Choice Privileges Titanium Travel Award: Interesting, but limited value

Choice Privileges recently revamped its loyalty program, adding a new top tier, Titanium Elite status. The main benefit at that level of status is the Titanium Travel Award. I recently attended a Choice Privileges press event, where I got a chance to ask questions about the new program changes. Unfortunately, I didn’t get notable unreleased details. However, Choice did give me Titanium status and a Titanium Travel Award. That was very helpful in learning what I can about the Titanium Travel Award, since it isn’t possible to see the list of eligible properties without Titanium status. To be clear, Choice hasn’t sponsored this post (we don’t publish sponsored posts at Frequent Miler). However, I thought that knowing about the Titanium Travel Award would be useful for readers who might consider earning status with Choice Privileges, and we didn’t expect to otherwise earn Titanium status in order to unlock access.

The interesting takeaway for me has been that the Titanium Travel Award probably won’t be valuable enough for most folks to provide a major incentive to stretch for status, but looking at the eligible properties has put a number of places on the map for me where I might consider planning a trip even without the Titanium Travel Award.

Choice Titanium Travel Award basics

With the launch of Choice Privileges Titanium Elite status, Choice introduced the Titanium Travel Award, which is the key benefit of Titanium status (which requires 55 elite nights or 110,000 elite qualifying credits). This award provides a 50% discount for a single award stay of up to 7 nights at a selection of higher-end Choice properties. More on that in a second. Here are the key things to know:

• The Titanium Travel Award offers 50% off the points cost of a hotel stay for 1 room for up to 7 nights
• The award must be used in the calendar year in which it is received (both booked and stay completed)
• Titanium members will receive one Titanium Travel Award upon achieving Titanium status (which will expire at the end of that calendar year if unused) and receive a new Titanium Travel Award on the following January 1st valid for that calendar year
• The award is non-transferable
• To change a reservation made using a Titanium Travel Award, the member must cancel and rebook the reservation at the rate in effect at the time of rebooking
• No discounts or reimbursements are given on hotel-assessed taxes or fees. It is worth noting that some hotels add resort fees.

It is great news that a Titanium member may get the chance to use two Titanium Travel Awards. A member earning Titanium status late in the year may not have much time to use the first Titanium Travel Award they receive (since it will expire at the end of that calendar year), but getting a second one when the new year begins makes it far easier to use at least one of them. At the same time, it might be frustrating needing to wait for a January 1st certificate to be issued if the member is looking to use the certificate for a stay early in the year (and, notably, I don’t think it is possible to use a Titanium Travel Award for a stay that spans New Year’s Eve).

The selection of eligible properties is noted to include “individual Ascend Collection, Cambria Hotels, Radisson, Radisson Blu, Radisson Individuals, Radisson RED, Park Plaza, Casino hotels, or hotels from other brands and partners outside of the U.S.” Unfortunately, Titanium Travel Awards may not be used for award redemptions at Preferred Hotels.

The materials we had seen prior to receiving Titanium status indicated that this award could be used at more than 400 properties, and that seems to be accurate. That’s a very small selection out of what they market as being more than 7,500 total Choice Privileges properties worldwide. And while the eligible properties do appear to be limited to that list of brands, it is important to note that not all of the properties within those brands are eligible.

The award itself is simple to use: once you’ve earned it, you’ll find it within your account under “Your Rewards”.

To find the list of eligible properties, you need to click on the button to “Book a premium stay with points”. You’re then brought to a dedicated page with drop-down menus for the location search instead of fields where you type the city name. This search tool only provides results for Titanium Travel Award-eligible properties (and only in the Rewards Points rates).

The value of a Choice Titanium Travel award is limited

The biggest thing to keep in mind about this award is that the maximum value of this award is capped at 7 nights’ worth of savings.

The highest-priced award nights I’ve seen are 50,000 points per night before the discount. That means that the maximum value of the Titanium Travel award is 25,000 points per night times 7 nights, or 175,000 Choice Privileges Points. That could certainly be a terrific deal if you’re able to maximize it.

