Choice Privileges Loyalty Program
I have tremendous fun redeeming hotel points from the Choice Privileges loyalty program. I enjoy earning them via the Wells Fargo Choice Privileges Select Mastercard, and that’s recently become a bigger kick. The program is still #2 in my noncents ranking of hotel loyalty programs. But Choice Privileges is far from perfect. Overall, I’m appreciative of the program’s recent refresh, but glaring weaknesses remain.
Choice Privileges Loyalty Program Weaknesses
Booking Woes
I, ahem, prefer to redeem Choice Privileges points via the Preferred Hotels and Resorts partnership. But, friendly reminder, only a subset of these properties cooperate with Choice Privileges. Preferred has over 650 properties, but only 373 participate with Choice as of this writing. Admittedly, that’s a bit higher than previously, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement.
And it can be challenging to get some of those 373 hotels to actually participate. While Choice proudly advertises the points rates for these properties, many of them tightly restrict their available dates for award bookings. After identifying a desirable hotel, one must traverse a clunky calendar function to book. This is often dead on arrival, as I routinely notice hotels we select aren’t possible with our prospective travel dates. Certain properties require minimum stay lengths to redeem. Others just flat out produce errors when Choice Privileges participants try to book. Just a few days ago, a MTM Diamond member reported the site erroring out after the property confirmed availability. I’m obviously not alone here.
Shallow Elite Perks
The new and improved Choice Privileges program advertises complimentary breakfast for the members at the Diamond or Titanium levels and one additional guest. Sounds pretty solid, right? Not exactly, in practice. This benefit is limited to Radisson, Radisson RED, Radisson Blu, Radisson Collection, Radisson Individuals, and Park Plaza properties. What compounds the issue is that relatively few of these hotels exist.
How many of these hotels participate in the Choice Privileges program? I just counted 43 domestic and 46 international Radisson brand properties. This goes along with the other brands’ even more paltry total I previously inventoried: 30. So that’s approximately 119 locations where this unique breakfast benefit applies out of the Choice Privilege program’s 7,400+ properties. Put another way, it appears approximately 1.6% of Choice Privileges properties participate in this elite breakfast benefit. Instead of bringing more meaning to the perk with the inclusion of Cambria and Ascend Collection brands, Choice Privileges omits all of them. (Certain other Choice Privileges brands offer a free-for-everyone breakfast; I’ll touch on that below.)
The main benefit differentiating Titanium from all other levels is the Titanium Travel Award. After achieving Titanium, members receive what’s essentially a coupon for 50% off an award stay up to seven nights. Maximizing members can do considerably well here when staying for a full week. But only a portion of Choice Privileges locations participate, and of course, that list is subject to change at any time. I knew all this before going for Titanium and assessed we’d still obtain considerable value. But many others are better off ignoring Titanium and opting for Diamond status or below, instead.
A Dearth of Desirable Properties
I imagine this matter prevents more individuals from Choice Privileges participation than any other. Compared to the hotel loyalty program heavyweights (such as Hilton Honors, World of Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy, and IHG One Rewards), Choice Privileges probably has the fewest number of desirable properties for redemption. But by adding participating Preferred Hotels and Resorts to the mix, Choice can be more competitive. (Again, that would entail those Preferred properties actually being available for redemption.)
Choice Privileges has sent signals about their intended growth – the program’s created several new brands but has yet to launch meaningful amounts of these properties. Hopefully, the program delivers more exciting options sooner rather than later. For now, though, the chain is clearly behind most other hotel loyalty programs in this regard.
Breakfast Bummer
Again, I’m back talking about breakfast. A variety of Choice Privileges brands offer complimentary breakfast for all guests – Comfort, Country, Quality, Sleep Inns, etc. I can only remember one such Choice Privileges breakfast I enjoyed, and that property isn’t in the program anymore. So much about these breakfasts is low-rent. I’ve gotten to the point where I think these breakfasts make the properties look worse than they actually are. Or maybe they’re exposing something I wouldn’t otherwise notice. I don’t take into account the complimentary breakfast when deciding to stay at these properties. Eating low quality items in awkwardly-tight spaces with hoards of people who can hardly be bothered to get dressed isn’t something I aspire to.
Growing Pains
Before receiving keys to my room at the Radisson Blu Mall of America, the front desk agent mentioned to me she didn’t know Choice Privileges had a status beyond Diamond. It didn’t matter, really, and we each laughed. But clearly, the loyalty program’s changes are still making their way to the various properties and staff. How different employees understand and interpret the updated program and benefits is still a work in progress. I’m still mystified about this property’s interpretation of the Titanium breakfast benefit. Indeed, there seems to be considerable gray areas with some of the elite perks. This can work for or against us in any given stay, so I should be prepared.
Conclusion
Despite all of this, I’m sticking with this still-niche hotel loyalty program for, oddly enough, equally-esoteric stays. Big wins abound for points and travel hobbyists who put in the work. That’s fun for many of us, ones who often enjoy the journey of earning and redeeming points as much as the destination itself. Godspeed!
How are you finding optimal value with the Choice Privileges loyalty program these days?
I continue to rake in Choice points via their credit card. They have locations that in small towns and off the beaten path where you can’t find a Hyatt or Hilton, so Choice has worked well for me as a back-up. The platinum 50% of award certificate is also a nice perk.
I have yet to ever find availability for the dates I need at any Preferred Hotels & Resorts. It’s an impossible quest…. I’ve searched for all of this past year, at different properties… I suspect Preferred Hotels really restricts usages of points at their hotels. So I don’t really bother with this program much, although if the location is one of my travel destinations, I certainly check for availability. But I’ve always come up empty with zero availablity. I think they have a loooong way to go to become more interesting as a redemption option. Also, it’s a tiny footprint of available hotels & resorts.