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Thread: AP'ing Credit Cards & Hotels

  1. #1
    Pkspins, I'm actually at 270 hotel days this year with an average cost of $60 per night. But the average is now dropping. On out-of-state trips I started out mostly staying at Motel 6 because they had the cheapest price. A few months ago I stayed at a Rodeway Inn. They got my email address and sent me an offer to join Choice Priveleges. You get points for hotel stays that can be used for free rooms.

    The hotels involved are Rodeway, Econolidge, Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, Mainstay, Cambria. It started out at 10 points per pre tax dollar spent. For free nights the Rodeways and Econo Lodges usually go for 8000 points, Quality Inns 10000 points, Comfort Inns 12,000 points.

    Then they sent me an offer for a Choice Priveleges credit card. Charge $1000 on it and I get 32000 points. I got that done and still haven't used those points. Because I had the card I was then getting 15 points per dollar spent.

    Then they came with a promotion I'm still working, buy two nights get one night free. You actually get 8000 points so you can't buy two nights at the cheaper hotels then spend the free night at a Cambria. This promotion is going until Nov. 11. So right now I'm spending $130 per three nights.

    In addition I just moved up to platinum level and will be get 17.5 points per dollar spent after the promotion ends. And it won't be long I'll be moving up to 20 point per dollar spent. That would work out to one free night per $400 spent.

    I'm interested in how you and others work these kind of things.
    "More importantly, mickey thought 8-4 was two games over .500. Argued about it. C'mon, man. Nothing can top that for math expertise. If GWAE ever has you on again, you can be sure I'll be calling in with that gem.'Nuff said." REDIETZ

  2. #2
    Originally Posted by mickeycrimm View Post
    Then they sent me an offer for a Choice Priveleges credit card. Charge $1000 on it and I get 32000 points.
    I love credit card signup bonuses. And many credit cards have rotating categories of enhanced cash back, up to 10% or so. So at the hotel desk, you use a card currently offering a special for the travel category. At the gas pump, you use the card rebating extra for gas.

    It's somewhat of a headache to keep track of everything, but worth the effort I think.

  3. #3
    BOFA kept sending me offers to sign up for a credit card...something like spend $500 or $1000 in 3 months and get $100 back (as a credit or debit to the balance). I figured why not, free $100.

    A few months later, I got another offer, same thing. I signed up for, it approved, spent my $500-1000 or w/e in 3 months, and got the $100.

    Tried it again, shortly after got a call from some fraud-supposed dude, saying my identity was hacked and someone was signing up for credit cards in my name. I didn't put two and two together quite yet. He asked me about a few charges, I'm like oh yeah, that was me. Then he's like...why do you keep signing up for new credit cards with the same bank? I told him about the $100 thing and he was like.....just stop doing that.

  4. #4
    I think you are doing a good job with the one you found based on all of the things you described. Like you are doing, you want to work the general program, the associated credit card, and the promotions, and get to that highest card level as expeditiously as possible (between stays, credit card level bumps and promotions) so that you get as many points per dollar spent as possible. You want to pick one and work it, and have a secondary one that works for locations that don't have your first choice or that has good promotions you can work. I am not very familiar with the program you are using because I haven't had to stay at their hotels as much - because I only use them when I can't stay at one of my main programs in an area (which I will explain below), so I really only have had occasional, and not for a while now, stays at a Comfort Suites. For your situation I would also suggest seeing if they have a higher level card you can get promoted to that will give you even more points, and also following along the forum for that card over at flyertalk.com to help keep up to date with promotions and giveaways.

    My situation is a little different than yours because I am usually working these programs in conjunction with business travel that someone else is paying for. Sometimes I'm paying for the stays myself and getting reimbursed, sometimes they are paying but either way I get the stay points. Sometimes I just have to be there and it doesn't matter where I stay, sometimes I have to pick from their list of preferred hotels where they have negotiated rates. The end goal remains the same - the most points with the highest status (to maximize freebies) and points that are easy to cash in for free vacation stays with my family.

    My main program is HHonors. My secondary program is Hyatt, although I haven't done much with that one in years. Before the AMEX, or at least before I found out about it, I used to hotel bounce a lot to get to Diamond through stays. I mostly live out of my suitcase and have a car - either my own or a rental if I've flown - so it is no big deal for me to check out in the mornings and check in somewhere else in the evening. I got HHonors Diamond the first time by doing a lot of one night stays in different HHonors properties when I was on a Mon-Fri job in a suburban office near a large tourist attraction that had a bunch of them plus a Hyatt Place. That is how I stumbled into Hyatt, because I needed a night somewhere and all the HHonors places were booked. All that employer required was that you used hotels on their preferred list at their negotiated rates, which all of these were, and didn't care if you broke it up into nights or what you did. I never do the hotel bounce thing on family travel even if we're paying - we stay at one place per location regardless of number of nights - but alone I will do it in a heartbeat if it is worth my while.

