Choice Privileges isn’t a program that gets a ton of digital ink in the points and miles blogosphere. At FM, we’ve primarily been interested in it because of its partnership with Preferred Hotels and Resorts, something that Greg the Frequent Miler has taken advantage of several times.
A couple of weeks ago, Choice torpedoed the value for some high-end Preferred Hotels properties overnight, causing them to rise in nightly cost by as much as 75-80%.
Now, Choice has done almost the exact same thing to its own hotels. Previously, regardless of cash cost, award redemptions were capped at a maximum of 35,000 points/night. No longer, as prices for some properties are reaching 40-45,000 points nightly.
Choice Privileges pricing awards above 45k/night
Until now, Choice Privileges charged a maximum of 35K points/night for all award redemptions outside of Asia/Pacific (which had a 75K cap). Now the website simply says, “reward nights start at 8,000 points.”
Katie Genter over at TPG noticed that several properties in New York City were now pricing at 40,000 – 45,000 points/night…but it doesn’t stop there. Looking at other metro areas around the country, both Chicago and Miami showed properties pricing at 45K:
Looking Outside of the US, I immediately found a 45K redemption in Paris…at the Clarion Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport:
Quick Thoughts
No one likes to see prices go up, and no-notice increases really stick in our craw. However, as devaluations go, this isn’t a terrible one. Prices don’t seem to have gone up across the board; instead it seems that only the most expensive properties are now pricing in one of two higher tiers: 40k and 45k/night.
This could be part of Choice lowering the redemption value of its points in lower price categories as well; now that it’s fully dynamic it will be hard to tell. What is clear is that high-end properties are much more expensive today than they were a couple of weeks ago when booking with Choice Privileges points.
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