Choice Privileges® now available

[gandalf252002 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gandalf252002]

It appears that the option to convert BG points to Choice Privilege points is now available. Seems to be they are converting at 1 to 4, so 13,000 BG points works out to 52,000 Choice points. Not being a frequent hotel traveller, anyone know how well this converts?

[VA_Traveller Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close VA_Traveller]

It appears that the option to convert BG points to Choice Privilege points is now available. Seems to be they are converting at 1 to 4, so 13,000 BG points works out to 52,000 Choice points. Not being a frequent hotel traveller, anyone know how well this converts?

I found this at http://www.choicehotels.com/en/choic.../redeem-points

o find out the reward level of the hotel you want to stay in, use the hotel search feature above. The number of points required for a reward night is located under Hotel Details on the Hotel Home tab.

There are no blackout dates!
There are over 1,500 Choice hotels with reward nights at 8,000 points or less. Click here to see the list.
Reward nights at Choice hotels worldwide are available from 6,000 to 35,000 points (excluding Australasia where points required are up to 75,000)
Point requirements for some hotels may vary based on time of year
Book up to 30 days in advance for hotels in the U.S. or Canada or 60 days in advance for hotels outside of the U.S. and Canada
Reward nights can be booked 50 days in advance for Elite Gold members staying in the U.S. and Canada or 60 days in advance for hotels outside of the U.S. and Canada.
Reward nights can be booked 75 days in advance for Elite Platinum members and 100 days for Elite Diamond members

a quick search in AC showed that they want 179$ for the BG palace and the choice point listing was

Points required for Choice Privileges® reward night redemption:

Jul 1, 2013 - Sep 15, 2013 : 25000
Sep 16, 2013 - Nov 30, 2013 : 25000

these are for efficiency's, or the studio. Even in ultra red season, those go for 10,000 a week. If you converted 10K BG points over to choice @ 4 to 1, thats 40K choice, or not enough for 2 nites.

so looks pretty useless to me?

[ptlohmysoul Member Find all posts View Profile Close ptlohmysoul]

So 10,000 points for the one night I looked at. Not too good of an exchange rate, unless you're trying to burn points.

or am I misunderstanding this?

[gandalf252002 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gandalf252002]

I did a bit of comparing and in the majority of cases you are are right. I took what the 13,000 BG points cost to get a per point rate for the Choice points. Since we will be staying in Edmonton next year, I looked at what it would cost to book two nights, Friday and Saturday at some of the various hotels.

For a couple of them I would only need 8000 points for each night. For the 20,000 a night ones there is no doubt that it is a waste, but it can be beneficial in some circumstances.

I think you are understanding it correctly, and this would equate to 2500 BG points which depending on your MF's whould be anywhere from $150 to $200 a night. You can pay cash for less, but if you have extra points that are going to waste this is one way to use them.

So 10,000 points for the one night I looked at. Not too good of an exchange rate, unless you're trying to burn points.

or am I misunderstanding this?

[VA_Traveller Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close VA_Traveller]

Not to mention the 35$ fee for converting, and the fact that you cannot use saved points.

Seems pretty useless to me, except for the 10% discount.

[gandalf252002 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gandalf252002]

You would have to be VERY careful when trying to use this as in 90% of the cases I think it would not be beneficial. In the other 10%, if you had points going to waste it might be advantageous. I really don't like the not being able to used saved points, but understand the reasoning as it creates somewhat of a liability. If people were to use their saved points for stuff like this and select connections, it would prevent others from using current years points. Saving points is somewhat of a luxury I think.

[esaleplus Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close esaleplus]

Trying to figure out the value of Choice Privileges points if converted and I have come to the following conclusion. 1 Blue Green point cost me in annual expenses $.077 each. (not including original purchase price) you get 4 Choice privileges points for 1 Bluegreen point. The value of 4 Choice Privilege points is $.0125 based on redemption value for a gift card. So in rough numbers you would get 20 cents on the dollar if you convert to Choice Privileges points (not including $35 conversion fee). Not much of a benefit, am I missing something?

[ptlohmysoul Member Find all posts View Profile Close ptlohmysoul]

Can these choice points be used by a guest user? We use my MIL's points, but not sure we could use this. (She doesn't use it at all.)

[wigginswade Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wigginswade]

Someone on yahoo site used choice, this is a repost of my response.
They used 11,000 bluegreen points for 2 nights in a choice hotel.


Mntnce fees for 11,000 points would cost just under $650. Plus $35 conversion
is $685. In this example they will use half their choice points for two nights
in hotels at $342.50 for two nights.
>
> I'm glad you are using the program to some benefit and its working for you. I
think however, if my math is right, its best for most to save the points and use
them for a week in Bg instead.
>
> Since we can't use choice option with saved points then there is no scenario
where It is the only thing left to do with dying points. Given the choice it
seems to make more economical sense to save the points instead.
>
> W

[VA_Traveller Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close VA_Traveller]

Someone on yahoo site used choice, this is a repost of my response.
They used 11,000 bluegreen points for 2 nights in a choice hotel.


Mntnce fees for 11,000 points would cost just under $650. Plus $35 conversion
is $685. In this example they will use half their choice points for two nights
in hotels at $342.50 for two nights.
>
> I'm glad you are using the program to some benefit and its working for you. I
think however, if my math is right, its best for most to save the points and use
them for a week in Bg instead.
>
> Since we can't use choice option with saved points then there is no scenario
where It is the only thing left to do with dying points. Given the choice it
seems to make more economical sense to save the points instead.
>
> W

Maint. Fee's vary based on your trust fund, but I ~think~ most deeds are now in trust fund E. That would make your example the following for trust fund E owners.

$325 base
$544.50 point fee (.0495)
$125 club dues (you pay them, so they are a cost!)
$35 dollar conversion fee.

for a total of $1029.50 for the 2 nites, or, $514.75 a nite.

Hope they got a candy on the pillow....