    HHonors stay promotions are mostly get x bonus points for each stay in a certain time period, but you can also pick up a lot of ongoing bonus points between the more you earn for the card level, booking your stay online, using the AMEX as your room guarantee card, etc.. Hyatt does or did - it's been a while like I said - the promotions like you mentioned except it was specifically a free night at any Hyatt property for every two stays and not points. They had one of these when I was on that job I mentioned above. I worked my Mon-Fri to have two stays at the Hyatt, one Mon-Tue, one Wed-Thu - earned 6 nights and took the whole family on a vacation staying a Grand Hyatt over Christmas break.

    I usually use my HHonors points for stays at higher end Hiltons at vacation destinations. I've never had any trouble booking what I want when I want with the points online, you still get all the level based benefits and upgrades when you get there regardless of how you are paying, and the only out-of-pocket expense ends up being hotel parking fees (which can add up at $30-$40 a night) when you stay in a city. My kids did several years of traveling competitive sport so some points I used on random nights here and there but we also earned a bunch of points also because we also stayed at HHonors or Hyatt Places when we paid for rooms. During that time I would use points or pay based on room cost in $ vs point cost. Its been a while so I forget the exact numbers, but as an example Hampton Inns were usually 30K points for a night, so if the $ cost was lower ( I think my number was $120 ) I'd pay but if it was higher I would use points. Which is another thing you should keep in mind with your points - save them for when the rooms cost more than usual due to location/amentities/popular dates/etc..

    I hope some of that is helpful for ideas.

  5. #5
    Another thing I thought of. Regardless of where you are staying get the frequent stay card if they have one. You will often get nice point bonus offers for return stays, or sometimes offers for accelerated paths to higher card levels.
    My details are blurry on this sorry but I can think of two examples.
    One was with Sheraton where I had two one night stays within a month or two at the Frankfurt airport having never had the card before. I got an offer where another stay at any Sheraton, which I was going to have anyway, got me the highest card level plus two free nights at any Sheraton. For the life of me I can't remember where the hell we went but I remember a nice room with really comfy fluffy bedding and a nice comped off breakfast buffet for everyone. I only took advantage of the higher card benefits for stays a couple of times, as I don't get to Europe much and there were few Sheratons on my travels, but I got some benefits out of it I wouldn't have otherwise had as well as another random free night off points for a quick family trip.
    I had another similar one from the Country Inn and Suites program after two one night stays relatively close together in a Midwest location where it was the closest lodging option. I never took advantage of that offer because their beds were awful and I barely slept on either stay, so I really did not want to return regardless of the incentives.

  6. #6
    I just tried signing up for two new cards tonight. Both had $150 cash bonuses for spending $500. The second one did not auto approve and I'm now waiting for a response by mail which may take up to 30 days. I assume they noticed I just opened another card... I was planning to open 4 new cards but I stopped after #2 put me on hold. How long do you guys wait between signing up for new cards?

  7. #7
    Originally Posted by Prozema View Post
    I just tried signing up for two new cards tonight. Both had $150 cash bonuses for spending $500. The second one did not auto approve and I'm now waiting for a response by mail which may take up to 30 days. I assume they noticed I just opened another card... I was planning to open 4 new cards but I stopped after #2 put me on hold. How long do you guys wait between signing up for new cards?
    That's unusual. Usually if you do them all at once the ones you already got approved for won't come up when they run your credit.
    Two things I can think of is -
    One - they're both off of the same bank. I know from experience Citibank won't approve a new one automatically if you've opened a new one with them within the last 12 months.
    Two - if they're different banks the second bank may look at you differently - like a different credit report provider or weigh your history with them if you have one.

  8. #8
    Originally Posted by mickeycrimm View Post
    Pkspins, I'm actually at 270 hotel days this year with an average cost of $60 per night. But the average is now dropping. On out-of-state trips I started out mostly staying at Motel 6 because they had the cheapest price. A few months ago I stayed at a Rodeway Inn. They got my email address and sent me an offer to join Choice Priveleges. You get points for hotel stays that can be used for free rooms.

    The hotels involved are Rodeway, Econolidge, Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, Mainstay, Cambria. It started out at 10 points per pre tax dollar spent. For free nights the Rodeways and Econo Lodges usually go for 8000 points, Quality Inns 10000 points, Comfort Inns 12,000 points.

    Then they sent me an offer for a Choice Priveleges credit card. Charge $1000 on it and I get 32000 points. I got that done and still haven't used those points. Because I had the card I was then getting 15 points per dollar spent.

    Then they came with a promotion I'm still working, buy two nights get one night free. You actually get 8000 points so you can't buy two nights at the cheaper hotels then spend the free night at a Cambria. This promotion is going until Nov. 11. So right now I'm spending $130 per three nights.

    In addition I just moved up to platinum level and will be get 17.5 points per dollar spent after the promotion ends. And it won't be long I'll be moving up to 20 point per dollar spent. That would work out to one free night per $400 spent.

    I'm interested in how you and others work these kind of things.
    Mickey, please enjoy the following rant that mostly has nothing to do with you.

