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If you’re a member of the Choice Privileges loyalty program, it’s important to know that your points won’t last forever without a little maintenance. Like many hotel programs, Choice sets an expiration policy for inactive accounts — and if you’re not careful, you could lose your hard-earned points.
Thankfully, keeping your Choice Privileges points from expiring is easy. And, you don’t even have to leave home to do it. In this post, we’ll explain when Choice points expire, what counts as qualifying activity, and how to extend your balance with a few simple moves.
Do Choice Privileges Points Expire?
Choice Privileges points expire if your account has no qualifying activity for 18 months. Qualifying activity resets your points' expiration clock for 18 months. Per the Choice Privileges website:
“If you are an active Choice Privileges member, your points will not expire. To maintain your active member status, you must complete at least one qualifying activity every 18 months, or your points will be forfeited.”
Track your points and miles expiration for 630+ loyalty programs and get email alerts before your miles expire by signing up for a free AwardWallet account.
Qualifying Activity to Extend Choice Point Expiration
Per the Choice Hotels FAQ page, only the following activities count as qualifying activities to prevent points expiration:
- Earn points for a paid stay at a participating Choice Hotels property.
- Redeem your points for stays at Choice Hotels.
- Buy Choice Privileges points.
- Refer a friend; you'll get points after they join Choice Privileges and complete an eligible stay.
- Make a transfer to Choice Privileges from American Express Membership Rewards.
- Receive Choice points as a gift from another member.
- Transfer your points to/from airline partners through Rewards Exchange.
- Earn points with various partners, including taking surveys.
- Rent a car with Avis or Budget.
- Book a cruise with Choice Privilege Cruises.
- Buy golf apparel or equipment or book tee times via the Golf By Choice program.
- Earn points for everyday spending with the Choice Privileges® Select Mastercard® (Rates & Fees) or Choice Privileges® Mastercard® (Rates & Fees).
Related: Current Choice Privilege Promotions
Non-qualifying activity
The following activities do not count towards resetting your points expiration date:
- Rooms booked for under $40 or senior tours.
- Rooms booked through third-party retailers or as part of a convention or meeting.
- Gifting points; only the person receiving the points qualifies for a reset of points expiration.
- Registering for a promotion.
If your Choice points do expire, it will happen at midnight on the final day of the 18th month after your last qualifying activity.
Boosting Your Choice Privileges Points Balance
Transferring American Express Membership Rewards will both boost your points balance and reset your points expiration clock. You also have a few other options if you are looking to boost your Choice Privileges points balance for a redemption. You can transfer all of the following points to Choice Privileges.
Although you also can transfer to Choice from Capital One miles and Citi ThankYou Rewards. There's no mention of whether these transfers are considered qualifying activities.
Use AwardWallet to Track Choice Privileges Points Expiration
The fact that Choice Privileges points expire after 18 months means it pays to keep a close eye on them since it is such a short timeframe. The best way to do so is by using AwardWallet to track your balance. That way, you will get a timely reminder if you have any points in danger of expiring.
Using AwardWallet to track your Choice Privileges points is as easy as can be. Simply log in to your account, link your Choice Privileges account, and you're set. You'll start getting expiration reminders before your points are set to expire.
Related: How to Track Your Rewards Using AwardWallet
Our Take
Choice Privileges gives members a generous 18-month window to keep their points active — and a wide variety of ways to do it. From transferring Amex Membership Rewards points to earning on everyday spending, you have plenty of options to avoid expiration.
Use a tool like AwardWallet to monitor your expiration date, and you’ll never have to worry about losing track of your expiration date. With just one qualifying activity every 18 months, your balance can stay intact and ready for your next redemption.
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Always nice to see the other options out there to keep your points active when you aren’t able to travel in time!
Do Radisson Reward points automatically transferred to Choice (from the merger) start out with an 18 month expiration as of transfer date? Or did the clock begin with last activity that earned a Radisson point?
Hi Darla, I actually have some other questions about the new program and just included your question in an email I sent to Choice. I will let you know what I find out.
Hi Darla, here’s what Choice said:
For members who had their Radisson Rewards Americas account migrated to Choice Privileges: Radisson Rewards Americas Elite Night Credits were migrated to Choice Privileges, combined with any existing Choice Privileges Elite Night Credits, and the total used to calculate the member’s Choice Privileges status based on the Choice Privileges elite status qualification requirements.
For members who had their Radisson Rewards Americas account migrated to Choice Privileges: Any points in the member’s Radisson Rewards Americas account were migrated to Choice Privileges and will be valid for 24-months from the date of transfer. Any new points earned will follow the Choice Privileges policy and be valid for 18-months.
I lost over 20,000 points… I want them back. I have had multiple accounts…COVID limited my travel… can I get me points back?
It’s worth calling and asking Choice if there’s some way of getting them back. You’ve got nothing else to lose.
Choice Hotel deleted our points about 20,000. We had no idea that they would expire as we did not do any travel due to Covid-19. I went to book a hotel in Trenton ON on November 1st and noticed that all the points had disappeared. I have pleaded with them as we have been Choice members for many years. We are seniors and don’t do much travelling mainly in and around different part of Ontario. They said we should have applied for their credit card or purchased points. We don’t need another credit card and never thought about purchasing points as we were not travelling for the last while and basically were house bound with Covid. My question is, is there anyway to reason with Choice or go to some organization to get help in this matter. I have tried several times with them, but they won’t budge.
