Incredible Hotel Points Transfer Offer with Choice Hotels

[kangarooflyer88]

Unsure how many of you collect/buy points with Choice Hotels, but currently they are running a promotion where you will earn double the points on transfers. In other words 2,000 Choice points can be converted to 1600 Qantas Points (compared to the usual 800 Qantas Points). This promotion is also valid for transfers to Virgin Australia (i.e. 2,000 Choice points can be converted to 1600 Virgin Australia Points). Here are the T&Cs of the promotion:

The Double Airline Points transfer offer is available from 14 October to 20 October 2024. During this offer, when you redeem Choice Privileges points for these Frequent Flyer programs, you will receive twice as many Frequent Flyer Points as normal; for 2,000 Choice Privilege points, for example, you’ll receive either 1,600 Qantas Points or 1,600 Velocity Frequent Flyer Points. The minimum number of Choice Privileges points that can be redeemed under this offer is 2,000, and Choice Privilege Points must be redeemed in 1,000-point increments.

Only points earned/purchased prior to 14 October 2024 will be able to be redeemed for Double Frequent Flyer Points

To take advantage of this offer, login into the Choice Privileges member portal and select rewards exchange (https://www.choicehotels.com/choice-privileges/rewards-exchange-partners). For this promotion, redemption cannot be done by an agent in CSC Web. It must be done through the rewards Exchange at Rewards.

This offer is only available to Choice Privileges Members in Australia and New Zealand and members must also be a member of their nominated Frequent Flyer program. Allow 2-6 weeks for points to be credited. This offer may be amended or terminated at any time. For Choice Privileges program details, eligible rates, eligible countries and point redemption rules, visit (https://www.choicehotels.com/en-au/choice-privileges/rules-regulations). All Choice Asia-Pac hotels are independently owned and operated.

QANTAS TERMS: For a limited time, Choice Privileges® members are eligible to redeem 2,000 or more Choice Privileges® points into Qantas Frequent Flyer points at double the normal rate; while this promotion lasts for every 2,000 Choice Privileges points® you redeem, you’ll get for 1,600 Qantas Frequent Flyer miles, instead of 800. Minimum redemption is 2,000 Choice Privileges® points (for 1,600 Frequent Flyer points) and redemptions above 2,000 must be in 1,000-point increments. Transactions must be completed between 12:01 a.m. AEDT 14 October 2024 and 11:59 p.m. AEDT 20 October 2024 to be eligible to receive the offer. Only points earned/purchased prior to 14 October 2024 will be able to be redeemed for Double Frequent Flyer Points All other exchange transaction qualifications apply. Members must also have an active Qantas Frequent Flyer account; points will be posted to your Qantas Frequent Flyer account within 48 hours after your transaction is complete. Offer may not be valid for all members. All other terms and conditions of the Choice Privileges® Rewards Program apply. Choice Hotels® reserves the right to amend these terms or terminate this promotion at any time. Membership and points are subject to the Qantas Frequent Flyer program terms and conditions.

You must be a Qantas Frequent Flyer to earn and use Qantas Points. A joining fee may apply. Membership and points are subject to the Qantas Frequent Flyer program terms and conditions.

It should be noted that whilst Choice hotels is running a promotion on purchasing points at a rate of 0.659 cents per point USD, points purchased now cannot be used for this promotion.

-RooFlyer88

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Looks like Choice Hotels is at it once again offering a promotion where you can transfer your Choice points to double the normal amount of Virgin Australia points. Specifically, during this promotion you can transfer 2,000 Choice Hotel points to 1,600 Virgin Australia points. This could be useful if you need Virgin points in a pinch and are sitting on Choice Hotel points acquired prior to today, 14 October 2024. Importantly, you cannot take advantage of the current Choice Hotels bonus points promotion on buying points (although some colleagues were lucky enough to buy points a couple of days ago ahead of this promotion) as the points will only transfer at the improved rate if they were earned/purchased prior to today.