    I hate those dirty F^%@ers at Choice F^@#ing Hotels F*(@ing International.

    The hotel that I managed the most recent time was one of those franchises, please note that I am not saying which one.

    In any event, those @$$clowns toss out these stupid points left and right for everything and then have some franchises take less points than others, regardless of what the actual rate is. They do it just based on the flag. Granted, they will designate, "Busy Seasons," for it to take more points, on an occupancy basis, but it doesn't matter that our XXX hotel is charging $120/night because of market demands (year-round, at the time) and another XXX hotel is charging $55/night of the same franchise. Irrelevant. Same number of points.

    What happens then is that CHI will pay the hotel for the free night, and how that works is that they will pay a fixed amount based on demand season that comes off of the franchise bill. As I am sure you guessed, this stupid @$$ fixed amount has almost nothing to do with what our actual rates are and is generally nowhere close to what our actual rates are.

    It gets worse.

    Anyway, so people can call and complain about wanting their points refunded if they are not happy with something, and NOW the hotel has to pay CHI $10 for every 1,000 points that are refunded. How about that? If CHI, in their infinite wisdom, decides to offer to refund all of the points, then we can actually take A LOSS ON THE ROOM THE PERSON USED FOR FREE!!!

    For example, if our hotel was 10,000 points and CHI pays us $49 for that room, but then the person gripes (after staying the entire night...because why wouldn't they?) and CHI refunds all the points...we now NET PAY $51 TO CHI FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF HAVING SOMEONE STAY AT THE HOTEL FOR FREE!!! ($49-$100 = -$51)

    The worst part is that we were not a Cambria Suites, I'll volunteer that much. Anyway, what will happen is you have people say something like, "I usually stay at Cambria Suites, so I was expecting (list of unrealistic expectations) and am disappointed with this property."

    I would like to say to that person, "The problem is not the property, you stupid @$$hole, the problem is you think a xxxx is supposed to be as good as a Cambria Suites. If we were, we would charge what a Cambria charges and would cost as many points as a Cambria costs."

    Better still are the people who book single Queens with the Free Nights and then come in and say, "There were no Two Queens online, or anything else, can you upgrade me to Two Queens or a Suite?"

    The answer is, "No, I can't." At least, not if I don't have any available...which is why you wouldn't have seen any online you stupid @$$hole.

    So this @$$hole says, "That's okay, we'll make it work."

    The next day they check out and complain about something completely unrelated...that they never told the property about before (and often doesn't exist) to get the points back!!! I already offered to give them the points back when we couldn't satisfy the room they wanted, (even though they actually booked the single Queen) they refused and said, "We'll make it work."

    I couldn't tell you how many times that happened.

    Anyway, we ended up paying CHI for the privilege of people staying at the hotel for free, on quite a few occasions, because we could only satisfy THE ROOM TYPE THAT THE GUEST ACTUALLY BOOKED or because they are used to a better property, but wanted to save some points or a better property wasn't available, several times.

    I did call and get Choice Hotels to eat the points on a few occasions when I could compel them to agree with my side. Some people were better than others.

    It wasn't always easy even when they did agree. The only time it was ever EASY is if I could prove that I offered the person the points back in exchange for leaving and the person declined.

    Anyway, xxxx franchise can follow its own franchise requirements to a T and it's not going to be a Cambria or Comfort Suites. If those all had the same requirements, then why would we not want to be a Cambria or Comfort Suites instead of what we were?

    I think they should go back to when Rodeway and Econo Lodge had a completely separate program. We just stamped a ticket. Ten stamps, free night, take it wherever you want to...but must be an Econo Lodge or Rodeway. They should maybe add Quality and Suburban to that. I stayed at two Quality Inns that were complete dumps compared to the hotel I managed...which was purportedly lower. Of course, both Quality Inns were nowhere even approaching their own brand standards. It's just a really inconsistent brand and I imagine they have the same problem with free nights people that we did.

    That said, most people were okay. If you actually stayed at our brand regularly, then you were generally happy with our rooms/amenities, if not slightly impressed. You just couldn't hold us to Cambria standards.

    ----

    Mickey, anyway, I agree with everything you said. From the standpoint of a frequent guest, I don't blame you at all.

    I imagine it is outside of what you would do to make bull$*&$ complaints, so that's the only way to do it, "Better," as far as CHI goes.

    Oh, one other thing:

    You can literally buy points from them, unless they got rid of that. That really screws the hotels. I hope they got rid of that. If everyone bought points, CHI could theoretically force the franchisees into a flat rate on every stay since every stay would be points. If the guest wanted points refunded, CHI would make money on both ends because we would have to pay them more than they were paying us for the room on the points that the guest paid them for.

    Looks like you can only buy 50,000 a year for yourself, but then you get five additional points per dollar spent on the Choice VISA when you buy points, so you get more points on the points that you buy. One person may also, "Gift," someone 50,000 points a year, so I think you know where that is going.

    Ugh. I have never hated a company more than CHI in terms of working relationship. They're great if you're a customer, though.
    Last edited by Mission146; 03-21-2018 at 09:39 AM.

