Choice Privileges guide: How to earn and redeem points, elite status and more

Alternative Privileges is the rewards program for Alternative Lodges, which incorporates manufacturers reminiscent of Cambria Lodges, Consolation Inn, Sleep Inn and Econo Lodge. Since Choice Privileges fully integrated Radisson Rewards Americas in 2023, it additionally consists of manufacturers like Radisson, Radisson Blu and Park Plaza in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Regardless of some latest devaluations — together with the removing of the 35,000-point cap on award night prices for Alternative Lodges properties and a rise in Preferred Hotels & Resorts award rates — it is nonetheless potential to get important worth from the Alternative Privileges program. Let’s dive in.

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• 10 factors per greenback spent at most Alternative Lodges properties
• Member charges and promotions
• Personalized Weeknight Benefits (also called Your Extras) on stays that embrace a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday night time

Past that, you will discover three Choice Privileges elite status tiers: Gold, Platinum and Diamond.

Alternative Privileges Gold

You may earn Gold standing after finishing 10 qualifying nights in a calendar 12 months. Solely reward nights and nights that earn Alternative factors rely towards elite standing, and a few stays at extended-stay manufacturers earn fewer qualifying nights.

Nevertheless, one simple option to snag Gold standing is to have the no-annual-fee Choice Privileges® Mastercard® (see rates and fees), which provides cardmembers 10 elite night time credit every calendar 12 months.

On high of the advantages out there to primary members, Gold members additionally get the next perks:

• 10% bonus factors on all qualifying stays
• Welcome present (bonus factors or beverage and snack) at collaborating motels
• Early check-in and late checkout when out there
• Room upgrades at Cambria and Ascend Resort Assortment manufacturers worldwide and Radisson, Radisson Blu, Radisson Pink, Radisson Assortment, Radisson People and Park Plaza manufacturers in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean
• Elite reserved parking, when out there, at collaborating motels within the U.S. and Canada
• As much as 9 elite rollover nights per calendar 12 months
• Elite buyer hotline
• Standing match to Penn Play Benefit at greater than 20 on line casino motels nationwide

Alternative Privileges Platinum

You may attain Platinum standing after 20 qualifying nights in a calendar 12 months. One simple option to keep Platinum standing is by having the Choice Privileges® Select Mastercard® ($95 annual charge; see rates and fees), which supplies cardholders 20 elite night time credit every calendar 12 months.

Platinum members get all of the perks of Gold standing in addition to:

• 25% bonus factors on all qualifying stays
• As much as 19 elite rollover nights per calendar 12 months

Alternative Privileges Diamond

You may earn Alternative Privileges Diamond standing after 40 qualifying nights in a calendar 12 months. In fact, when you’ve got the Choice Privileges Mastercard or Choice Privileges Select Mastercard, you will get elite night time credit every calendar 12 months as a cardholder perk. Which means you will not want to remain as many nights to safe Diamond standing.

Along with the above Platinum advantages, Diamond members get the next perks:

• 50% bonus factors on all qualifying stays
• Complimentary breakfast for you and one registered visitor at collaborating resort eating places throughout stays at Radisson, Radisson Pink, Radisson Blu, Radisson Assortment, Radisson People and Park Plaza properties in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean
• Assured room availability while you name not less than 48 hours earlier than your keep at collaborating Ascend and Cambria motels worldwide and Radisson, Radisson Pink, Radisson Blu, Radisson Assortment, Radisson People and Park Plaza motels in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean
• As much as 39 elite rollover nights per calendar 12 months
• Standing match to Penn Play Most well-liked

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Here is a fast overview of the numerous methods to earn Choice Privileges points.

Resort stays

Primary members earn 10 factors per greenback spent on their room fee (excluding taxes and incidental expenses) at most collaborating Alternative motels; you possibly can see which manufacturers and locations are excluded in Alternative’s rules and regulations. Elite members earn 10% to 50% bonus factors based mostly on their standing tier.

To earn Alternative Privileges factors, you should e book instantly with Alternative Lodges by one of many following channels: the toll-free specific reservation line, the Alternative Lodges web site or cellular app, or instantly with the resort (aside from Ascend Resort Assortment all-inclusive resorts and on line casino places).

Nevertheless, even when booked instantly, some stays will not be eligible to earn factors. These embrace stays with room charges under $40 per night time, sure hotel-initiated promotions, reward night time stays and Factors Plus Money reservations. See the foundations and rules for extra particulars.

