Choice Privileges points expire after 18 months of account inactivity, which can be reset every time you earn or redeem at least one point.
Read on to learn more about how to earn qualifying points to reset your Choice Privileges expiration date.
How To Keep Choice Points From Expiring
As long as you generate any qualifying activity on your Choice Rewards account within 18 months, your points’ expiration clock will reset for another 18 months.
Qualifying activities include staying at hotels, renting a car, transferring your points, and many more.
Earn Points From Hotel Stays
Stay at Choice Hotels®, Bluegreen Vacations®, and casino hotel brands (Ameristar, Hollywood Casino, etc) and earn up to 10 points per dollar.
Members who have a Choice Privileges elite status (Gold, Platinum, and Diamond) will earn bonus points of up to 50%.
Redeem Points For Free Nights
Redeem your Choice hotels points for free nights at thousands of Choice Hotels properties worldwide. To book an award night, just visit the booking page and select “Rewards Points” as form of payment.
There are no blackout dates so you can book award nights anytime you want.
Free nights at Choice properties (U.S. and worldwide) usually cost between 6,000 to 35,000 points per night, but nights at in Asia-Pac locations can cost up to 75,000 points per night.
If you don’t have enough points to book an award night, members can also pay using Points + Cash. However, you need at least 6,000 points in your Choice Rewards account to use this feature.
Book A Cruise
Book a cruise at the Royal Caribbean, Celebrity X Cruises, Princess, and other cruise lines to earn 5 Choice points per dollar spent (this offer is valid for bookings departing before 12/31/25).
Members can also redeem their Choice points for cruise credits which can be used towards cruise expenses. You have two options:
- $250 Credit – Requires 85,000 Choice points
- $500 Credit – Requires 160,000 Choice Points
Hold A Choice Co-branded Card
Signing up for a Choice Hotel rewards credit card is the most convenient way to earn points on a daily basis, even if you’re not staying at a hotel.
The Choice Privileges® Visa Signature® Card earns 5 points per dollar on eligible Choice hotels, and 2 points per dollar on all other purchases. That’s on top of the points you’re already earning as a Choice Privileges member.
Transfer Amex Points To Your Choice Account
If you don’t have a Choice co-branded card, you can always transfer the points earned from your American Express Membership Rewards cards to your Choice account.
Membership Rewards transfer to Choice at a ratio of 1:1, but I would only recommend transferring 1,000 points to reset the expiration date since you can get 2-3 times the value by transferring to airlines.
A few of our favorite Membership Rewards cards are:
Transferring Points To Airline Partners
With Rewards Exchange, members can transfer their points as airline miles to several Choice hotel transfer partners. Just make sure to set your earning preferences to “Choice Privileges” before initiating the transfer.
- Air Canada Aeroplan: 5,000 points for 1,000 Aeroplan miles.
- AeroMexico Club Premier: 5,000 points for 1,000 Club Premier miles (1,600 Club Premier Kilometers)
- Alaska Airlines MileagePlan: 5,000 points for 1,000 Mileage Plan miles
- Spirit Airlines Free Spirit: 5,000 points for 1,000 Free Spirit miles
- United MileagePlus: 5,000 points for 1,000 MileagePlus miles
- Velocity Frequent Flyer: 2,000 points for 800 frequent flyer points
- Qantas Frequent Flyer: 2,000 points for 800 Frequentflyer points
Alternatively, you can also earn airline miles directly every time you stay at eligible Choice hotels. This means that you don’t have to transfer your points anymore.
- Air Canada Aeroplan: 250 miles per stay.
- AeroMexico Club Premier:1,600 miles per stay
- Alaska Airlines MileagePlan: 250 miles per stay
- Spirit Airlines Free Spirit: 250 miles per stay
- United MileagePlus: 1,000 miles per stay
- Velocity Frequent Flyer: 3 points per AUD$ in Australia; 600 points per stay in New Zealand, Singapore, Papua New Guinea and Fiji; 600 points per stay in all other countries
- Qantas Frequent Flyer: 3 points per AUD$ in Australia; 600 points per stay in New Zealand, Singapore, Papua New Guinea and Fiji; 600 points per stay in all other countries
Just set your earning preferences to your preferred airline miles on your account, and you’ll automatically earn the following rates above when staying at hotels.
Refer A Friend
Earn 500 points whenever you refer a friend to Choice Privileges. Just log in to your account and send your referral code to a friend who has not signed up for a Choice Rewards account.
Once your referral signs up and completes an eligible stay, you’ll receive 500 points within 72 hours. Your referral will also receive 500 points in his/her account.
Rent A Car
You can rent a car with Avis or Budget to earn points to reset your points expiration.
Donate
You can donate your points to Choice Privileges partner charities. Donations typically start at 1,000 points.
Receiving Points As A Gift
Members can gift points to other members of up to 120,000 points per year. However, gifting points does not count as a qualifying activity but receiving points into your Choice Rewards account does.
Buy Choice Rewards Points
If you’re running out of options, buying Choice points is one way to generate qualifying activity on your Choice rewards account. Members can buy up to 120,000 points in a calendar tear.
Normally, you can buy a minimum of 1,000 points for $12.10 (about 1.21 cents apiece), but Choice Privileges regularly runs bonus offers of up to 30% which can lower the cost per point.
What Won't Extend Your Points?
There are a few things that won’t reset your points expiration:
- Registering for a promotion.
- Gifting points (but it will extend the points of the person receiving the points).
- Hotel stays that aren’t eligible for points.
- Stays booked through third-party merchants (travel agencies, booking apps, etc.)
- Booking hotel rooms under $40
How Choice Compares to Other Programs
Here’s how Choice Privileges compares to other points programs:
Choice Privileges FAQs
Do Choice Rewards points expire?
Yes. Choice Rewards Points expire after 18 months of account inactivity.
You can extend the expiration date of your points for another 18 months if you earn or redeem at least one point within 18 months.
Can I buy Choice Rewards points?
Yes. Buying Choice points is allowed. A minimum purchase of 1,000 points is normally required which cost $12.10.
Do Choice Hotel points transfer to other loyalty programs?
Yes. Choice Points can be transferred to several airline partners such as AeroMexico, Air Canada, United Airlines, and Spirit Airlines.
Can I transfer Amex Membership Rewards Points to Choice Privileges Rewards?
Yes. American Express Membership Rewards points can be transferred to Choice Rewards at a 1:1 ratio.
Bottomline
Choice Rewards points will expire after 18 months of account inactivity, which isn’t as bad as other programs like Accor and IHG where points expire after 12 months.
The only downside we see with earning Choice points is it doesn’t transfer to a lot of airline partners. For example, Hilton Rewards has 26 airline partners while Marriott Bonvoy has 38 airline partners (as of this writing).