  9. #9
    Originally Posted by Mission146 View Post

    Ugh. I have never hated a company more than CHI in terms of working relationship. They're great if you're a customer, though.
    I think that's true of most of the programs, at least from what I read on TalesFromTheFrontDesk over at Reddit and what I see sometimes in my travels.
    I observed ridiculous situations in my stays within Hyatt, for example....just unreasonable bitchings by others that the hotel had to bend over backwards to meet.
    One like Choice though, where there's a helluva difference between an Econolodge and a Comfort Suites, it must be a f-in nightmare. I have limited experience with that one but even between Comfort Suites there are more quality differences than there are between say Hampton Inns.

  10. #10
    PKSpins,

    Agree 100%!!! Nothing to add.

    I just looked and, after SIGNIFICANT improvements (judging from the pictures) one of the Quality Inns in which I stayed which was a Comfort Inn as little as a year prior is now a Motel 6. They needed substantial improvements to achieve a lower flag.

    Let’s say you stayed there and then with the one I managed, you’d think ours was outstanding! But, some properties of the same or comparable flag were much better than us. I don’t know what the current CHI slogan is, but it should be, “Roll the dice with Choice Hotels.”

  11. #11
    The fraud department at Chase called me today and opened that 2nd credit card with a sign up bonus after I verified some information. I'm thinking I need to keep an eye on my credit score to see the imapct of opening a bunch of new cards. Anybody have any good information on how many you can open before your credit score crashes?

  12. #12
    Originally Posted by Mission146 View Post
    PKSpins,

    Agree 100%!!! Nothing to add.

    I just looked and, after SIGNIFICANT improvements (judging from the pictures) one of the Quality Inns in which I stayed which was a Comfort Inn as little as a year prior is now a Motel 6. They needed substantial improvements to achieve a lower flag.

    Let’s say you stayed there and then with the one I managed, you’d think ours was outstanding! But, some properties of the same or comparable flag were much better than us. I don’t know what the current CHI slogan is, but it should be, “Roll the dice with Choice Hotels.”
    The Motel 6 in Rocker, Montana is now an Econolodge and the Rodeway Inn in Butte is now a Motel 6. The Rodeway Inn in Fort Smith, Arkansas was obviously a former Motel 6. And there are no wi-fi, refrigerators and microwaves in the rooms.

    Motel 6 has been selling franchises to a lot of Mom & Pop hotels across the country. You can easily tell the franchise Motel 6's from the corporate Motel 6's. The corporates all look the same, outside doors and all that.
    "More importantly, mickey thought 8-4 was two games over .500. Argued about it. C'mon, man. Nothing can top that for math expertise. If GWAE ever has you on again, you can be sure I'll be calling in with that gem.'Nuff said." REDIETZ

  13. #13
    Originally Posted by Mission146 View Post
    Originally Posted by mickeycrimm View Post
    Pkspins, I'm actually at 270 hotel days this year with an average cost of $60 per night. But the average is now dropping. On out-of-state trips I started out mostly staying at Motel 6 because they had the cheapest price. A few months ago I stayed at a Rodeway Inn. They got my email address and sent me an offer to join Choice Priveleges. You get points for hotel stays that can be used for free rooms.

    The hotels involved are Rodeway, Econolidge, Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, Mainstay, Cambria. It started out at 10 points per pre tax dollar spent. For free nights the Rodeways and Econo Lodges usually go for 8000 points, Quality Inns 10000 points, Comfort Inns 12,000 points.

    Then they sent me an offer for a Choice Priveleges credit card. Charge $1000 on it and I get 32000 points. I got that done and still haven't used those points. Because I had the card I was then getting 15 points per dollar spent.

    Then they came with a promotion I'm still working, buy two nights get one night free. You actually get 8000 points so you can't buy two nights at the cheaper hotels then spend the free night at a Cambria. This promotion is going until Nov. 11. So right now I'm spending $130 per three nights.

    In addition I just moved up to platinum level and will be get 17.5 points per dollar spent after the promotion ends. And it won't be long I'll be moving up to 20 point per dollar spent. That would work out to one free night per $400 spent.

    I'm interested in how you and others work these kind of things.
    Mickey, please enjoy the following rant that mostly has nothing to do with you.

    I hate those dirty F^%@ers at Choice F^@#ing Hotels F*(@ing International.

    The hotel that I managed the most recent time was one of those franchises, please note that I am not saying which one.

    In any event, those @$$clowns toss out these stupid points left and right for everything and then have some franchises take less points than others, regardless of what the actual rate is. They do it just based on the flag. Granted, they will designate, "Busy Seasons," for it to take more points, on an occupancy basis, but it doesn't matter that our XXX hotel is charging $120/night because of market demands (year-round, at the time) and another XXX hotel is charging $55/night of the same franchise. Irrelevant. Same number of points.