Here's the offer:
https://www.choicehotels.com/en-au/choice-privileges/double-airline-points

And here's the T&Cs:

The Double Airline Points transfer offer is available from 14 October to 20 October 2024. During this offer, when you redeem Choice Privileges points for these Frequent Flyer programs, you will receive twice as many Frequent Flyer Points as normal; for 2,000 Choice Privilege points, for example, you’ll receive either 1,600 Qantas Points or 1,600 Velocity Frequent Flyer Points. The minimum number of Choice Privileges points that can be redeemed under this offer is 2,000, and Choice Privilege Points must be redeemed in 1,000-point increments.

Only points earned/purchased prior to 14 October 2024 will be able to be redeemed for Double Frequent Flyer Points

To take advantage of this offer, login into the Choice Privileges member portal and select rewards exchange (https://www.choicehotels.com/choice-privileges/rewards-exchange-partners). For this promotion, redemption cannot be done by an agent in CSC Web. It must be done through the rewards Exchange at Rewards.

This offer is only available to Choice Privileges Members in Australia and New Zealand and members must also be a member of their nominated Frequent Flyer program. Allow 2-6 weeks for points to be credited. This offer may be amended or terminated at any time. For Choice Privileges program details, eligible rates, eligible countries and point redemption rules, visit (https://www.choicehotels.com/en-au/choice-privileges/rules-regulations). All Choice Asia-Pac hotels are independently owned and operated.

VELOCITY TERMS: Velocity members will receive double Velocity Points when they transfer eligible points from Choice Privileges to Velocity into Velocity Points in one transaction between 12:01am (AEDT) 14 October 2024 and 11:59pm (AEDT) 20 October 2024 (Offer Period). The minimum transferable amount is 2,000 Choice Privileges points per conversion, which during the Offer Period is equivalent to 1600 Velocity Points (800 base Velocity Points and 800 bonus Velocity Points). Members can move Choice Privileges points in 1,000 increments. You can transfer your Choice Privileges points online or by calling the Choice Service Centre and providing your Velocity membership number. Velocity Points cannot be exchanged for Choice Privileges points. Transfers must be made to a Velocity Frequent Flyer account that is in the same name as the Choice Privileges member account that the points are being transferred from. Only points earned/purchased prior to 14 October 2024 will be able to be transferred into Velocity. Please allow 2 - 6 weeks for the Points to be allocated to your Velocity Account. Changes, re-issuance or re credit of Choice Privileges points are not allowed once you have made a request to transfer Choice Privileges points to Velocity. For full Choice Privileges terms and conditions visit Choice Hotels website. View full Choice Privileges terms and conditions. After your Choice Privileges Points are converted into Velocity Points, these Points are subject to the Velocity Frequent Flyer general terms and conditions.

-RooFlyer88

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Just thought I'd provide an update here. Yesterday morning I transferred over 130,000 Choice points to Qantas and the points have landed this morning:


So pretty quick transfer time from Choice Hotels. Additionally, these points counted towards earning Points Club Plus status, as others indicated it should.

-RooFlyer88

 

[WilsonM]

Choice has an up to 60% bonus for buying points now - https://www.choicehotels.com/en-au/choice-privileges/buy-points

You can buy these points in anticipation of a transfer bonus, which are regular enough

If you get a 60% bonus, you can get QF/VA points for about 1.24 cents per point

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Choice has an up to 60% bonus for buying points now - https://www.choicehotels.com/en-au/choice-privileges/buy-points

Per sources, this would be the best promotions they've run in recent memory in terms of bonus points on offer.

You can buy these points in anticipation of a transfer bonus, which are regular enough

It would seem like they do run these promotions once a year around the October/November time frame. However, there is no guarantee that Choice doesn't tweak the transfer rate in the interim or stop running this annual promotion.

One thing I can safely mention now that the Qantas/Virgin transfer promotion is over is that there may have been a small window of time (1-2 days) where the 50% bonus promotion on buying Choice points was running and the website announcing the transfer bonus to Qantas would begin in a couple days was up thereby allowing you to buy Qantas points at a guaranteed rate of 1.27 AUD cents per point (at least that was the AUD/USD rate at the time). Something to keep in mind in the future. Also, ensure you read the fine print on the promotion. For instance, you need to have bought/earned the points before a certain time.

