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Week 2 of this year’s ‘Daily Getaways‘ promotions continues today with a focus on Choice Privileges Points. As usual, today’s deals will go live at 13:00 Eastern, and, for a change, the deals on offer today give participants a chance to buy points at prices that are noticeably cheaper than the prices we see in regular Choice Privileges points sales.
The deals
These are the deals that Daily Getaways is promoting today:
Unlike the other Daily Getaways points sales that we’ve seen soo far, the cost per point varies (slightly) depending on which package is being purchased. Here’s what the pricing looks like:
- 14,000 points for $84 = 0.60 cents/point
- 28,000 points for $155 = ~0.55 cents/point
- 42,000 points for $220 = ~0.52 cents/point
- 55,000 points for $285 = ~0.52 cents/point
If you go past two decimal places, you’ll see that the 55,000 points package offers the cheapest cost/point.
The best rate at which I recall Choice Privileges selling its currency in the past was 0.69 cents/point and that would suggest that today’s Daily Getaway pricing represents a very good deal for fans of Choice properties.
Still, before there’s too much excitement about the apparently relatively low cost of buying points today, there’s a key thing that you need to know about Choice Privileges before you dive in – If you don’t hold status with Choice hotels (and I suspect most people reading this don’t) there’s one critical restriction placed upon you when you come to redeem your points: You can only use points to make a reservation up to a maximum of 100 days ahead of check-in. That’s a lot better than the old restrictions used to be (30 days for North America and 60 days for the rest of the world) but it’s still a restriction you should know about.
It’s also worth keeping in mind that although the terms and conditions attached to these packages keep refering to the points being used at “participating Choice Hotels across the United States” or to bookings “at participating Cambria Hotels location in the U.S “, to the best of my knowledge, there isn’t a mechanism in place which would allow Choice to limit the use of points purchased in this sale to select brands or to a specific region like the US.
Points purchased in this sale will be deposited directly into standard Choice Privileges accounts and points from these accounts can be used to book stays at any Choice property in the world – I would not expect anyone who buys points today to find their use restricted.
Overall, there’s definitely value to be had here if you pick your destination(s) carefully (most of the better Choice properties are in Europe). A lot of good properties cost between 12,000 and 20,000 points per night and include breakfast, so with points purchased in this sale at 0.52 cents each, that would equate to between ~$62 and $104 per night.
It’s hard to argue with that kind of value when you’ve done your research and chosen your property carefully.
Demand
I don’t expect these packages to sell out as quickly as some of the others that we’ve seen so far because Choice isn’t a premium hotelier, and because there are considerably more packages available for sale today than we’ve seen on any other day so far.
Still, if you’re keen on topping up a Choice Privileges account I wouldn’t leave anything to change – log in for 13:00 and buy what you need as soon as you can
Key terms
Buy 14,000 points for $84
What you Receive: 14,000 points deposited directly into your Choice Privileges® account.
Dates of Travel: Anytime, as long as your account stays active, which means that you’ve earned or redeemed points within the past 18 months.
Max. Quantity per Purchase: You can purchase up to four (4) sets of points through this offer (total: 56,000 points).
Buy 28,000 points for $155
What you Receive: 28,000 points deposited directly into your Choice Privileges® account.
Dates of Travel: Anytime, as long as your account stays active, which means that you’ve earned or redeemed points within the past 18 months.
Max. Quantity per Purchase: You can purchase up to four (4) sets of points through this offer (total: 112,000 points).
Buy 42,000 points for $220
What You Receive: 42,000 points deposited directly into your Choice Privileges® account.
Dates of Travel: Anytime, as long as your account stays active, which means that you’ve earned or redeemed points within the past 18 months.
Max. Quantity per Purchase: You can purchase up to four (4) sets of points through this offer (total: 168,000 points).
Buy 55,000 points for $285
What you Receive: 55,000 points deposited directly into your Choice Privileges® account.
Dates of Travel: Anytime, as long as your account stays active, which means that you’ve earned or redeemed points within the past 18 months.
Max. Quantity per Purchase: You can purchase up to four (4) sets of points through this offer (total: 220,000 points).
Make sure you check all the terms and conditions which you’ll find on the Daily Getaways page.
Bottom line
At 13:00 ET today, a new set of Daily Getaways promotions will go live and Choice Privileges points will go on sale from ~0.52 cents each. As Choice points sales go, this is a very good one and as I doubt that it will be possible to buy Choice Privileges points any cheaper than this for the rest of the year, anyone who needs to top up an account should probably do so today.
Wow that restriction about properties in the US is a bit off putting. I was thinking of buying to book hotels for my trip to Norway next year. Is there a confirmation that the points can be used anywhere?
No official confirmation but as I say in the article, I can’t see how a restriction such as this one could be implemented.
I suspect that the references to US properties are only three because the Daily Getaway deals are supposed to be about encouraging domestic (US) travel.