    What happens then is that CHI will pay the hotel for the free night, and how that works is that they will pay a fixed amount based on demand season that comes off of the franchise bill. As I am sure you guessed, this stupid @$$ fixed amount has almost nothing to do with what our actual rates are and is generally nowhere close to what our actual rates are.

    It gets worse.

    Anyway, so people can call and complain about wanting their points refunded if they are not happy with something, and NOW the hotel has to pay CHI $10 for every 1,000 points that are refunded. How about that? If CHI, in their infinite wisdom, decides to offer to refund all of the points, then we can actually take A LOSS ON THE ROOM THE PERSON USED FOR FREE!!!

    For example, if our hotel was 10,000 points and CHI pays us $49 for that room, but then the person gripes (after staying the entire night...because why wouldn't they?) and CHI refunds all the points...we now NET PAY $51 TO CHI FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF HAVING SOMEONE STAY AT THE HOTEL FOR FREE!!! ($49-$100 = -$51)

    The worst part is that we were not a Cambria Suites, I'll volunteer that much. Anyway, what will happen is you have people say something like, "I usually stay at Cambria Suites, so I was expecting (list of unrealistic expectations) and am disappointed with this property."

    I would like to say to that person, "The problem is not the property, you stupid @$$hole, the problem is you think a xxxx is supposed to be as good as a Cambria Suites. If we were, we would charge what a Cambria charges and would cost as many points as a Cambria costs."

    Better still are the people who book single Queens with the Free Nights and then come in and say, "There were no Two Queens online, or anything else, can you upgrade me to Two Queens or a Suite?"

    The answer is, "No, I can't." At least, not if I don't have any available...which is why you wouldn't have seen any online you stupid @$$hole.

    So this @$$hole says, "That's okay, we'll make it work."

    The next day they check out and complain about something completely unrelated...that they never told the property about before (and often doesn't exist) to get the points back!!! I already offered to give them the points back when we couldn't satisfy the room they wanted, (even though they actually booked the single Queen) they refused and said, "We'll make it work."

    I couldn't tell you how many times that happened.

    Anyway, we ended up paying CHI for the privilege of people staying at the hotel for free, on quite a few occasions, because we could only satisfy THE ROOM TYPE THAT THE GUEST ACTUALLY BOOKED or because they are used to a better property, but wanted to save some points or a better property wasn't available, several times.

    I did call and get Choice Hotels to eat the points on a few occasions when I could compel them to agree with my side. Some people were better than others.

    It wasn't always easy even when they did agree. The only time it was ever EASY is if I could prove that I offered the person the points back in exchange for leaving and the person declined.

    Anyway, xxxx franchise can follow its own franchise requirements to a T and it's not going to be a Cambria or Comfort Suites. If those all had the same requirements, then why would we not want to be a Cambria or Comfort Suites instead of what we were?

    I think they should go back to when Rodeway and Econo Lodge had a completely separate program. We just stamped a ticket. Ten stamps, free night, take it wherever you want to...but must be an Econo Lodge or Rodeway. They should maybe add Quality and Suburban to that. I stayed at two Quality Inns that were complete dumps compared to the hotel I managed...which was purportedly lower. Of course, both Quality Inns were nowhere even approaching their own brand standards. It's just a really inconsistent brand and I imagine they have the same problem with free nights people that we did.

    That said, most people were okay. If you actually stayed at our brand regularly, then you were generally happy with our rooms/amenities, if not slightly impressed. You just couldn't hold us to Cambria standards.

    ----

    Mickey, anyway, I agree with everything you said. From the standpoint of a frequent guest, I don't blame you at all.

    I imagine it is outside of what you would do to make bull$*&$ complaints, so that's the only way to do it, "Better," as far as CHI goes.

    Oh, one other thing:

    You can literally buy points from them, unless they got rid of that. That really screws the hotels. I hope they got rid of that. If everyone bought points, CHI could theoretically force the franchisees into a flat rate on every stay since every stay would be points. If the guest wanted points refunded, CHI would make money on both ends because we would have to pay them more than they were paying us for the room on the points that the guest paid them for.

    Looks like you can only buy 50,000 a year for yourself, but then you get five additional points per dollar spent on the Choice VISA when you buy points, so you get more points on the points that you buy. One person may also, "Gift," someone 50,000 points a year, so I think you know where that is going.

    Ugh. I have never hated a company more than CHI in terms of working relationship. They're great if you're a customer, though.
    LOL, at the point scammers. It's not my style to make moves like that.

    I started out last fall with the CHI credit card. Got the 32,000 points. October was buy 2 nights get 8000 points which buys a free hotel night. I did it over and over again. November was triple points per pre tax dollar spent. December and January was 15,000 extra points per 9 paid nights. That ended February 9 and they haven't hit me with any other promotions.

    But I get 15 points per pre tax dollar spent plus a 400 point Extras bonus per night. I really got into shopping the prices this past winter. That extras bonus is the same whether you pay $70 for the room or $40. So I work the cheapest rates I can find and sometimes it's well under $40 senior rate. I even stayed at a brand new Main Stay Suites in Rapid City for $35 plus tax.