However, I saw very few properties that would cost that many points. Properties where the award can be used mostly range from 8,000 points per night to 35,000 points per night before the discount, with relatively few properties charging up to 50,000 points per night.

Choice Privileges sometimes offers points on sale, oftentimes around 0.7c per point (see this post for an example that is current at the time of writing). Based on a sale price of ~0.7c per point, a Titanium Travel Award would save you somewhere between $28 per night (4,000 points at 0.7c per point) and $175 per night (25,000 points per night at 0.7c per point). Note that we sometimes see points on sale for a bit less yet, so your actual savings will vary.

Again, this award can certainly be relatively valuable at the high end for a multi-night stay, but the savings won’t be huge unless you really work to maximize.

Where are the properties eligible for the Titanium Travel Award?

Choice Privileges keeps the list of properties eligible for a Titanium Travel Award accessible only to Titanium members. I’m working on a complete map of properties for a future update to this post. However, I wanted to provide some interesting insights here by the numbers. Choice lists the states (and countries) where the award can be used, with each state (or country) dropping down with a menu of the cities where there are participating properties within that territory.

Somewhat frustratingly, searching a city doesn’t always show all properties where a Titanium Travel Award can be used. For instance, when I searched Pigeon Forge, Tennessee for a March date, two eligible properties came up in search results. When I switched to a summertime date, three properties showed in search results, so you may have to search multiple sets of dates to get a true sense of all of the properties available within a particular area.

Here are some Titanium Travel Award insights, by the numbers:

• 350: Number of cities with a Choice property that is eligible for the Titanium Travel Award
• 248: Cities with eligible properties in the US, spread over 44 states and the District of Colombia. The most represented states are:
  • California (23 cities)
  • Florida (17 cities)
  • New York (16 cities, though note that “New York” (really Manhattan) is listed separately from “Brooklyn”)
• 102: Cities with eligible properties outside the United States. The most represented countries are:
  • Spain (33 cities)
  • Canada (22 cities)
  • Australia (12 cities)

I found it especially interesting that Spain has more cities with Titanium Travel Award-eligible properties than any individual state in the United States, and that Spain and Canada combined account for more than half the number of cities abroad with eligible properties. While I found that kind of cool in some ways (who knew that Choice Privileges could be so useful for travel to Spain?), it also speaks to the relatively limited footprint of eligible properties. Choice is well-known for its partnership with what is now known as Strawberry Hotels (previously Nordic Choice), but none of those properties are eligible for use with this award. And the only property available in Italy is in Sorrento (I was disappointed that it couldn’t be used at the Comfort Hotel Bolivar, which is a place I’ve enjoyed staying in the heart of Rome). I assume that the economics didn’t work to make this award work at all Choice Privileges properties, but I found it a little frustrating that the selection is limited.

Highlights

While I was a little frustrated by the limitations, I nonetheless have enjoyed hunting around for places where a Titanium Travel Award could be appealing. In this section, I’ll highlight some I’ve found that might be worth a look and/or that might be of interest even if not using a Titanium Travel Award.

Properties that seemed worth a mention to me as I hunted around for interesting places to stay:

• Edgar Hotel Martha’s Vineyard: I stayed here last summer (see my review of the property here), and I would gladly return. It is the only award hotel of which I am aware on Martha’s Vineyard, and summertime prices often climb to heights between $600 and $1,000 per night, which already makes for a good deal versus the “normal” award rate of 45,000 points per night (particularly if you are transferring 1:2 from Citi Thank You points or Wells Fargo). Getting half off could make this property one of the best values in the program.
• The Azoriani Boutique, an Ascend Collection Hotel (Ponte Delgado, Portugal, Azores). This property actually doesn’t get great reviews, and the potential points savings isn’t very big since this place has a standard award price of 12,000 points per night. However, in the summertime, rates run around $250 per night, so paying just 6,000 Choice points per night (3,000 points transferred from Citi or Wells Fargo) could nontheless be a very good deal.
• Westgate Pigeon Forge. This property caught my eye because of its indoor water park. In fact, looking through the property pictures, I might have thought that this place was built as a Great Wolf Lodge and converted, so if you’re looking for that type of stay, this might be interesting. Unfortunately, the value wasn’t necessarily impressive. In my sample searches, nightly rates have mostly been in the $200-$300 per night range, with awards costing 30,000 points per night before the discount. That makes it more of an average-value award redemption, though the Titanium Travel Award makes it a better deal when cash prices are high. However, watch out for the $33 nightly resort fee.
• Cambria Hotel Traverse City Michigan. I stayed at this property last summer and was really pleasantly surprised. Service really stood out, with every staff member we met being memorably friendly and helpful. And it can be a really good value at peak travel times. We paid 20,000 points per night last summer, but I just spot-checked some dates for this summer, and although cash rates were north of $300 per night, this property was available for just 12,000 points per night before the Titanium Travel Award. Again, that would limit the maximum value in terms of points savings, but it could be possible to get very outsized value per point. Interestingly, this property has multiple room types available for award redemption at different prices. For instance, on my sample date, a standard King suite (which sleeps 4) is available for 12,000 points per night, but it is possible to book a 2-bedroom Double King suite (which sleeps 6) for 17,000 points per night (as well as a number of other room types for 15K per night). The Titanium Travel Award works on all of the available award room types.
• Radisson Blu Aruba: This is one of the few properties where you can max out the value of a Titanium Travel Award since it regularly costs 50,000 points per night before the discount. Unfortunately, while I recall this property offering 2-bedroom units for standard award cost when Choice first bought Radisson, I only see 1-bedroom King units available for redemption now. Also note that this property is not located on the beach.
• Emotions All Inclusive Puerto Plata, an Ascend Collection Hotel and Emotions All Inclusive Juan Dolio, an Ascend Collection Hotel. It feels like these all-inclusive hotels in the Dominican Republic might be of interest (and, oddly, despite a low review score of ~3.5 out of 5 on the Choice website, both have Google Reviews averaging 4.2-4.5 out of 5). However, I couldn’t find any available award dates at either one despite both being on the list of properties eligible for the Titanium Travel Award.
• Williamsburg, VA: With two Bluegreen Vacations properties and one Westgate property, there are a few nice-looking options in Williamsburg. None of them provides wildly outsized value (summertime rates for sample dates were $150-$160 per night versus award prices of 15K to 30K per night before the Titanium award), but each of them could nonetheless be a decent deal at peak times.
• Westgate River Ranch Resort & Rodeo. The subheadline from Westgage Resorts describes this as “A Florida Dude Ranch & Luxury Glamping Resort”. I had no idea. Nights I checked weren’t amazing value as regular awards at 35,000 points per night, but with a Titanium Travel Award (and particularly if transferring from Citi or Wells), this would look kind of interesting….if not for the $55.98 per night resort fee.

That’s just a small sampling. Most of the properties I’ve seen included are Ascend Collection properties (especially common in foreign countries), with a handful of Radisson Blu, Westgate, Bluegreen Vacations, and Cambria locations around the United States. I found a few Radisson Individuals properties in Latin America, though cash prices appeared to be relatively low on the ones I checked.

I have to say that the Ascend Collection wins the Internet for creatively-named hotels. For instance, if you’re looking for a hotel around Takayama, Japan, Ascend Collection has you covered.

There are a few properties available in Manhattan, which can often provide high value at peak times, though your mileage may vary.

Bottom Line

The Choice Privileges Titanium Travel Award offers the ability to get 50% off the cost of an award stay of up to 7 nights. Somewhat oddly, it only works at a relatively small selection of brands within the Choice portfolio. Since some included properties already have very reasonable award rates, the maximum savings may not be notably exciting. On the other hand, if you’re able to transfer 1:2 from Citi or Wells Fargo and match this up with an expensive property, you could really end up getting a terrific value for your points. Is it worth chasing 55 elite nights for this benefit? Probably not. However, if you would otherwise be close to Titanium status, this carrot might push you over the top if you have a good redemption in mind. The trouble is going to be that you won’t know what redemptions are available until you have Titanium status, which really limits its ability to incentivize behavior. Choice ought to make the list easily available to all members so that they can see what they could be getting.

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