Sorry to hear about this. Do you know when the points disappeared? Choice sent an email to members in May of 2020 saying points expiration was paused until December 31, 2020. Late in 2020, they updated that to say points wouldn’t expire until December 31, 2021. If your points expired late in 2020 or sometime in 2021, their policy says that shouldn’t have happened. Unfortunately, loyalty programs have terms like “we alone control what happens”, so you wouldn’t be able to sue or get government intervention like you could if this was money. Does it leave a bad taste? Yes. Is there really anything we can do about it? Unfortunately, no. Check into when the points expired and then if it was in this “points won’t expire period” point them to the NUMEROUS places that covered this news. I hope this can help you. Good luck!
It’s a bummer that only the person receiving gifted points qualifies for the reset of expiration… 🙁
Thanks for the useful information. We always have to be on the lookout for the expiration conditions.
Good to know…very usefull info. No loyalty program should ever expire. Thanks!!
Hello,
I would like to know if buying miles in AA site, would eventually avoid miles to expire?
Thank you
Hi Sebastian, yes, purchasing miles is the fastest way we’ve seen.
Have established a special expiration program due to the covid19 pandemic ?
Yes, it’s true. As there are several options to earn miles it’s a pity lose the Choice Privilege points.
Looking at the non-qualifying activities I noticed the fact that booking a room under $40 doesn’t help to avoid the expiration of points.
There are not a lot of rooms under $40 but it’s something I would like to remember in the future in order not to do this particular mistake.
Choice is underrated I think. They gave 50k bonus points. Yeah sometimes not the greatest hotels but in a pinch when traveling they have worked well for us. Also going BIG with 1 or 2 nights works well for the big bonus points. We may be using our nights this summer on our travel.
Also sometimes especially in more rural areas you can find a choice hotel more than some of the other bigger brand hotels.
if you had a previous choice account and get the CC make sure you match those up as its been a pain in the butt trying to call customer service etc having them put my points on my other account etc..
I don’t know if it officially works to reset the clock, but I know I’ve personally extended my expiration by redeeming e-reward currency for Choice points. If you take the occasional survey, one of the better use of e-rewards is a small redemption to keep your points from expiring so you don’t need to use something more valuable such as Membership Rewards points.
Some useful info here, thanks
Love having all my rewards tracked thru one site! This is so helpful, especially trying to make sure you don’t lose points by expiration- thanks AwardWallet
I am a marriott titanium member; are there any partnerships with American airlines?
Marriott Bonvoy points transfer to American: https://awardwallet.com/blog/marriott-transfer-partners/
But Marriott’s main airline partnership is with United: https://awardwallet.com/blog/rewardsplus-from-marriott-rewards-and-united-mileageplus/
Choice gets knocked for some valid reasons, but there’s definitely some value here and there to be had. I personally don’t mind using them for a night when I get in later and need just a bed.
Can you get an upgrade when using points?
You can! As a Choice elite, I’ve gotten upgrades on points bookings. That said, since you can typically use points to book suites or better rooms, I usually just book into the best-available room!
I dont understand why booking a room for under $40 does not count for the reset of the expiration of the points. That is an actual activity with the hotel chain.
Agreed that’s a weird one. I could see not considering it as an elite night – so as to prevent travelers from manufacturing elite status. But, it should still count for extending point expiration!
BTW,I often transfer Amtrak points to Choice, but I noticed recently when I tried to do this that Amtrak has removed the ability to transfer Amtrak points to choice. Without notice.
I noticed that too! I was hoping that it was just a temporary issue. I’ll reach out to Choice to see if I can get some clarity about this.
Yeah I researched into Choice hotels and got just a few miles to see how long it will take to credit a shopping trip. Yep that took forever. I have bought points with them to make sure now I don’t lose any points. I was happy to find out how easy it is to keep the points active. I don’t have any options really to use them right now but since I’ll be staying at a few this summer it’ll be nice just to keep them going until I want to use them.
It is interesting that …
“Rooms booked for under $40”
…also do NOT reset the expiration dates
It is interesting that Qantas participates in the point exchange though Choice is not particularly dominant across Down Under.
Choice may not be dominant, but they are definitely around! There are a bunch of low-category (and fairly low-quality from my experience staying at a couple) Choice hotels around Australia.
All hotels and airlines should switch to not allowing points to expire or something like a 5 year expiration, just good for customer satisfaction!
Is there a minimum number of Membership Rewards points that have to be transferred? It would be nice if you could transfer one point but I imagine it’s more like 1000 points. I like Choice points but I prefer to use my MR points for other things.
Yeah, unfortunately, the minimum is 1,000 points. And indeed it’s not a great use of MR points. But, the opportunity is available if you need to save your Choice points in a pinch!
I’ve never really tried PP program. It seems I’ll give it a shot soon..
No company should expire points now, unless there is no activity for 5 years.
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, I agree.
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
One exception that I’m aware of is Delta SkyMiles which don’t expire.
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.