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Devaluation: Choice Hotels & AirHelp Plus
No one likes the word devaluation, but it is kind of unavoidable in the world of frequent travellers. It has just happened to two schemes which we introduced very recently.
As posted by Travel-Dealz, a few Strawberry hotels have become more pricey when redeeming Choice points. It seems that Strawberry hotels now cost a minimum of 16,000 points, and the adjustment is in line with such guidance. The Clarion Sign Hotel in Stockholm when I reviewed here for example, is no longer as cheap as 10,000 points.
However, I wouldn’t make too much a deal out of it. The best value of Choice points lie within the high-end Strawberry hotels. These properties, including At Six (Stockholm) and The Thief (Oslo), still cost only 20,000 points which is a steal.
A much harder hit comes from AirHelp Plus, an insurance program I spoke very highly of in a recent post. My baggage was delayed by BA just three weeks ago and I got the €150 payout very quickly, which more than triples what I paid for the insurance.
A reader reached out a few days ago regarding a negative change to the Complete plan as shown on their website. At that time the phrasing changed from “unlimited trips” to “12 trips”. As of now it got even worse, down to just “7 trips”.
I’m still awaiting a response from AirHelp after requesting more details of the change. However as far as I’m concerned, the new limit shouldn’t affect existing customers who had signed up previously.
The original terms of the Complete plan was, without any doubt, way too generous and too good to be true. I can’t say I’m surprised at the cut, but it’s much more difficult to justify its value given the new stingy limit now.
As a “trip” could be a return with connections it covers (many) more than only 7 flights in a plan year. It might still make sense to sign up, but only register your trips with most flights or that are more likely to be disrupted.
My review of At Six Stockholm
After two days at the Clarion Sign hotel, I’m splashing out and changing to the At Six hotel. By splashing out I mean the cost has doubled, but still I paid like just $105 for the 20,000 points.
At Six is one of the best hotels of Stockholm and very centrally located, as in you can reach the main places within 10 to 20 minutes. Next-door in the same block is Hobo, another Strawberry hotel.
I was wondering what its name actually means, until my friend reminded me that the hotel’s street number is six…
As you can see from the plate at the entrance, At Six is also part of the Preferred Hotels group. It is not uncommon for high-end boutique hotels to join multiple groups at the same time, and you can expect to see crosses between Preferred Hotels / LHW / Mr & Mrs Smith / Melia / SLH.
Right in the middle of the lobby is a spotlight of the hotel: Mar Whispering by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa. I’m not an art person but I find the sculpture quite interesting, and I saw another piece of artwork from him at St Regis Venice a couple of months later.
The concierge welcomed us warmly with a glass of Prosecco upon entering. I just became a Strawberry Platinum member thanks to their tier match offer, but the staff never mentioned that at all during the check-in process. I did however get free breakfast and 4pm late check-out.
The hotel is almost full and no room upgrade was granted. The levelling is a bit weird – Ground floor is Floor 4 and the underground gym is Floor 1.
Our standard room is on Floor 8.
The room size is even smaller than Clarion Sign, but the materials and finish make a whole world of difference.
All the small pieces here and there show you it is a lavish hotel. I have only one complaint: the extensive use of granite and black wood dims the whole tune, and they should install more (brighter) lights to compensate that.
The room key:
There’s no swimming pool, but the gym and sauna room are free to all guests.
Breakfast buffet is priced at over 300 SEK pp which isn’t cheap.
In terms of spread it’s not much better than Clarion Sign, but the quality is finer and they make eggs too. Croissant is especially tasty.
All hotel staff are very enthusiastic and go out of their way to make sure your need is satisfied. Except for the lack of a pool I’m fairly impressed by the hotel, and my 20,000 points is well spent.
My review of Clarion Hotel Sign Stockholm
I’m heading to Stockholm for a few days, and it’s finally an opportunity to burn my Choice points. When showcasing Choice points we usually use Oslo’s The Thief as an example, but Stockholm is also a sweet spot – all hotels are available for between 10,000 and 20,000 points.
The only five-star property amongst them is At Six. It’s not available for my first two nights though so I booked Clarion Hotel Sign instead. It costs only 10,000 points ($52) per night, with breakfast included and a swimming pool. From the online pictures I thought the two hotels are more or less in the same league, which turns out to be a huge misunderstanding.
The hotel is at the edge of the city centre, not very close to the main attractions but still within walking distance. There’s a small park in front.
I checked in at 2.15pm, slightly earlier than the regular check-in time. Many of Strawberry’s staff aren’t very familiar with Choice’s integration, so you might need to explain that you booked with points.