    The 5 points per dollar spent on the credit card is a lie. I'm getting only 2 points per dollar spent.

    CHI awards points based on pre tax dollars but I look at it as how many points am I getting for post tax dollars. Without the promotions its working out to 25 points per dollar spent. That works out to 1 free night per $320 dollars spent. It takes me 6 to 7 paid nights to get the free night. But that is all going to change as we move into the summer season and the rates go up.

    I just checked the price of 50,000 points, $347. It doesn't behoove me to buy now but that might change this summer.

    I've got a couple of spots where I'm buying weeklys now so not using CHI as much. Maybe next winter when they come with the promotions again.

    My roomate back in Great Falls has a hell of a deal. I'm paying half of everything and I'm never there. But he's a computer repair man and I get his services for free. He consults me quite a bit over the phone.
    Last edited by mickeycrimm; 03-22-2018 at 01:41 AM.
    "More importantly, mickey thought 8-4 was two games over .500. Argued about it. C'mon, man. Nothing can top that for math expertise. If GWAE ever has you on again, you can be sure I'll be calling in with that gem.'Nuff said." REDIETZ

  14. #14
    Originally Posted by mickeycrimm View Post
    Originally Posted by Mission146 View Post
    PKSpins,

    Agree 100%!!! Nothing to add.

    I just looked and, after SIGNIFICANT improvements (judging from the pictures) one of the Quality Inns in which I stayed which was a Comfort Inn as little as a year prior is now a Motel 6. They needed substantial improvements to achieve a lower flag.

    Let’s say you stayed there and then with the one I managed, you’d think ours was outstanding! But, some properties of the same or comparable flag were much better than us. I don’t know what the current CHI slogan is, but it should be, “Roll the dice with Choice Hotels.”
    The Motel 6 in Rocker, Montana is now an Econolodge and the Rodeway Inn in Butte is now a Motel 6. The Rodeway Inn in Fort Smith, Arkansas was obviously a former Motel 6. And there are no wi-fi, refrigerators and microwaves in the rooms.

    Motel 6 has been selling franchises to a lot of Mom & Pop hotels across the country. You can easily tell the franchise Motel 6's from the corporate Motel 6's. The corporates all look the same, outside doors and all that.
    Exactly, and that's my entire point. There can be significant differences within the same brand, but even more so with different brands. I don't know if it is still true, but when I worked at a CHI hotel, there was no requirement that a Rodeway or an Econo Lodge have refrigerators or microwaves, though that may have changed. You obviously had to in order for it to be called a, "Suite," or if it was in your online room description, but it wasn't a brand requirement. It was a requirement for many brands, so some people thought that extended to all brands because they all fell under Choice. Not true.

    I know Econo Lodge and Quality had to offer Internet, don't know about Rodeway. I got bored one day and read the franchise rules for every single brand, but that was a long time ago.

    I also found that the hotel that went from Comfort Inn to Quality Inn also did a brief stint as a Rodeway Inn, then was very briefly an independent, before becoming a Motel 6. (All of this within two years, it seems!) The other one (after a brief look) is either an Econo Lodge or an independent now. Those two in that town look very similar from the pictures and my memory, so I'm not sure which of the two used to be a Quality.
    Last edited by Mission146; 03-22-2018 at 06:40 AM.

  15. #15
    Originally Posted by mickeycrimm View Post

    LOL, at the point scammers. It's not my style to make moves like that.
    It's not just them. In my view, anyone who stays the entire night and then comes around the following morning demanding nothing short of a full refund is a room, "Scammer." If they have an issue, twenty, thirty bucks, sure. If they are willing to accept nothing less than a full refund, especially the people who stay multiple nights, that makes the intent just to stay for free pretty clear in my opinion.

    In fact, when they would call CHI on a multi-night deal, the most CHI was even allowed to refund was one night. They didn't expect us to do more than that. One of the few pro-hotel things about them was that the person did not need to stay additional nights if they hated the hotel so much.

    The only thing about CHI that was any good is that you could get complaints (against your complaints per thousand) not to count if you could prove you offered a full refund and it was declined. Since that was my go-to for anyone who complained, (especially if I could tell what the setup was going to be) I could get them reversed once in a while. The only issue was you had to put a record in the computer and if they complained to CHI about anything that you did not already make a record of, it usually wouldn't get reversed. If they complained about stuff you already tried to address by letting them leave without staying the full night with a full refund, then you could get the complaint reversed.

    I started out last fall with the CHI credit card. Got the 32,000 points. October was buy 2 nights get 8000 points which buys a free hotel night. I did it over and over again. November was triple points per pre tax dollar spent. December and January was 15,000 extra points per 9 paid nights. That ended February 9 and they haven't hit me with any other promotions.
    It annoys people, but unfortunately, it's not unusual for there to be a little bit of a gap between promotions. The best part about the promotions for them is that they often require booking through a CHI corporate channel, which makes them more money, because then they get an additional percentage from the hotel.

