Choice Privileges has rolled out its newest promotion on purchased points, which has the potential to represent a good value.
Through Sunday, August 16, 2020, Choice Privileges is offering a 25% discount on purchased points. You receive a 25% discount as long as you purchase at least 3,000 points in one transaction.
At least that's the bonus I see on the accounts I manage, though it's possible other people may be targeted for other offers, so you'll want to log into your Choice Privileges account to see what you're eligible for.
Choice now has a cap of purchasing 180,000 points per account per calendar year, which is up from the previous maximum of 120,000 points.
If you maxed out this promotion you could purchase a total of 180,000 points for $1,336.50, which is a cost of 0.74 cents per point.
Choice regularly offers promotions on purchased points. When those promotions are offered, it's typically either for a 30% discount or 40% bonus.
It's strange to see Choice offer a worse promotion than usual, as the discount is only 25%. In this environment you'd think they'd be selling points at the lowest cost imaginable.
In the past, Travis has written about why he thinks Choice points are worth buying. Specifically, Choice has an impressive footprint in Northern Europe, where hotels can otherwise be expensive. Travis has redeemed at hotels like the Clarion Collection Hotel Folketeateret and the Clarion Collection Hotel Bastion, which cost 16,000 points per night.
If you bought the points for those stays through this promotion for 0.74 cents each, it would be the equivalent of paying ~$118 per night, which is quite a good deal, especially since these hotels come with free breakfast and dinner.
Historically, one major downside to the Choice Privileges program was that they only allowed award redemptions at most 30 days out for US and Canada properties, and 60 days out for other properties. Fortunately, Choice modified this policy in 2018, and you can now book up to 100 days out.
Choice Privileges points purchases are processed by points.com, meaning they don't count as a hotel purchase for the purposes of credit card spending.
Therefore I'd recommend using a card on which you're trying to reach minimum spending, or otherwise, a credit card that maximizes your return on everyday spending, like the Chase Freedom Unlimited® ( review) or Citi® Double Cash Card ( review) - more on which credit cards are best for buying points.
Choice Privileges is selling points for 25% off, which is an opportunity to buy points for 0.74 cents each. This can potentially be a good deal, especially for redemptions in Northern Europe, where hotels are often expensive.
However, we do sometimes see marginally better promotions from Choice, for either 30% off or a 40% bonus, and this promotion isn't quite as good as that.
Does anyone plan on buying Choice Privileges points?
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