Best Choice Hotels Redemption Options
Choice Hotels is an oft-overlooked chain that doesn’t get the attention it deserves. With Citi adding Choice Privileges as a transfer partner, though, it may get a little more of the limelight. The program is heavy with 2-star and 3-star properties, especially in the U.S., and most of the best Choice Hotels are found abroad.
It’s a bit difficult to peg the value of Choice points, given how different awards are within the U.S. compared to internationally, but I like to get at least 1 cent per point, it possible. This doesn’t make them an excellent value when you can use bank program points to simply book for 1+ cents each. But…there are some gems. I’ve found stays where you can get in excess of 2 cents per point. Some of these properties made our list of best Choice Hotels award redemptions. Here are my 10 favorites!
RELATED: Citi ThankYou Choice Hotels Partnership: Solid Value with Preferred Hotels
10 Best Choice Hotels Redemptions
Clarion Hotel The Edge, Tromso
Given how much I’d like to visit Norway, especially it’s northern reaches, it shouldn’t be any surprise that this hotel heads my list of best choice hotels. Depending on the season, you can get upwards of 1.7 cents per point or more, which is excellent for Choice points. This particular hotel also looks like the most stylish of all the Choice options in Tromso (there are five). Choice Privilege’s points are the way to go when visiting expensive Norway.
F6, Ascend Hotel Collection, Helsinki
This is a centrally-located option in Finland’s capital city that has excellent ratings. You can also generally get 1.1-1.3 cents per choice point, even at the rate of 20,000 points per night. Two other nice properties on the list include Hotel Lilla Roberts and Klaus K Hotel, both of which I’ve enjoyed, although the stays were through World of Hyatt and Marriott Bonvoy, respectively. These don’t seem to be available as often using Choice Privileges points.
Quality Inn and Suites Montclair, Springdale
While Choice Hotels includes a ton of U.S. properties, there isn’t a whole lot that really excites me. The only properties that do are those in key locations. I’ve eyed the Quality Inn near Zion National Park as a potential good use of points during the summer. It’s a national park that I have yet to visit, and one that is at the top of my list to take the kids to.
Zoetry Montego Bay, Jamaica
While it’s an enormous number of points per night, you can get close to 1 cent per point for two people at this all-inclusive resort during peak dates. I’m not sure what is going to happen to the AMR Collection Hotels that are now being integrated into World of Hyatt. These may not be available through Choice Privileges much longer.
Clarion Collection Hotel Temperance, Malmo
When planning a trip to Denmark a couple years ago (that ultimately didn’t happen), I hoped to spend a couple nights in Malmo, Sweden, as well. Located just across the Baltic Sea from Copenhagen, this city has a few different Choice Hotels. The Clarion Collection Hotel Temperance seems to offer the best combination of location, quality, and value.
Comfort Inn Tokyo Roppongi
While there are a number of excellent luxury hotels in international chains in Tokyo, consider saving your points and staying at a cheap 3-star place. You want to be out exploring Japan’s capital anyway. Most of the properties start at just 8,000 points most of the year. Value isn’t exceptional, but it’s often decent. Choice is an overlooked option in Japan.
Comfort Inn Westminster, London
While I booked the Comfort Inn Hyde Park when we visited London at the beginning of 2020, the better value is often the Comfort Inn Westminster. You can get upwards of 2 cents per point over some dates. London properties tend to fluctuate quite a bit in terms of both cash and points, so shop around. In terms of Tube access, the Hyde Park location is probably better. I’ve seen both properties available for as few as 8,000 points per night, which is excellent.
The Benson Hotel, Cairns
This one was an odd find. I’ve not searched anything in Australia for a while, given how unlikely travel is to the land down under in the near future. But The Benson looks like a reasonable award option if visiting Cairns and one of the best Choice Hotels awards I found in the country. At 12,000 points compared to $220 AUD, it’s not a bad value.
Cambria Hotel Nashville Downtown
Finding excellent value with Choice in the U.S. can be difficult, but Nashville is one location you may be able to get above-average return. Hotel rates can be quite high, something that I’ve noticed every time I’ve considered visiting (I’ve yet to make it to Tennessee). The Cambria Hotel Downtown charges a whopping 30,000 points per night, but rates are often over $300, making an award stay a decent play.
Clarion Hotel Admiral, Bergen
I’ll finish of the list with another property in Norway. It was hard to decide between this one and the Clarion Collection Hotel Havnekontoret, both of which start at 16,000 Choice points per night in the off-season. You can get ~1 cent per point, which I would expect to increase to better value in the summer when rates are higher. Bergen comes highly recommended to me by a friend. One day we’ll make it to Norway.
Best Choice Hotel Properties / Redemptions – Final Thoughts
With many, many properties, I’m sure there are some gems I’ve missed that should be on the lest of best Choice Hotels in terms of award value. Have you explored this program? Are there any properties you’re looking at booking, now that you can transfer Citi ThankYou Points to Choice Hotels?
Header image courtesy of Zoetry Montego Bay.
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I agree with your basic comment that “Choice Hotels is an oft-overlooked chain that doesn’t get the attention it deserves”. This is especially true on UK travel websites, such as “Head for Points”, where it is never mentioned. Part of the problem is that it has no real ‘partners’ (airlines, etc.) in Europe.
As a UK Choice member I always prefer to use Choice hotels when touring USA. They have a good selection of mid-range hotels in most locations.
However I do query your mentioning the 2 hotels in Finland and Norway. I was under the impression that these were part of the NORDIC Choice group, which is run independently of the main Choice group. Several years ago I stayed at a Nordic Choice hotel in Sweden, but was not able to get any points credited to my Choice membership. Has the situation changed now? Maybe there are different rules for earning vs. redemption?
I do know there is a distinction between Nordic Choice and other Choice hotels, but not sure on the details. As far as I understand, though, as U.S. program member, you can use points at these hotels at the prices shown. I’ve not looked into the earning side of things abroad.