Family Room and Superior Room are redeemable at the same price as standard rooms. I thus booked a Superior Room which has a bit more space.
Honestly speaking the room is too basic for a four-star hotel even by European standard. It’s reminiscent of the Ibis set-up, but with a tad more budget for the furniture – regular-sized table, coffee machine and bathtub.
According to this plate in the elevator, floors are designed by different artists:
I’m on the Danish floor. Finnish:
Norwegian:
Swedish:
I hope they are more distinguishable in the interior.
Spa is located on the eighth floor. Unfortunately the pool is closed for renovation. Sauna is open but you need to pay 100 SEK entry fee.
Gym:
Like many other hotels in the North, breakfast is complimentary to all guests.
The buffet:
SEK has been devaluing over the last few years – dining out in Stockholm is much cheaper than London!
Service here is not super warm but friendly enough. As you can see there’s nothing spectacular about this hotel – in fact it’s just mediocre. At the price I paid however, it is definitely a bargain worth going for.
Guide on redeeming Choice Privilege Points
Choice Hotels is an American hospitality company owning a few hotel brands such as Clarion, Comfort and Quality. They are not as popular in the frequent traveller world as many of their competitors, probably because:
- Their presence is very limited outside North America
- They mainly focus on the midscale and economy consumer markets
They do however, have a loyalty program called Choice Privileges which could be interesting to anyone even if you don’t travel to North America. Many aspects of the Choice Privileges aren’t relevant to most of us, so today we’ll specifically look into free night redemptions only.
[Buying Points]
If you are not US-based, then the easiest and most practical way of acquiring Choice points is through purchasing. The best deal would be the annual Daily Getaways event, through which you pay only $5.2 per thousand points. But there are some gotchas:
- It is intended for U.S. residents only, although in reality you just need a credit card that can pass with a U.S. billing address
- Stock is limited so you need to be fast
- You have only one chance per year
Failing that, Choice Privileges also runs frequent bonus offers on points sale, and the bonus usually ranges between 25% and 50%. The best rate you’ll get is maybe $6.8 per 1K points, which is a far cry from Daily Getaways but could still make a lot of sense if you read on.
[Japan]
Choice has a few hotels in the following Japanese cities: Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka and Nagasaki. Many of these hotels cost only 8,000 points a night, including the ones at Tokyo.
All hotels in Japan fall under the Comfort brand, which as you may have guessed is a no-frills economy brand. If you are on budget and just want a place to sleep, this is the way to go.
We’ve received feedback from readers which speak very highly of the Comfort hotel in Tokyo – convenient location, free breakfast and nice tea lounge.
[Europe]
Choice Privileges has some footprint in Europe, mainly at the most popular tourist destinations. You can expect to pay between 16,000 and 30,000 points for a Comfort or Quality hotel, which is not terrible but I’d stick with say Marriott and IHG instead.
The only sweet spot I’ve found is at Venice. This Ascend hotel has a 9.3 rating on Booking.com and can be frequently seen at €300 a night.
On the low-budget end, there are also a few 8,000-point hotels at Vienna and Prague.
[Strawberry]
This is in my opinion the highlight of the Choice Privilege program. Strawberry, formerly Nordic Choice, is a hotel group in Northern Europe that has had a franchise agreement with the Choice Hotel Group since 1994. Although they are different companies, Strawberry also uses brand names such as Clarion, Comfort and Ascend.
Even better, you can redeem Choice points on Strawberry hotels too, and they have a much more exciting portfolio. Strawberry operates some of the best hotels in Scandinavia, including The Thief in Oslo and At Six in Stockholm.
You can book reward nights at such properties directly on Choice’s website as usual. Many of them cost as few as 10,000 points, and many luxury properties cost only 20,000 points.
Needless to say there’s fantastic value to be had here. Reward availability is generally good, and there’s no peak or dynamic pricing so the cost remains the same.
Choice Privilege elite benefits don’t apply at Strawberry hotels. However there’s a way to claim Strawberry Platinum status right now, and you can add your booking to Strawberry’s system manually on their website.
[Premium Rooms]
One last thing: you can sometimes book room types beyond the standard room at the same cost. Here is the room availability of Aquarius Hotel in Venice:
You can book a suite for the same 20,000 points. A few other examples:
- Stockholm, Clarion Hotel Sign – Family Room & Superior Room
- Stockholm, Nordic Light Hotel – 1 Bedroom Suite
- Oslo, Comfort Hotel Grand Central – Superior Room
- Oslo, Clarion Collection Hotel Bastion – Family Room & Superior Room
- Helsinki, F6 – Deluxe Room
- Helsinki, GLO Hotel Art – Superior Room
Choice Privileges is a hidden gem and you can get great value out of it especially when travelling to Northern Europe. I don’t think you need to spend a lot of time on the program itself – just accrue some points when there’s a promotion and spend them towards your next adventure.
