of hotel reward tiers I have ever seen for Choice Hotels. Loyalty Traveler post May 1, 2011. [...]
[...] Choice Privileges reward night cost analysis. Using a spreadsheet of 2010 reward spirit airline coupon code cost, I calculated the percentage of hotels in various reward levels worldwide from 6,000 points to 40,000 points. This is the only breakdown of hotel reward tiers I have ever seen for Choice Hotels. Loyalty Traveler post May 1, 2011. [...]
[...] Choice Privileges reward night cost analysis. Using a spreadsheet of 2010 reward cost, I calculated the percentage of hotels in various reward levels worldwide from 6,000 points to 40,000 points. This is the only breakdown of hotel reward tiers I have ever seen for Choice Hotels. Loyalty Traveler post May 1, 2011. [...]
[...] Choice Privileges reward night cost analysis. Using a spreadsheet of 2010 reward cost, I calculated the percentage of hotels in various reward levels worldwide from 6,000 points spirit airline coupon code to 40,000 points. This is the only breakdown of hotel reward tiers I have ever seen for Choice Hotels. Loyalty Traveler post May 1, 2011. [...]