    More fun still is when they decide that there ARE differences between brands, but only for the purposes of promotions. Us ground level guys at the actual hotel get to deal with that fun. Sometimes the bonus points only count at certain brands if the guest stays two consecutive nights, whereas it would be a one night stay at other brands. I don't know if that has happened recently, but it sure happened a few times in my time there. Of course, the people blame the hotel for, "Not doing it right." It eventually got to the point where I would call the people who had reserved and directly inform them before they got there and offer to cancel the reservation at no charge. I knew they would trump up some bull**** if they checked in and decided to be mad about that.

    But I get 15 points per pre tax dollar spent plus a 400 point Extras bonus per night. I really got into shopping the prices this past winter. That extras bonus is the same whether you pay $70 for the room or $40. So I work the cheapest rates I can find and sometimes it's well under $40 senior rate. I even stayed at a brand new Main Stay Suites in Rapid City for $35 plus tax.
    That's a good way to go. I would never complain about someone working the rates or the point system, as long as they wouldn't be doing any scams to try to stay AND get their points back. My other problems were with CHI, not the guests...well, kind of the guests, but the intent of the guests wasn't ALWAYS nefarious...some of them just legitimately believed there wouldn't be a huge drop off between a Cambria and a Quality, or what have you. The lower end places really just need to be on a separate program like it was before. I don't have much experience with MainStay, it was a Suburban I stayed at a few times...so I wouldn't call Suburban a lower end one. Rodeway, Econo and Quality, for sure.

    The 5 points per dollar spent on the credit card is a lie. I'm getting only 2 points per dollar spent.
    No, the five points per dollar spent is just on the purchase of points or CHI gift cards. I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear. That's on me.

    https://www.barclaycardus.com/apply/...id=PTRBACHH116

    CHI awards points based on pre tax dollars but I look at it as how many points am I getting for post tax dollars. Without the promotions its working out to 25 points per dollar spent. That works out to 1 free night per $320 dollars spent. It takes me 6 to 7 paid nights to get the free night. But that is all going to change as we move into the summer season and the rates go up.
    Not just the season, but as you travel, you'll certainly find that different markets will have different prices based on demand. Customers call it, "Rate gouging," but it's really just the supply and demand Capitalism stuff that most of those people would otherwise claim to be in favor of. You're good at math, though, so you'll be able to easily figure out whatever the best thing to do is vis-a-vis buying points or paying the rate.

    I just checked the price of 50,000 points, $347. It doesn't behoove me to buy now but that might change this summer.
    I imagine it will at some point. The value of points earned will come into play, but at a mean average of about 12,000 points for a free night, it would roughly start to behoove you any time the best rate you can get is about $90/night or more. I don't even think you have to buy all 50k at once unless there is a good reason to do so, so you could always just do it on an as-needed basis. You're supposed to get five extra points per dollar if you use the credit card, so it's really 51,735 points. Looks like it's coming out to about 149 points per dollar spent, in total. Of course, you're indirectly paying for the room included in that.
    Last edited by Mission146; 03-22-2018 at 06:46 AM.

  16. #16
    Originally Posted by Mission146 View Post

    It's not just them. In my view, anyone who stays the entire night and then comes around the following morning demanding nothing short of a full refund is a room, "Scammer." If they have an issue, twenty, thirty bucks, sure. If they are willing to accept nothing less than a full refund, especially the people who stay multiple nights, that makes the intent just to stay for free pretty clear in my opinion.

    In fact, when they would call CHI on a multi-night deal, the most CHI was even allowed to refund was one night. They didn't expect us to do more than that. One of the few pro-hotel things about them was that the person did not need to stay additional nights if they hated the hotel so much.

    The only thing about CHI that was any good is that you could get complaints (against your complaints per thousand) not to count if you could prove you offered a full refund and it was declined. Since that was my go-to for anyone who complained, (especially if I could tell what the setup was going to be) I could get them reversed once in a while. The only issue was you had to put a record in the computer and if they complained to CHI about anything that you did not already make a record of, it usually wouldn't get reversed. If they complained about stuff you already tried to address by letting them leave without staying the full night with a full refund, then you could get the complaint reversed.



    It annoys people, but unfortunately, it's not unusual for there to be a little bit of a gap between promotions. The best part about the promotions for them is that they often require booking through a CHI corporate channel, which makes them more money, because then they get an additional percentage from the hotel.

    More fun still is when they decide that there ARE differences between brands, but only for the purposes of promotions. Us ground level guys at the actual hotel get to deal with that fun. Sometimes the bonus points only count at certain brands if the guest stays two consecutive nights, whereas it would be a one night stay at other brands. I don't know if that has happened recently, but it sure happened a few times in my time there. Of course, the people blame the hotel for, "Not doing it right." It eventually got to the point where I would call the people who had reserved and directly inform them before they got there and offer to cancel the reservation at no charge. I knew they would trump up some bull**** if they checked in and decided to be mad about that.