Bank card spending

In the event you regularly keep at Alternative properties, chances are you’ll wish to get a cobranded Alternative Privileges bank card. You’ll be able to earn Alternative factors with the cobranded playing cards as follows:

• Choice Privileges Mastercard (no annual charge; see rates and fees): 5 factors per greenback spent on stays at collaborating Alternative Lodges properties and on Alternative Privileges level purchases; 3 factors per greenback spent on purchases at fuel stations, grocery shops, dwelling enchancment shops and telephone plan companies; and 1 level per greenback spent on different purchases
• Choice Privileges Select Mastercard ($95 annual charge, see rates and fees): 10 factors per greenback spent on stays at collaborating Alternative Lodges properties and on Alternative Privileges level purchases; 5 factors per greenback spent on purchases at fuel stations, grocery shops, dwelling enchancment shops and telephone plan companies; and 1 level per greenback spent on different purchases

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Switch factors from different applications

A number of applications with transferable currencies accomplice with Alternative Privileges, permitting you to simply get extra Alternative factors even when you do not frequent Alternative properties:

Purchase Alternative factors

Buying Choice points is one other option to increase your Alternative Privileges stability. The fee per level varies relying on what number of factors you buy, however you will sometimes pay between 1 and 1.3 cents per level — not an amazing deal in comparison with our March 2025 valuation of 0.6 cents per Alternative level. Nevertheless, generally you possibly can pay a lot much less if Alternative is providing a reduction or bonus promotion on buying points.

Earn with companions

Alternative Privileges companions with numerous applications to let members earn further factors on different actions. These embrace:

Earn when planning occasions

You’ll be able to earn Alternative Privileges factors while you host occasions at eligible Choice hotels. Whenever you affiliate your Alternative Privileges member quantity along with your group’s reservation, you will earn 3 factors per greenback spent (as much as 150,000 factors) on assembly area, visitor rooms, and meals and beverage expenses.

Now that you understand how to earn Alternative Privileges factors, let’s contemplate the alternative ways you possibly can redeem Choice points. You may normally get probably the most worth while you use Alternative factors for resort stays, however there are different choices.

Redeem free of charge nights

Alternative Privileges has no set award chart and does not type properties into classes. Though Alternative now not caps award nights at 35,000 factors, most award nights nonetheless value between 8,000 and 35,000 factors.

Alternative not too long ago prolonged the reserving window for reward nights (amongst different changes to Choice Privileges in 2025), that means now you can e book with factors as much as 50 weeks upfront. Since you possibly can e book premium rooms at some properties for a similar variety of factors as commonplace rooms, you will wish to snag these quickly after the reserving window opens.

You’ll be able to e book Factors Plus Money charges at some Alternative Lodges when you see the choice while you seek for a reward night time. You will not earn factors on the money portion, as you are successfully shopping for factors with the money copay. As such, make sure you’re shopping for factors at a low sufficient fee to make doing so worthwhile. You may be refunded fully in factors when you cancel a Factors Plus Money reserving, and you should buy as much as 250,000 factors per calendar 12 months by these bookings.

You can too redeem Alternative factors for stays at collaborating Preferred Hotels & Resorts, Westgate Resorts, Bluegreen Vacations leases and Penn casino hotels and resorts. As an illustration, award nights at Most well-liked properties begin at 25,000 Alternative factors.

Redeem for particular experiences

Alternative Privileges Experiences allows you to bid Alternative factors on unique tickets to live shows and sporting occasions, together with college sports experiences and NASCAR tickets with special access. The tickets up for public sale change regularly, however you possibly can see what’s at the moment out there on Choice’s Experiences website.

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Redeem for present playing cards

You’ll be able to redeem Alternative Privileges factors for bodily or digital gift cards to a restricted variety of retailers reminiscent of Residence Depot, Hulu, Kohl’s and Applebee’s. Usually, you possibly can redeem 8,000 factors for a $25 present card, 16,000 factors for a $50 present card or 32,000 factors for a $100 present card. This yields solely 0.31 cents per level, so we advocate utilizing different redemption choices that present extra worth.

