Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend. Laura and I are planning our Summer vacation to a few Scandinavian / Nordic countries and I have identified 2 Ascend Hotel Collection properties (part of Choice Hotels) that are bookable for 20,000 Choice Hotels Points per night. We would spend 5 nights in these properties, so 5 x 20,000 points = 100,000 points. I currently have 3,000 points in my Choice account, so I need 97,000 more points. Currently, there are 3 possible options, and I am having a hard time figuring out which path to take, so this is where I need your help. Please read through this post and let me know what you would do if you were in my situation.
Choice Hotels is a transfer partner of Citi ThankYou Points and they actually have an amazing transfer ratio. 1,000 Citi ThankYou Points = 2,000 Choice Hotels Points. If I transferred 49,000 Citi ThankYou Points, I would receive 98,000 Choice Hotels Points, which would bring my Choice balance to 101,000 points, enough for my 5 nights. My only concern is that my Citi ThankYou Points balance is currently at 63,336 points. If I transferred 49,000 points to Choice, I would only have 14,336 points remaining. I do have a Citi Rewards+ Credit Card, which would give me a 10% rebate (4,900 points back), so that would bring my balance back up to 19,236. I don’t have any other immediate plans for the 63,336 points in my account, but it is nice to have a larger balance in case I need to transfer points to another program.
My next consideration was buying the Choice Hotels Points directly. Choice Hotels is currently running a promotion where you can get a 40% bonus on the number of points you purchase. To get the 97,000 points that I need, I can purchase 70,000 points + 28,000 bonus points = 98,000 points, for $721.00. I wouldn’t pay $721 in order to save 49,000 Citi ThankYou Points (1.47 CPP), so I think this option is off the table.
Lastly, I remembered that Choice Hotels is participating in this year’s Daily Getaways. In 2 weeks (April 29, 2024), you can purchase 55,000 Choice Hotels Points for $285 and 42,000 Choice Hotels Points for $220. If I bought both packages, that would give me 97,000 points for $505. Would I pay $505 to save 49,000 Citi ThankYou Points? That is an excellent question. 49,000 Citi ThankYou Points is worth $490 in statement credits, so the difference is only $15. But I can usually get much more value that $490 or $505 when I transfer 49,000 points to various transfer partners. This is where my big dilemma comes in. What should I do?
Of the 2 Choice properties, I am much more excited about the first one that would be for only 2 nights (40,000 points total). I tend to have a scarcity mindset when it comes to award travel: If I find an award that seems great, I am worried that other people will find the same award and book it before I can. Since most award travel can be cancelled for free or with minimal cancellation fees, I tend to book first and then ask questions second. With that said, I am leaning toward transferring 19,000 Citi ThankYou Points into 38,000 Choice Hotels Points, then I would have 41,000 points available to book that 2 night award.
I have a few different Choice properties for the 3 night stay and am not in love with any property, so I wouldn’t feel as bad if my first option was no longer available. Since that is the case, I would consider waiting 2 weeks and then purchasing the 55,000 point package from Daily Getaways. At that time, I would have 56,000 total Choice Hotels Points (1,000 points leftover from the first reservation), so I would need to transfer an additional 2,000 Citi ThankYou Points into 4,000 Choice Hotels Points, so I would have 60,000 points available, enough for my 3 night award.
If the Daily Getaways deals were available today (April 15), I would probably buy the 2 packages $505 to get the 97,000 Choice Hotels Points, but I am nervous / impatient about waiting 2 weeks since award charts and award availability can change. Please share your thoughts in the comments section and let me know what you think I should do. I appreciate your help. Have a great day everyone!
Assuming the hotel nights are worth at least $200+, I would definitely wait and buy the Daily Getaway points for $505.
You may have to wait anyways. I don’t think you can book points nights until 100 days out.
Hi Matt, thank you for your thoughts. The cost for the 2 night stay would be €804 and the nights are bookable since they are within 100 days of today. Does that make a difference in your recommendation?
Transfer now. Availability of the choice points in the daily getaway is not guaranteed.
Hi Bob, yes, that is true, but there will be 1,500 and 1,300 packages available for the 2 largest point packages, so I think I have a pretty good shot at getting 1 or both packages if I log in on time.
That’s what I thought last year too and struck on both due to the high number of buyers last year even though I logged on right away. Don’t underestimate the popularity of the Daily Getaway promotion.
Dang, that’s annoying. I have had mixed success with Daily Getaways over the last few years, but assumed Choice Hotels would not be too popular this year.
I’m leaning toward transferring Citi TYPs to Choice to book the first 2 nights and then trying my luck with the Daily Getaway on 4/29 to get most of the points needed for the last 3 nights.
Are you going to try for any of the Daily Getaways Choice packages this year?
Just to back up what Bob was saying, last year the 55k point packages sold out pretty much instantaneously. I expect competition for the Choice packages to be even tougher this year given the new (much discussed) ability to book Preferred Hotels online.
Thank you Seth, I will give it my best shop on April 29 and see if I can be one of the lucky ones to get the 55K package. If that plan doesn’t work, plan B is to transfer the points from Citi TYPs.
Buy the Strawberry Hotels 5-night summer pass for 495 euro. Same price as buying the points without the risk of not getting the Daily Getaways deal (they sold out relatively quickly last year) or the award space.
Hi Origami, thanks for the heads up, I did not hear about that deal.
I read the post from One Mile At A Time (https://onemileatatime.com/deals/strawberry-hotels-summer-pass/) and checked out the list of participating properties (https://www.strawberryhotels.com/campaigns-and-offers/summer-pass-hotel-list/), but neither of the 2 hotels I want to stay at are on the list and I don’t see any Ascend Hotel Collection properties either, which is a major bummer.
This deal won’t work for me, but I could see it being very useful to others if the properties you want to stay at are participating in the deal.