The Offer
- Barclaycard Choice Privileges is ofering a sign up bonus of 40,000 points after $1,000 in spend
Card Details
- No annual fee
- Card earns at the following rates:
- 5Â points per eligible $1 spent at over 5,500 Choice Privileges locations
- 5 points per eligible $1 on additional Choice Privileges points or Choice Hotels gift card purchase
- 2 points per eligible $1 spent on everyday purchases
- 8,000 anniversary points if you spend more than $10,000 in the previous calendar year
- Elite gold status:
- Ability to book free nights 50 days in advance instead of 30 days
- A 10% Elite points bonus for eligible stays, plus an exclusive reservations phone number
Our Verdict
This is the best offer we’ve seen on this card, previous best was 32,000 points & $25 statement credit. Two things I don’t like about Choice:
- Can only book 30 days in advance (50 days with this credit card)
- Their points expiration policy used to suck (it’s a little better now, but still not great)
The thing with Choice is that the majority of their properties in the United States are awful and overpriced (not entirely true, Matt P mentions the one in Rapid City, SD for visting Bad Lands and Mount Rushmore is good value at 8,000 points per night), but their European properties (and especially Scandinavia) are much nicer and better value. Free nights start at 6,000 points per night and up to a maximum of 35,000 points per night (except in Australasia where it’s up to 75,000 points) and there isn’t any award chart (prices are flexible and somewhat tied to cash rate).
Probably a good idea to do a bit of searching for properties in areas you plan to visit to see if this card works for you or not. If you have any questions about Barclaycard and before you apply for this card, I’d strongly recommend you read our post: 25 Things You Should Know About Barclaycard Credit Cards.
Hat tip to Danny Deal Guru
Thanks for this. I had 10,000 points in my account from a sweepstakes last year and this bonus will give me exactly enough points for 3 nights at top-5 TripAdvisor ranked hotels in Norway, and a top-20 hotel in Copenhagen. Over $750 in value.
Domestic value is very iffy, but Choice’s international collection is pretty solid.
Applied and am pending. Has Barclays lately been one of the cards that you should call during pending status or just let it be?
Applied for this card about 10 days ago under the old offer and went to pending. Any clue if Barclay will match to this offer if I’m approved?
I wouldn’t say that the majority of the Choice properties I’ve stayed at are awful, but they are one to two star properties in terms of quality, with a couple of threes in the mix. As long as you keep that in mind and don’t mind staying at budget facilities they’re fine.
Having grown up staying at these types of properties, I don’t really mind them. If you just need a place to go to sleep they, usually, check that box.
I have used Choice points to book a hotel the same night a few times in 2017, so I’m not sure that the 30/50 days in advance booking requirement is accurate. I just hopped on their app and redeemed my points (paid 100% in points if that made a difference).
30 days (or 50 depending on card) is how far in the future you can book a room. I’ve booked many, many nights for points within moments before showing up at the front desk. Not only Choice, but also Carlson, Hilton, etc. I’ve never had a problem.
My mistake! I read that wrong.
I stayed in a Comfort Inn last night for 10k points – it was clean and comfortable. It’s rare for me to find rooms at 8k points at places I’d stay anyway though.
One benefit for programs like these : I’ve found that the point cost for a stay often won’t change when there is an event in town causing huge price increases across the board. Example: I had employees in a city that was hosting some golf tournament. The cheapest room anywhere was over $300 – and that was a Super 8 rated 2.5 stars in the reviews (so, ). I think the cheapest Marriott was $600.
I got 2 rooms that were posted as $350/night cash rate for Wyndham’s 15k standard point cost. Since the room normally cost about $100, I got more than 3 times the value per point I normally would.
So I think it’s pretty handy to have a small reserve of points from the “lower tier” hotels for emergency situations.
Applied and got no immediate decision (likely denial). Last applied for a Barclay card a couple years ago…kept getting turned down for US Air cards after getting one of them and one other barclay card. Haven’t had a card with Barclays for a while. Apply for around 6-8 cards a year or so.
Just following up, got an e-mail the next day thanking me for enrolling in paperless statements… checked and saw that I was approved for the card.
Well Doc, you’re going with the flow here re. Choice…. (you, Mr. Bow-Tie, the guru, et. al. all so knowing in the standard put downs.) While “ya’all” render fare cautions (and the card indeed still is rather “lame,”) some of us still recall Drew M’s once widely cited post on best uses of choice points at travelisfree…. There’s some real “suite” surprises still within the choice stable and networks, and not just in hot spots in Europe (Italy esp.) but many gems here in the states too. (esp. via the ascend properties & that “preferred hotel group” — which happens to include several of the most posh properties he’uh in Virginia — Keswick & “The Jefferson” for starters….)
Ok, they take more points. (which I’m getting via Amtrak) Yet happens I’ve stayed in some really nice Ascend multi-room Suites with a large family — for 6-10k a night. (ok, those likely were off peak “steals,” but that’s part of the problem with Choice and their lousy Hyatt-like web site, you wouldn’t know readily of the great point value deals to be found without actively checking & monitoring various brands. Rates for individual properties within Choice will quite frequently fluctuate. Points & cash rates are even more… generous at times)
As your Matt P notes, there’s also many a really decent Choice spots in popular tourist destinations out west too — around various national parks. Being able to use Choice points rather than fork over high tourist season $$ rates has several times for me been a substantial money saver…. (unlike the extremely high point rates you’ll often have to pay for IHG properties…. in those same areas — that is, if you can find them….. and you just won’t find the “big” names away from the big cities…. e,g. Hyatt, SPG, Marriott…)
To be sure, there’s the often miserable roadway roadkill fare within the Choice realm…. But it’s not all as bad as the standard refrains…. I’ve had generally good experiences with the Comfort Inn & Suites ( comparable to Holiday Inn Exp. — and generally much nicer than the deteriorating fare at Club Carlson/ Country Inns)
All that aside, fact remains, 40K still a less than stellar come-on for the brand…. (except to those of us who’ve gotten past the usual pack-mentality slams, who already know of the good deals)
PS: I gather from LoyLob that there’s a decent status-match on for Choice now too — which can help with extending the reservations in advance sore spot.
If you are coming from the Super 8/Motel 6/Best Western standard hotel level, Choice has good value. Choice hotels also seem to be less likely to play availability games for major events like the eclipse or football games, for some reason. It’s certainly better than Wyndham, the other competition in the low tier.
The card actually earns only 5 points at Choice properties, the other 10 points is the normal rewards.
Also, the card has a 3% FTF, so it’s not that good to use in Europe.
I’m not sure what’s wrong with the point expiration – stays, redeems and card usage extends all points by 18 months. Hilton’s points expire after 12 month, that’s worse. They also have a shopping portal, so extending should be as easy as anywhere else.
The hotels are not fancy, the program is nothing exciting, but the rooms are clean (at least all where I stayed were), and cheap as hell compared to Hilton Hyatt and like (For one of my past stays, the alternative DoubleTree would’ve cost ~4x than the Comfort Inn..). If you don’t have high expectations, they can be a valid option.
Updated, thanks re: point about 5/15x
Comfort Suites can be pretty nice for a Choice hotel. Not an Embassy, but at least Hampton level. In some places (Kilgore, TX I am looking at you) it’s the best option.
Where can I learn about Barclay’s conversion system between points and cash. Is there a general write-up on how different banks convert between points and cash?
You’d be best served by googling the names of specific programs. Generally cash redemptions are on the poorer end of redemptions and not a great use of most points.