So far, the redemption of loyalty program Choice Privileges‘ reward points has been excellent for stays in Scandinavia. Award nights were available starting from 8,000 points per night. Often, it was even worthwhile to purchase points on offer and immediately redeem them.
However, the relationship between the international chain Choice Hotels and its Scandinavian counterpart is somewhat complicated. The franchisee in Scandinavia operates its own loyalty program, formerly known as Nordic Choice Privileges and since 2023 as Strawberry.
Overnight, the prices for numerous redemptions have been increased. Apparently, nights in Sweden and Norway now cost a minimum of 16,000 points. In many cases, this represents an increase of 100%.
New Minimum Price: 16,000 Points per Night
Fortunately, Choice Hotels does not employ completely dynamic pricing. Many hotels cost the same amount of points throughout the year, while others vary depending on the month and day of the week. It’s important to note that redemptions are possible up to a maximum of 100 days in advance.
One worthwhile redemption was e.g. the Clarion Collection Hotel Temperance in Malmö. It was bookable for only 8,000 points per night for many years. Recently, a fixed price was listed there until December 2099:
Since January 7, 2024, the price on ChoiceHotels.com is now 16,000 points per night – twice as much! It remains to be seen whether the price will indeed hold until January 2026, as currently indicated:
Old & New Prices Compared
The old conditions have already disappeared from the website and cannot be easily compared. Based on personal bookings and results from the Google Cache, we were able to reconstruct the following changes at least:
- Malmö 🇸🇪: Clarion Collection Hotel Temperance
- before: 8,000 points
- now: 16,000 points (+100%)
- Stockholm 🇸🇪: Clarion Hotel Sign
- before: 10,000 points
- now: 16,000 points (+60%)
- Oslo 🇳🇴: Comfort Hotel Karl Johan
- before: 12,000 points
- now: 16,000 points (+33%)
- Bergen 🇳🇴: Hotel NO13, Ascend Collection
- before: 12,000 points
- now: 16,000 points (+33%)
- Karlstad 🇸🇪: Clarion Collection Hotel Drott
- before: 8,000 points
- now: 16,000 points (+100%)
- Longyearbyen 🇳🇴: Funken Lodge, Ascend Collection
- before: 12,000 points
- now: 16,000 points (+33%)
- Helsingborg 🇸🇪: Comfort Hotel Helsingborg
- before: 8,000 points
- now: 16,000 points (+100%)
- Borlange 🇸🇪: Quality Hotel Galaxen
- before: 8,000 points
- now: 16,000 points (+100%)
We also randomly checked a few hotels that previously cost 16,000 or 20,000 points. Fortunately, we found no changes there. It seems that only prices below 16,000 have been adjusted.
There are still numerous sweet spots, especially in high-priced Norway. In Oslo, for instance, many hotels can still be found for 16,000 points (= effectively around €110), some even from the Clarion Collection brand, including a small evening buffet. The price for Spitsbergen remains highly attractive compared to the cash rate.
Conclusion
Redeeming Choice points was one of the best sweet spots for trips to Scandinavia. The fact that it would come to an end sooner or later was only a matter of time. I am even a little surprised that these prices held for so long, as they have been circulating in numerous blogs for a while.
Nevertheless, the devaluation is certainly regrettable, especially since I still have 80,000 points in my Choice account. In the future, I will probably primarily redeem them in Japan and possibly Norway. In Sweden, it’s hardly worth it anymore.
Translated by Ditmar