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Yes. If you have no activity on your account for 18 months, Choice Privileges points expire. Per the Choice Privileges website, qualifying activity resets the expiration clock on your points for a further 18 months. The points are lost on the first day of the month at 00:00 PT 18 months after your points have posted. For example, with no subsequent activity, points posted on January 5, 2020, will expire August 1, 2021.
Choice Privileges has paused point expiration through the end of 2021. However, this is only for elite members. See this post for the airline and hotel programs that have paused the expiration of points and miles.
Be sure to track your Choice Privileges Points with AwardWallet.
Qualifying Activity
- Earn points or another currency (miles, Amtrak points) for a paid stay at a Choice Hotels property
- Redeem your points for stays, experiential awards, gift cards or virtual shopping and more
- Purchasing points
- Transfer from American Express Membership Rewards
- Receive points as a gift
- Earn points through Choice Privileges Mall
- Refer a friend– only qualifies after they join Choice Privileges and complete an eligible stay
- Earn points for everyday spending with the Choice Privileges® Visa Signature® Card
- Plenty of other options to earn points as well!
Non-Qualifying Activity
The following activities do not count towards resetting your points expiration date:
- Gifting points – only the person receiving the points qualifies for a reset of points expiration
- Registering for a promotion
- Non-point eligible stays
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Your Choice Privileges loyalty points
We know you have a lot on your mind during this period of uncertainty as it relates to COVID-19. That’s why we have paused Choice Privileges points forfeiture for our most loyal customers until December 31, 2020. For Elite members, points forfeiture will remain paused through December 31, 2021. This update will allow Choice Privileges members more time to redeem points and achieve greater flexibility when planning future travel.
We understand that earning and maintaining Elite status for 2021 is also important to many of you. In 2020, we reduced the number of nights required to reach Elite status, and we’re extending this policy through December 31, 2021. You only need to stay 7 nights to earn Gold status, 15 to earn Platinum and 25 to earn Diamond. If you achieved Gold, Platinum, or Diamond status as of May 20, 2020, we’re extending your upgraded status through December 31, 2021, regardless of how many nights you stayed with us in 2020. As the current situation evolves, we will continue to evaluate opportunities around Elite status and will keep you updated on all loyalty program changes through our website.
Your info is not correct, the extension of points is for only the elite stats of choice rewards. Info was from choices website as of Jan 25 2021. All other category of choice rewards expire as per normal.
Hi Brad, thanks for the correction! We’ve updated the post and reached out to Choice to clarify whether there are/will be any accommodations for non-elites.
Hello Team-
I’m not sure that Transfer from American Express Membership Rewards is still an option. I don’t see them as an available hotel partner. Perhaps you could verify and update your blog?
Thanks,
Jud8i
I’m still seeing Choice listed as a Membership Rewards transfer partner (https://rewards.americanexpress.com/myca/loyalty/us/catalog/view/ptlanding/?tier=MR). However, it is listed “out of order” down in the Hotel section. So, it’s easy to miss.
Hi..can you earn points for choice by participating in this blog?
No, only AAdvantage miles at this stage.
For everyone’s info, I bought GC from giftcertificates.com and it seems they approve purchases in batches every 60 days. All the purchases were approved at same time even though purchases were made a different times up to a month aparrt. Other vendors may approve more quickly.
has anyone used the choice shopping portal to get a few points? I have tried it, but it says 60 days for posting. Is it the posting time or activity date that will determine if points expire?
Much better policy compared to their old one.
Yes, thanks to AwardWallet is easier to prevent several accounts from expiring.
As the number of partners for hotel accounts is quite limited, avoiding their expiration is harder than for airline accounts.
Great useful guide for how to keep Choice Points from expiring.
Useful guide. I had some points expire recently. 😐
everything seems to expire w/n 18 months these days
Reminds me of the time when my choice points expired due to no account activity for 2 years…it was a sad day.
I asked the customer service center if there’s anything they could do and they said tough luck.
Award Wallet account would have prevented that forfeiture. 😛
Nice heads up. I need to be more mindful of such guidelines.
Choice are also an e-rewards partner.
Interesting that giving points away won’t count.
Do most companies have a 18mon policy then? I am seeing a pattern. I wonder why they have gone with 18mons. At least we have a great place that will monitor this for us for an awesome price :O)
It varies; 18 months is probably the most common I’ve seen.
Can AwardWallet track Choice Privileges? If you can then you should say since it’s a useful feature 🙂
By the way, these points are great to book hotels with in Norway, only 10,000 for great places in an expensive country.
Indeed AwardWallet does. I’ve added a link so you can quickly add your Choice Privileges account.
It’s so hard to find these hotels in major cities.
Thanks for info!
good info to have.
thanks for taking the time to share
Sounds like 18 is the magic number for most loyalty programs
Unfortunately I lost all the points I had due to expiration. Do they send an email or any other type of warning before the points expire?
Not sure if Choice does this, but AwardWallet does.
hmm.. seems to be I should someone to gift a few points back and forth with.
Thanks, I need to look into this program a bit more closely, particularly for European redemptions.
Just registering for a promotion counts as activity to avoid point expiration? Really?
Oops. That’s under non-qualifying. Read it in a hurry…my bad.
No. Please re-read the post — it DOES NOT count towards expiration.
well good thing I don’t even have a account with them.
Thank you for the very timely reminder!
don’t have any choice privilege points but this is good info!
Nice that redeeming points counts, rather than just earning points. Makes things much easier!
What if you transfer points from your Amex account?
Yes, they do. I’ve added it to the list.
Any activity on the account extends validity to another 18 months.
Thanks for the information. What about buying something through the Choice shopping portal?
Yes! I’ve added it to the list.
I’ve done as much as I know to do. Award Wallet warned me a couple months ago about my points expiring. So I made a purchase on the Choice shopping portal. Now it’s coming down to the wire, five days from expiration and I still don’t have credit for the purchase. Is there more I can do? Make another purchase on the shopping portal? Call their customer support?
Thanks
Yes, the best option would be contacting their representatives to be on the safe side.
Good to know! Thanks.
I had Choice Points at one time, however I cannot remember the last time I stayed at a Choice Hotel.
i had such trouble getting choice to credit a stay (which they never did) that just seeing the title of this post made me twitch.
Thanks for the reminder.