Up to 100% buy points bonus with IHG, Choice and LHW
[IHG]
IHG has brought back its mysterious bonus for buying points, and you can reveal your targeted bonus here.
The best bonus available is 100%, which means buying the points at half price effectively. If you buy at least 26,000 points, you will be paying $50 per 1K points. It is the best price that IHG has ever offers (although regularly), and IHG has been very good at preserving the value of their points, so it may make sense to buy if you stay with them at times.
[Choice]
Choice Privileges is running a Black Friday sale on points purchase which offers you 50% bonus until December 3rd. It is also the best bonus that Choice ever (and rarely) offers and you pay $68.67 per thousand points if you buy at least 10,000 of them.
The annual Daily Getaways can beat this price, but that’s much more difficult to come by, so I recommend you to seriously consider this deal.
The best Choice redemptions are in Japan (budget hotels starting at 8,000 points) and Northern Europe (starting at 10,000 points). I’m writing a detailed guide on how to spend Choice points.
[LHW]
Leading Hotels of the World, one of the niche alliances for high-end hotels, introduced the buying points feature recently, followed by an interesting bonus promotion.
You can view the offer here. Until December 26th you get a tiered bonus when buying LHW points:
- 2,000 – 11,000: 50%
- 12,000 – 29,000: 75%
- 30,000 – 50,000: 100%
At the top of the ladder you’ll still be paying $60 per 1K points, which sounds a lot. Let’s have a look at how LHW’s redemption works first.
LHW has a revenue-based redemption system and there’s no fixed price for hotels, which is why you’ll always see odd number of points as the price. Unlike Accor or Hilton though, that exchange rate from the cash price can fluctuate quite a lot.
I’ve taken a closer look at some hotels:
- Tokyo – The Imperial Hotel $591.79 / 3,886 points ($152.3)
- Bali – The Legian Seminyak $555.74 / 5,887 points ($94.4)
- Kuala Lumpur – The RuMa Hotel and Residences $159.46 / 1,738 points ($91.7)
- Shanghai – J Hotel – $751.55 / 8,144 points ($92.3)
- Berlin – Hotel Palace Berlin $171.03 / 2,040 points ($83.8)
- Paris – Ritz Paris $2,225.02 / 28,494 points ($78.1)
- Porto – Maison Albar Le Monumental Palace $232.26 / 2,817 points ($82.4)
The cash price I’ve taken is the member-exclusive flexible rate, or the closest alternative if unavailable. The number in brackets is how much value you are getting per 1K points for that hotel.
As you can see, the value proposition is in the range of $78 – $95. The Imperial Tokyo is a weird one that sticks out, as you are getting an outstanding $152.3 per thousand points. I double checked the number and my math is correct – not sure if it’s a system error or not.
So it could make sense to buy at the current 100% bonus, but there are things to be mindful of:
- You must pay at least $3,600 to secure the 100% bonus, which is a big spend
- LHW doesn’t have that many hotels in its portfolio
- As far as I can see there’s no part-pay-with-point option, so if there are orphan points left in your account it might be tricky to spend them
LHW points don’t expire as long as you earn or redeem every 24 months. It’s free to sign up as a member, which gives you benefit including continental breakfast, upgrade priority, early check-in and late check-out. After the first stay you’ll also earn a room-upgrade voucher.
Strawberry Hotels (Nordic Choice) Platinum status match
Strawberry Hotels, formerly known as Nordic Choice, has finally launched a status match program. targeted at Finnair Plus members.
You can see the offer page here.
- Finnair Basic and Silver members can match to Silver
- Finnair Gold members can match to Gold
All you need to do is login in to your Strawberry account, choose Corporate Agreement, and enter the corresponding code.
It’s 60788670 for Silver and 60788671 for Gold. Well, guess what 60788672 gives you…
On the offer page they say you’d be upgraded in 10 minutes, but for me it took about one hour. Log out and back in again if the status doesn’t change.
Note that if your account was previously enrolled in another status match program, you might not be able to enrol to this one again.
Strawberry offers some solid member-exclusive perks. Silver members enjoy 4pm late checkout and 9pm same-day cancellation already. Platinum members get guaranteed room upgrade and free gym access even when not staying at the hotel. Free breakfast is not a benefit, but it’s included for all guests at many Nordic hotels anyway.