    But I get 15 points per pre tax dollar spent plus a 400 point Extras bonus per night. I really got into shopping the prices this past winter. That extras bonus is the same whether you pay $70 for the room or $40. So I work the cheapest rates I can find and sometimes it's well under $40 senior rate. I even stayed at a brand new Main Stay Suites in Rapid City for $35 plus tax.
    That's a good way to go. I would never complain about someone working the rates or the point system, as long as they wouldn't be doing any scams to try to stay AND get their points back. My other problems were with CHI, not the guests...well, kind of the guests, but the intent of the guests wasn't ALWAYS nefarious...some of them just legitimately believed there wouldn't be a huge drop off between a Cambria and a Quality, or what have you. The lower end places really just need to be on a separate program like it was before. I don't have much experience with MainStay, it was a Suburban I stayed at a few times...so I wouldn't call Suburban a lower end one. Rodeway, Econo and Quality, for sure.

    The 5 points per dollar spent on the credit card is a lie. I'm getting only 2 points per dollar spent.
    No, the five points per dollar spent is just on the purchase of points or CHI gift cards. I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear. That's on me.

    https://www.barclaycardus.com/apply/...id=PTRBACHH116

    CHI awards points based on pre tax dollars but I look at it as how many points am I getting for post tax dollars. Without the promotions its working out to 25 points per dollar spent. That works out to 1 free night per $320 dollars spent. It takes me 6 to 7 paid nights to get the free night. But that is all going to change as we move into the summer season and the rates go up.
    Not just the season, but as you travel, you'll certainly find that different markets will have different prices based on demand. Customers call it, "Rate gouging," but it's really just the supply and demand Capitalism stuff that most of those people would otherwise claim to be in favor of. You're good at math, though, so you'll be able to easily figure out whatever the best thing to do is vis-a-vis buying points or paying the rate.

    I just checked the price of 50,000 points, $347. It doesn't behoove me to buy now but that might change this summer.
    I imagine it will at some point. The value of points earned will come into play, but at a mean average of about 12,000 points for a free night, it would roughly start to behoove you any time the best rate you can get is about $90/night or more. I don't even think you have to buy all 50k at once unless there is a good reason to do so, so you could always just do it on an as-needed basis. You're supposed to get five extra points per dollar if you use the credit card, so it's really 51,735 points. Looks like it's coming out to about 149 points per dollar spent, in total. Of course, you're indirectly paying for the room included in that.
    Generally, there's a correlation between the dollar price of the room and how many points I have to pay for it. The Rodeway's and Econo's under about $54 pre tax go for 8000 points. The Quality's at about $55-$65 pre tax go for 10,000 and the Comforts at or above $80 go for 12,000. At least that's the way it has been since I started working them last fall.

    I won't spend my points on rooms where I get the cheapest rates. For instance I wouldn't spend them at that Main Stay Suites I got last winter in Rapid City for $35 pre tax. I save the points for when I know I will be spending about $50 pre tax. That way I'm getting maximum value for the 8000 points. I've never spent 12,000 points on a room and have only payed 10,000 a few times.

    I went though the "price gouging" last summer before I started working CHI. I've seen spots where even Motel 6's were going for $120 a night. It usually occurs when a town is very, very busy for a weekend and the occupancy rate is extremely high. I imagine I'll be spending quite a bit of the summer in the two towns where I get the weeklies, one for $180, the other for $225. But I'll be monitoring the CHI app for what the prices look like in various locations around the western U.S.
    "More importantly, mickey thought 8-4 was two games over .500. Argued about it. C'mon, man. Nothing can top that for math expertise. If GWAE ever has you on again, you can be sure I'll be calling in with that gem.'Nuff said." REDIETZ

  17. #17
    I have an AP friend that told me I should be getting at least $600 of value out of a credit card and if I do the research I can find them. Besides the Choice Privileges Barclay card I have a Discover card. I've canceled the rest of my cards, no value. With the Discover I'm getting a 1% rebate plus the 1% will be matched at the completion of the first year. Plus I get 5% rebates on certain purchases that change every quarter. One quarter it was restaurants. One quarter it was Amazon/Target. This quarter it has been gas, a 5% rebate on up to $1500 worth of fuel. That has worked out pretty good as I've spent $1445 on fuel so far this quarter.
    "More importantly, mickey thought 8-4 was two games over .500. Argued about it. C'mon, man. Nothing can top that for math expertise. If GWAE ever has you on again, you can be sure I'll be calling in with that gem.'Nuff said." REDIETZ

  18. #18
    "Hustler money blog" does a good job at aggregating offers.

  19. #19
    Originally Posted by Prozema View Post
    "Hustler money blog" does a good job at aggregating offers.
    Thanks for the tip. I just put them in my favorites.
    "More importantly, mickey thought 8-4 was two games over .500. Argued about it. C'mon, man. Nothing can top that for math expertise. If GWAE ever has you on again, you can be sure I'll be calling in with that gem.'Nuff said." REDIETZ

  20. #20
    You're welcome. I think they offer a bounty if you inform them of an offer that is not already posted. I've never tried it, so I don't know if they actually pay. I guess they get some kind of payment for click throughs.

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