Choice Hotel Points Redemption
 

Hello again,
I just called Choice Hotels and was told I cannot reserve a room with points until 30 days before our trip! I'm not waiting that long...so what to do now?

Do I (as the phone operator suggested) reserve a room at the Choice hotel, then 30 days before our trip see if there is any rooms available to reserve with points, then cancel my original reservation.

Or...do I make a reservation, and if no points rooms are available cancel my reservation while on the phone with the operator and hope to reschedule immediately with the operator using my points.

He said that people do this all the time but it is no guarantee.

I think I will also have a reservation at another hotel in our price range as a back up and then cancel that one if I am so lucky to get a room with points.

This would be for six nights next August...in London. And then again for 5 night in Rome in October. What do you think my chances are??? Good, not so good, lousy, really lousy or just give up now before I begin?

How do all of you handle this? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.
Michele

I wouldn't expect that cancelling a 'normal' reservation would necessarily mean that room is now available on points. I'm sure it's similar to FF airline seats, only so many per hotel per day.

I'd book a hotel I could live with if the 'points' thing didn't work out, and it should have a good cancellation policy in the event you do score a points room later on.

Thank you Travelnut. That is what we are planning on doing. Book a hotel in the same neighborhood so even if only a few nights with points at the beginning or end of the trip are available we can use them.I just didn't know this points thing would be so last minute. Booking on Delta is 331 days ahead not 30 so I guess I was just surprised and disappointed. Thank you.

You can at least research the points options via Choice Hotels, as often they don't get great reviews on Tripadvisor...Get up a 'short list' of several hotels so you're ready to make a fast booking when the time comes.

http://www.choicehotels.com/ires/htm...;city_code=PAR

About 1/2 the list are not located *in* Paris, but in surrounding towns.

Hello Travelnut. That's exactly what I have done. I have been watching the Tripadvisor reviews of the Choice hotels in London for over a year. Actually Tripadvisor has been my main source of all our hotel recommendations in addition to the recommendation on these boards.

There are only two Choice hotels in London that rate fairly high (in the upper 25%) that I would want to stay at. I don't have really high standards for a hotel, safe area, bed, bathroom...nothing crawling on the floor...that's about it. I don't want to stay in a horrible place just because it's free.

I guess I will just make a reservation at Choice and another hotel and at 30 days out see if I can book with points. I just hate waiting until the last minute to know. Keep your fingers crossed. Thank you.