Yesterday, there was a reddit thread where several folks noticed that Choice Privileges appeared to have increased the points cost of many of their awards overnight, with some properties rising by 100% or more. In addition, there seemed to be some dynamic pricing going on that we hadn’t seen previously, as well as odd prices that didn’t fit into Choice’s normal tiers (for example, we’d never seen 37,500 before).
We saw several outlets calling this a “devaluation,” but found it a bit odd as just a couple of months ago Choice had told us that they wouldn’t be revaluing the cost of properties OR changing price bands when making some previously-announced changes to their program at the start of this year.
We reached out to Choice to get clarity on what was actually happening and received the following response:
During an update to our system, there was a brief change in valuations for some of our properties in Europe and Japan. The valuations have now returned to their previous rates.
In reviewing pricing this morning, it appears that properties where we had seen increases yesterday are back to their “normal” pricing today, both in Europe/Japan and in the US as well. I couldn’t find anything that looked odd and the strange pricing levels seem to be gone.
Quick Thoughts
We occasionally see these sorts of “ghost in the machine” episodes regarding award pricing, or at least we see price increases that are blamed on tech glitches. It’s always hard to know if this sort of thing is an omen of coming changes that were incorrectly made live early, or if it’s simply that things got a little mucky on the back end for a hot minute.
We’re planning on redoing our Reasonable Redemption Value for Choice Points soon to see if there’s been any significant program-wide change, but in the meantime would love to hear from folks who still see increases and/or pricing anomalies when booking Choice awards.
And, if you have your heart set on a particular property in Europe or Japan? Might be safer to book it sooner than later.
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The comfort inn Nassau was at 16k, during the devaluation, it went to 40k, now it’s at 35k. Still a major devaluation. Under hotel details it lists that it should be 16k still.
Thankfully it was not a devaluation. It was only yet another IT issue. Whew. That was a close one.
Interestingly, I booked a couple of nights in Tokyo yesterday & the points needed were the same as a couple of months ago.
Same as I’m seeing. 8k points across the board and it’s been this way for quite a while.
Yesterday, 4 of the Tokyo Comforts were 8k & the 2 with free breakfast were 12k. Now all are 8k. Found a couple of the Preferred properties for 35k, which isnt a terrible use of 16k Citi points. Cash is over $300 after taxes for those properties.
Well yeah, it was higher yesterday due to the “glitch”. But it’s been 8k points for a long while now. Same for Osaka.
The Cambria hotel in NYC is still 45K. I used to see it at 35K.
It was 35k last week. But hey, it’s not a devaluation so we can feel good about that lol.
Thank you Tim. 2 days ago I booked hotel in London when you told us we didn’t had to wait for 90 days for awards to open up. I paid 20k per night. After see your article, I went to check and the room we booked was 12k per night, so I canceled and rebooked.
They went from a no-notice devaluation to one with some amount of notice. Probably not much. Burn your Choice points now!
Thanks Tim–you made me smile when I read “just a couple of months ago Choice had told us that they wouldn’t be revaluing the cost of properties OR changing price bands”. Didn’t Hyatt tell something to Greg just about 10-12 months ago about MMS integration?
Thanks Tim. I’d been waiting for the 90 day window to open for a Tokyo reservation in April. When it opened yesterday I was bummed to see an overnight increase of 75%, but I had no choice (pun not intended). Now I was able to cancel and rebook at the original price. Actually, a few hotels in Tokyo look to be lower than before.
Wow great story Bazza thanks for sharing
They’ve been 8k points for years 😉 Same for Osaka.
I’m going with bad omen – the price changes I saw in Scandinavia were all too conveniently aligned with the hotel’s tiers. E.g. Clarion Collections priced above Comfort which was above Comfort Express.
I’m guessing something was rolled out prematurely.