This week, we’ve seen Choice Privileges make some positive program changes for 2025, including extending the award booking window to 50 weeks, and introducing premium room redemptions. While it had looked like Choice Privileges had also devalued award pricing as of the same time, that was a glitch, as it turns out.
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Choice Privileges devaluation was reportedly a glitch
This week, when Choice Privileges rolled out its extended award calendar, the program also increased award costs at many hotels. We’re talking about absolutely massive price increases. Some hotels that previously cost 16,000 points per night were repriced to 30,000 points per night, while some hotels that previously cost 20,000 to 30,000 points per night were repriced to 40,000 points per night.
The increases were obviously huge, though frankly I wasn’t necessarily surprised to see them, since the increases were primarily in the markets where Choice Privileges points represented the best value, like in Northern Europe.
Well, there’s some positive news. Choice Privileges has informed me that the price increases were a glitch — while the system was being updated, there was also a brief change in valuations for many properties. The pricing has now been updated to be the same that it was before. That’s fantastic news.
This is one of the issues with dynamic award pricing, and when hotel loyalty programs don’t publish award charts. Choice Privileges has a history of unannounced devaluations, and we’re always told that award pricing reflects demand, and that the price we see is the price we’ll pay. So I always find it interesting how often we see these “glitches.”
I can’t help but wonder if this was truly just a glitch that came out of nowhere, or if something was released sooner than it should’ve been. It’s interesting that the properties where this “glitch” happened are also among the properties with the best redemption values, which are arguably most ripe for devaluation.
Did the system really just randomly introduce new pricing for these properties by accident, or was an upcoming change just released early? Personally I think this would be a great time to try and burn some Choice Privileges points, while the current pricing is assured.
Choice Privileges’ previous devaluation was in June 2024
With the January 2025 devaluation seemingly not being a thing (at least for now), let me briefly recap the last devaluation we did see from the program, which was in June 2024. Prior to then, Choice Privileges had historically charged up to 35,000 points per night for award redemptions, with the exception being Asia-Pacific, where properties cost up to 75,000 points per night.
Since June 2024, Choice Privileges award redemptions no longer max out at 35,000 points per night outside of Asia-Pacific. Instead, redemptions now cost up to 45,000 points per night, and that’s not even a published cap, so it’s likely we’ll see additional increases in the future.
Bottom line
Choice Privileges has rolled out some positive program changes as of early 2025, which is great news. At first it looked like there was also a devaluation, but as it turns out, that was a glitch. There’s no Choice Privileges devaluation for now.
Now, it’s anyone’s guess whether this was truly some random glitch, or whether changes were just rolled out too early. I do find it a bit suspicious how the properties that showed a significant increase in award costs were also among the properties that represented the best value when using points.
What do you make of this Choice Privileges devaluation glitch?
The Clarion Collection brand in Scandinavia is coming to an end. The hotels are going to be “Home Hotels” as Strawberry/Nordic Choice probably wants to save money by unwinding from Choice. I anticipate more of this kind of thing happening.
I’m looking at the Cambria hotel in NYC and it seems like they now have dynamic award pricing. Certain dates are 45K a night (i.e., may 12th and may 13th) while other dates are ‘reward savers’ and are priced at 35K per night. Previously all nights were 35K. So I think your hunch is correct
How do you tell the difference between a(n accidental) glitch and an "Oops, we f****d up!"
Easy.
It's never an accident.
Their easy way out if they went too far is to apologize and backtrack a little bit.
So from ripping the band aid becomes peeling the band aid. Regardless, the wound is going to be there.
It's from the Delta devaluation playbook.