Choice Hotels Program Improvements
I received an email yesterday, one that I have been waiting on for years (insert Titanic 84 years gif here), about some Choice Hotels program improvements. The Choice Hotels program has been overlooked in the award space for a long time now, but this may bring some people around to finally digging for some of the gems this program has to offer. One such gem is booking Preferred Hotels with your Choice Privileges points. Which is especially since Choice Hotels is removing, by far, the most annoying part of the program.
Choice Hotels Expands Booking Window
Let's get the big stuff handled first, shall we? A major reason that the Choice Privileges program has been overlooked by award travelers is because of their terrible 100 booking window for award stays. Yes, you could only book their hotels 3 months ahead of time. That just isn't far enough out for many people to plan their vacations. Who wants to risk it, after paying for expensive flights, and hope that the hotel they were eyeing still had space just 3 months from wheels up after all? It was so bad that even Southwest's IT team would look at that booking window and chuckle.
Not anymore though, Choice Hotels will have a booking window of up to 50 weeks in advance. That is more in line with all of the other hotel programs, and the change makes a big difference for people willing to amass their points. If you know that it will be easier to plan vacations with their currency then you are more likely to accrue them after all.
That Isn't The Only Improvement
There were a couple of other nice touches with these Choice Hotels program improvements we should touch on too. The first is that you can redeem reward nights starting at just 6,000 points instead of the previous minimum of 8,000 points thanks to RewardSaver. This will likely just be for dumpy Rodeway Inn hotels, but may be a good option will slide into our booking DMs every once in a while.
The other change is likely more pertinent to us award travelers. Choice Hotels is adding the ability to book premium rooms on award stays too. No more standard room or bust mantra over here. You will now be able to book awards for features that matter to you, like extra space, a better view or an upgraded room, at select hotels.
Choice Hotels Program Improvements: ToP Thoughts
This is pretty amazing news to kick off your weekend. You may think that I am overselling this, because Choice Hotels has always been a budget motel type set up to you. I will concede that the sentiment is true for a large portion of their portfolio, but there are still diamonds to made from this Choice Hotels coal. The fact that we will soon be able to book hotels at a proper, almost year long, interval is big news. Throw in the fact that you can get 2 Choice Priveleges points for 1 Citi ThankYou or Wells Fargo Propel point and things get even more interesting. This is an untapped resource!
Let me know if you are as excited about these Choice Hotels program improvements as I am over in the ToP Facebook Group.
