Choice Privileges has improved its redemption options significantly over the last few years. From integrating Radisson Rewards Americas into Choice Privileges in mid-2023 to letting members redeem points for college sports experiences and NASCAR tickets with special access, there are now more ways than ever to get value from your Choice points.
The ability to redeem Choice points for experiences has been widely popular, as evidenced by many college sports experiences selling out within a day. Seemingly to handle this demand, Choice Privileges has now launched an auction tool alongside some new music, racing and sports experiences. Here’s what you need to know.
Choice Privileges Experiences auction tool
Now, you can use the new Choice Privileges Experiences auction tool to bid on available experiences. This auction tool will let members bid on experiences instead of missing out because they weren’t among the first Choice members to book.
To see the currently available experiences and place a bid, head to experiencesbychoice.com. You can see the experiences and current bids without logging in, but you’ll need to log in to your Choice Privileges account if you decide to bid.
For each experience, you can see the time left, the current bid and the number of bids. Scroll down to see the details of the experience. Then, you can enter the number of Choice points you’re willing to bid or select the “Watch” option.
You’ll get an email confirming your bid, but you can increase your bid by entering another bid in the auction. Once the auction closes, you’ll get an email congratulating you or informing you that you didn’t win.
Vice president of loyalty strategy and membership rewards for Choice Hotels, Julie Purser, explained via a press release:
Choice Privileges members value experiences over things, and that’s why we continue to expand the Choice Privileges Experiences program to increase and diversify experience offerings that money can’t buy. From college football to concerts, professional racing, basketball and hockey games, Choice Privileges is excited to continue adding new experiences for members and increase their engagement during the redemption process through the addition of this auction tool.
Related: Choice elite status: What it is and how to earn it
Currently available Choice Privileges Experiences
Choice Privileges is focused on adding new experiences via agreements with Learfield and Monumental Sports and Entertainment. Currently, you can use the new auction tool to bid on 33 music, racing and sports experiences:
- Eight music experiences for an April 13 Kane Brown concert at Indiana University with three different experience levels (Silver, Gold and Platinum)
- 15 racing experiences for six different NASCAR races
- 10 sports experiences for four different NHL games and one Topgolf experience
Bids start at 10,000 Choice points for most experiences, although the winning bids are sure to be much higher.
Related: Register for Choice Hotels Your Extras to earn gift cards or other perks on weekday stays
How to earn Choice points
There are many ways to earn Choice points. But if you want to earn points quickly, your best options are to buy Choice points or transfer American Express Membership Rewards points, Capital One miles or Citi ThankYou Rewards points. If you have the Citi Premier® Card (see rates and fees), you can transfer Citi ThankYou points to Choice at a 1:2 ratio.
If you have more time to earn Choice points, you might want to sign up for the Choice Privileges® Select Mastercard® (see rates and fees) and start utilizing the Choice Privileges Eat & Earn dining rewards program. Both are great ways to earn points, but the points won’t post to your account immediately.
Related: Choice Privileges Select Mastercard review: Elite status and bonus points each year
Bottom line
It’s great to see Choice Privileges helping its members obtain special access to sports and music events. Based on how quickly previous experiences have sold out, I expect the bids for these new auctioned experiences to grow relatively large. But, especially if the team or musician is one of your favorites, it just might be worth redeeming a lot of Choice points for a memorable experience.