-RooFlyer88

 

[kangarooflyer88]

I see my thread has received front page attention on AFF:

The Choice Privileges Hack to Buy Cheap Qantas Points

In this guide, discover how to buy Qantas points cheaply by taking advantage of two common Choice Privileges promotions.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Just thought I’d correct a few items from the article:

• Choice offers fixed price award nights at their hotels. However, more popular days of the week (Fridays and Saturdays) may be priced at a slightly fixed price. These fixed price redemptions can be very attractive. For instance a year ago I stayed at a Comfort Inn in North Adelaide for 8,000 Choice points per night which worked out to roughly $40 USD/night. I’d challenge anyone here to find me a hotel in a major Australian city for that price!
• Although Choice has a reputation (somewhat warranted I suppose) of being a budget hotel option, that’s not always the case. They have a couple of more luxury and boutique brands like Ascend Collection, Raddison, etc.
• Choice’s footprint is indeed large in North America (particularly given their acquisition of Raddison Americas). However they do have a sizeable presence in Europe and they even have some properties in Australia (albeit many are of the Comfort Inn variety). Personally, I’ve stayed at Choice hotels in Wollongong and Adelaide and Cairns. It’s also a well known trick to book hotels in Europe using choice points (particularly in Scandinavian countries where a hotel night can run you several hundred Euros per night) as the hotels there are of good quality and again the redemption is cheap

I suppose the point I’m making is even if they don’t run a point promotion at their usual time (e.g., October/November) those points can be extremely useful, particularly if you are flexible with where you are staying.

-RooFlyer88

 

[Jacques Vert]

I’ve stayed at Choice hotels in Wollongong and Adelaide and Cairns. It’s also a well known trick to book hotels in Europe using choice points (particularly in Scandinavian countries where a hotel night can run you several hundred Euros per night) as the hotels there are of good quality and again the redemption is cheap
I suppose the point I’m making is even if they don’t run a point promotion at their usual time (e.g., October/November) those points can be extremely useful, particularly if you are flexible with where you are staying.

-RooFlyer88

I'm pleased to see you have been able to make Choice work for you. My experience has not been so good.

I bought some points at 1.008 australian cents per point but found that in the places where I wanted to stay (in Australia) the amount I had paid for the required points worked out dearer than the cash price.

Plus Choice points expire if you have no activity for 18 months so I ended up buying some more to keep them alive.

Eventually I did manage to get good value on a stay in Timaru, NZ. I transferred the remainder to QF.

For me, they were more trouble than they were worth and I'm pleased to have none left.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

I'm pleased to see you have been able to make Choice work for you. My experience has not been so good.

I bought some points at 1.008 australian cents per point but found that in the places where I wanted to stay (in Australia) the amount I had paid for the required points worked out dearer than the cash price.

Generally for hotel bookings, I'll look at the various chains to see what works best for a given booking. Now, in my case I tend to travel enough where the purchasing of points (be it hotel or frequent flyer) makes sense. Some highlights of bookings I made using Choice points include:

• The Vic, An Ascend Collection Hotel (25,000 points/night)
• Comfort Inn Towradgi Beach (Wollongong) - 10,000 points/night
• Comfort Inn Regal Park, North Adelaide - 8,000 points/night

I think the key with Choice is always to search and see what you find. You may not think there is a Choice hotel where you are heading but you'd be surprised.

Plus Choice points expire if you have no activity for 18 months so I ended up buying some more to keep them alive.

That is true, but that is true with many programs as well.

Eventually I did manage to get good value on a stay in Timaru, NZ.

There are sweet spots. I think you do have a point though that often times the cash rate at Choice hotels can also be very low that redeeming points doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But there are plenty of examples where the redemption rate is considerably less than the cash rate. Oh and the other thing about Choice points is that it doesn't cost extra to book a nicer room. Indeed, when booking the Vic, I ensured to book the expensive suite room because it costs the same as a standard king bed room.

I transferred the remainder to QF.

Hopefully during the promotion!

For me, they were more trouble than they were worth and I'm pleased to have none left.

To each their own. I think the key when pursuing the points game is figuring out which programs make sense, and staying on top of your points so you can use them effectively before they expire (or get devalued).

-RooFlyer88

 

[Jacques Vert]

I agree there are sweet spots, but generally not at the time and place that suited me.

While I have my own system for staying on top of expiring points, I've also reduced the number of programs I'm a member of.