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Every couple of months Choice releases a new batch of Sweet Spot Rewards where they reduce the number of points required to book award stays at ~30 properties.
Most properties tend to be in the US, but there are usually a few in Canada and overseas. That’s the case again with this latest batch and there’s a particular gem in Venice (as in Italy, not the beach in California) that looks like an incredible redemption opportunity.
The Deal
- Book award stays from only 8,000 Choice Privileges points per night with Choice Sweet Spot Rewards.
- Direct link to offer.
Key Terms
- Valid on stays through January 31, 2024.
Quick Thoughts
There’s a total of 31 properties on this latest list, with several downtown in cities like Flagstaff, Detroit and Austin. There are numerous waterfront or near-waterfront properties in Florida, New Jersey and more.
There are a couple of properties I wanted to highlight though. One is the Cambria Hotel Washington D.C. Navy Yard Riverfront on the southern tip of D.C. near Nationals Park. This hotel is notable because you can book straight into a one bedroom suite with only 20,000 points. As a reminder, you can transfer Citi ThankYou points to Choice on a 1:2 basis, so this would only cost you 10,000 ThankYou points per night.
The highlight of the entire list though isn’t in the US. It’s the Hotel Aquarius Venice in Italy which can be booked from only 12,000 points. It’s part of the Ascend Hotel Collection, has very good reviews, appears to be in an excellent location for exploring the city and includes complimentary continental breakfast.
However, it’s the room type you can book which is what makes it such a gem. There’s a junior suite available from only 12,000 Choice points per night (i.e. 6,000 Citi ThankYou points).
The cash price for that room in January runs from $400-$650 per night – an incredible deal.
As you can see in the screenshots above, there are at least three junior suites available on at least one date in January, not to mention that there’s a different type of suite available on some dates too. Seeing as the max occupancy is only 3, if you’re a family of 4-6 you could book two rooms and be quite comfortable.
Something to note when looking at this particular property – when selecting your dates it’ll look like there’s no availability on the calendar (Choice displays pricing when selecting your dates). Choose your dates anyway and there’ll hopefully be availability; that’s not guaranteed because on at least one weekend in January they’re sold out, but it’s not as sparse as it might initially appear.
These Sweet Spot Rewards are valid on stays through January 31, 2024. It’d be best to book stays sooner rather than later as I imagine award availability at some of the better hotels will start to dry up.
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The Aquarius is a great hotel. I spent four nights there last year on points and had a great stay. It is located in a real Venetian neighborhood. Kids play soccer in the square outside the hotel after school. It is a walk or a boat ride to St. Marks and many of the other main tourist attractions, but it is well worth it. When I was there it was a full breakfast buffet. The breakfast room is one of the rooms that looks like it likely did when the hotel was a private palazzo. Highly recommend a stay.
Didn’t check other hotels but for at least the Radisson in Flagstaff the sweet spot award redemptions seem to be limited to weekdays. 16K down to 12K on Sunday – Thursday nights but still at 20K on Friday and Saturday. Most weekdays are pricing out around $100 per night or less so that really limits the value on this.
Still a few good dates since the point price doesn’t change for holidays. Christmas week has a lot of nights closer to $200 and you can go see the Great Pinecone Drop for New Year’s at a bargain ($334 room rates otherwise!).
Thanks for the tip! Just booked the Hotel Aquarius in Venice for 3 nights of our Christmas trip! Got the full suite (over 500 € per night on our nights) for 12k weekends and 16k weekend nights!
Awesome – have a fun trip!
Stephen. How do I search for all Choice Hotels and their cobrands around the world, country, city area? The Deauville Hotels is not listed on their ‘location’ web site. I have found this to be the case on a lot of Choice properties.
To search France. I go to ChoiceHotel.com, and scroll to bottom of page, ‘locations’ scroll to bottom, ‘Europe’ than ‘France’. I see ‘Hotels in France’. But there are many more hotels in France that are NOT listed. Like Vannes, Rouen, and Deauville (the Choice Sweet Spot this month).
Google maps does not help.
I don’t think Choice lets you search an entire country, so you’d have to search a city or region that you’re interested in visiting. Unfortunately their website isn’t great, so I’m not aware of a way to see a list of all their properties.