Donate your factors

You even have the choice to donate your Choice Privileges points to a handful of charities, together with American Pink Cross, Boys & Women Golf equipment of America and Operation Homefront. Most of those assist you to redeem $5 for each 1,000 Alternative factors, or you possibly can double your donation with $10 for each 1,000 factors at Polaris. This offers you a stable redemption worth of 0.5 to 1 cent per level.

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Trade your factors for miles

In the event you’d relatively have airline miles than resort factors, you possibly can switch your Alternative factors to the next loyalty applications online:

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Aeromexico Rewards
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue
• Alaska Airways Mileage Plan
• British Airways Government Membership
• Iberia Plus
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Saudia AlFursan
• Southwest Speedy Rewards
• Turkish Airways Miles&Smiles
• United MileagePlus
• Velocity Frequent Flyer

You can too switch Alternative factors to Spirit Airways Free Spirit by calling Alternative Privileges customer support; this switch might take two to 6 weeks.

Switch ratios fluctuate by program, however none of them are nice. For many of the above airways, 5,000 Alternative factors offers you just one,000 airline miles. We expect you are higher off preserving your Alternative factors and redeeming them for resort stays, however this feature may make sense when you do not frequent Alternative Lodges and are brief a couple of miles in your subsequent airline redemption.

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Redeem for cruise credit score

Lastly, you possibly can redeem Alternative Privileges factors towards a crusing by Choice Privileges Cruises. In response to the terms and conditions, you should e book by telephone to redeem factors this fashion.

You’ll be able to redeem 85,000 factors for a $250 credit score towards your cruise or 160,000 factors for a $500 credit score. This gives a redemption worth of 0.29 or 0.31 cents per level, so it is not one of the best ways to maximise your Alternative factors.

The Alternative Privileges program regularly provides promotions that can assist you lower your expenses or earn bonus factors. As an illustration, you possibly can at the moment earn double points on participating stays by April 7, or earn a $200 present card or 40,000 Alternative factors (price $240 by our valuations) on a three-night Bluegreen Vacations stay.

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Candy spot redemptions

There are many alternatives to get outsize worth from Alternative Privileges factors. For instance, in Europe and Japan, you possibly can typically e book properties for 20,000 or fewer factors per night time.

Alternative factors can even present good worth within the U.S. As an illustration, listed below are some properties close to Myrtle Seaside, South Carolina, the place you possibly can e book a weekend night time for 15,000 or fewer factors.

Lowest Worth Assure

Alternative’s Lowest Price Guarantee applies while you e book instantly with Alternative after which discover a decrease publicly out there value inside 24 hours of reserving. You have to have booked not less than 48 hours earlier than a 6 a.m. arrival on the primary day booked, and you should full the claim form inside 24 hours of reserving.

Inside 48 hours of your declare, a Alternative Lodges consultant will contact you. In case your declare is authorised, Alternative is not going to solely honor the decrease fee in your keep but in addition offer you a $50 reward card after your keep when you’re a U.S. or Canadian resident. (In the event you’re a world resident, you will obtain the primary night time free.)

Standing match to Alternative Diamond

If in case you have elite standing with one other resort loyalty program, you possibly can make the most of Alternative’s status match program for tiers as much as Alternative Platinum. Or you need to use Alternative’s Cambria Diamond Elite Standing Soar to get top-tier Diamond standing after one qualifying keep at a Cambria Resort. Since Alternative standing matches are as soon as per lifetime, we advocate choosing the latter.

To request Diamond standing after your keep, e-mail Status_Match@choicehotels.com with the next info:

• Your full title and Alternative Privileges quantity
• Proof of elite standing with one other main resort loyalty program
• A replica or screenshot of a folio/receipt from a points-eligible Cambria keep within the final 12 months

In case your request is authorised, you will achieve Diamond standing for the remainder of the 12 months in case your Cambria keep or your request was between January and June. You may get Diamond standing by the tip of subsequent 12 months in case your Cambria keep and request are between July and December.

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As is usually the case with factors and miles, the high-value redemptions you may get with Alternative factors have dwindled over time. Nonetheless, we love redeeming as few as 8,000 factors per night time to remain in lots of Alternative Lodges properties, and even a 35,000-point award night time redemption could make sense in in any other case costly locations. Plus, you may get much more worth from this system with a Choice credit card.

Nevertheless, Alternative Privileges elite standing gives comparatively few advantages. If elite standing is vital to you, chances are you’ll wish to contemplate a distinct resort loyalty program.