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Following the latest Choice-Preferred devaluation (prices now range up to 118,000 Choice points per night 87K Choice points per night) I had to scrap the original contents of this post and start over. Are there still great values to be had? Fortunately, the short answer is “yes.”
Previously I set my threshold at a minimum of 1 cent per Choice point, but for this new analysis, I inched that down to 0.9 cents per point. Specifically, I looked for hotels that offer a minimum value of 0.9 cents per Choice point year-around. Given that both Citi ThankYou Rewards and Wells Fargo Rewards transfer 1 to 2 to Choice, this means that the hotels shown in this post offer a minimum value of 1.8 cents per Citi or Wells point. That’s excellent.
Methodology
To find the best gems, I matched up Choice point prices with Preferred Hotels “starting at” cash prices (found here). Not all Preferred Hotels show starting at prices, but most do. I then filtered to all hotels that dependably offer 0.9 cent per point value or better.
Note that since I only used “starting at” prices, I only found the hotels where you will get good value year around. There are many, many hotels who’s prices go way up during peak season and therefore deliver great point value during those times. This post does not include hotels that offer great value only seasonally.
In summary, you’ll find here a number of hotels that offer great value year around when booked with Choice points. Missing from the list are those in which the Preferred Hotels website doesn’t list a starting at price. Also missing are hotels that offer great value only during peak season.
Great value Preferred Hotels bookable with Choice points
The following hotels offer a minimum of approximately 0.9 cents per Choice point value year around. These best value hotels are sorted to the top.
All of the following information, including photos and descriptions of each hotel, was found on the Preferred Hotels & Resorts website.
The One Palácio da Anunciada, Lisbon
Five-Star Boutique Hotel in a 16th-Century Palace
Lisbon, Portugal
- Point Price: 28000
- Starting At Cash Price: $522
- Cents Per Point Value: 1.86
Surf & Sand Resort Laguna Beach
Luxury Beachfront Hotel on the Southern California Coast
Laguna Beach, California, United States
- Point Price: 55000
- Starting At Cash Price: $1018
- Cents Per Point Value: 1.85
Storchen Zürich – Lifestyle Boutique
Fine Swiss Hospitality in the Heart of Zürich Old Town
Zurich, Switzerland
- Point Price: 55000
- Starting At Cash Price: $802
- Cents Per Point Value: 1.46
THE THIEF, Oslo
Oslo’s Gold-and-Glass Crown Jewel
Oslo, Norway
- Point Price: 20000
- Starting At Cash Price: $282
- Cents Per Point Value: 1.41
La Esperanza Granada, Spain
A Grand and Glamorous Boutique Hacienda Estate Outside Granada
Saleres, Spain
- Point Price: 32000
- Starting At Cash Price: $442
- Cents Per Point Value: 1.38
Castlemartyr Resort, Cork, Ireland
A Luxury Escape Where Historic Beauty Meets Modern Convenience
Cork, Ireland
- Point Price: 25000
- Starting At Cash Price: $292
- Cents Per Point Value: 1.17
Hotel Californian, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara Beach Escape Where the Ocean Meets the City
Santa Barbara, California, United States
- Point Price: 55000
- Starting At Cash Price: $613
- Cents Per Point Value: 1.11
The Last Word Franschhoek, South Africa
Boutique Five-Star Gem in a Gourmet Paradise
Cape Town, South Africa
- Point Price: 30000
- Starting At Cash Price: $332
- Cents Per Point Value: 1.11
Royal Hideaway Corales Beach, Tenerife
A Luxurious Adults-Only Resort in Spain’s Canary Islands
La Caleta Costa Adeje Tenerife, Spain
- Point Price: 29000
- Starting At Cash Price: $320
- Cents Per Point Value: 1.1
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INIALA HARBOUR HOUSE & RESIDENCES, Malta
A Marriage of Maltese Heritage and Modern Design
Valletta, Malta
- Point Price: 55000
- Starting At Cash Price: $572
- Cents Per Point Value: 1.04
Santarena Hotel, Costa Rica
Authentic and Elegant Costa Rican Paradise
Las Catalinas, Costa Rica
- Point Price: 38000
- Starting At Cash Price: $379
- Cents Per Point Value: 1
Altis Avenida Hotel, Lisbon
A Five-Star Boutique Hotel in the Heart of Lisbon
Lisbon, Portugal
- Point Price: 39000
- Starting At Cash Price: $376
- Cents Per Point Value: 0.96
The Fullerton Bay Hotel, Singapore
A Stunning, Multi-Award-Winning Hotel Overlooking Marina Bay
Singapore, Singapore
- Point Price: 55000
- Starting At Cash Price: $508
- Cents Per Point Value: 0.92
Virgin Hotels Edinburgh
Victorian Grandeur And Contemporary Design In Old Town Edinburgh
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Point Price: 50000
- Starting At Cash Price: $459
- Cents Per Point Value: 0.92
The Sherry-Netherland, New York
New York’s Legendary Crème de la Crème Near Central Park
New York, New York, United States
- Point Price: 109000
- Starting At Cash Price: $989
- Cents Per Point Value: 0.91
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Does the new methodology take into account real world availability? I don’t see availability for Fullerton Hotel or Fullerton Bay Hotel in Singapore through the end of the calendar. This corresponds with what I’ve seen in searches over the last year. If you can confirm, then perhaps this “phantom” listing should be deprecated?
I thought I had checked that each one had at least one date available at the time that I did this. It’s possible that I missed this one or that it was booked up since then.
One caution with booking Preferred Hotels with Choice points that I experienced (and another member of the FM Insiders Facebook group) is to verify with the reservation with the hotel.
I know this is common advice, but I had a stay at the Broadmoor earlier this year which the front desk knew nothing about at check-in. I even created a I Prefer account prior to arrival and verified it there (along with showing the desk a confirmation email i had). They took care of us, but had no record. Make sure to verify your reservations directly with the hotel
Similar thing happened to us in Boston. They had our reservation, but wanted us to pay cash even though we booked with points and I showed them the confirmation. It was a nightmare, but the manager eventually worked it out.
Thanks for the update. One thing I’d note that, in some of these places, using Choice points is a good alternative to paying to stay at these properties, but not necessarily a “good deal.” Like the hotel is Franschhoek, South Africa looks nice, but with little effort, I routinely stay in 4-star (or better) boutique properties in South Africa for less than $50 (the country is a great bargain for American travelers). Doing a Kayak or Airbnb search will easily find good alternatives (keeping in mind it’s often possible to sweeten an Airbnb deal by using discounted Airbnb gift cards).
I am curious, which 4-star or boutique properties are priced less than $50?
They are literally everywhere in South Africa. Look for 9+ ratings (on at least 15 reviews) on Booking.com (helps to have qualified for their modest “genius” discount and claim topcashback cashback) and 4.9+ on Airbnb. The Stellenbosch area tends to be slightly more expensive, but you can still stay quite comfortably for $50 or less, especially if you book these on airbnb with modestly discounted gift cards. For Stellenbosch, check the search box for vineyard properties.
Thank you for the excellent advice.
0.9 cpp year round is the benchmark? Given current point pricing, in February, a redemption at the Sherry-Netherland would price out at 0.79 cpp. Or, 1.58 cents per bank point. This property before the devaluations, absolutely. This property now, absolutely not.
I followed the link for The Thief and tried to log in using my Choice information since I’d be using Choice points but the site didn’t recognize me. I thought the problem was with my password so I tried to reset it but then my email wasn’t recognized either. Has anyone else hit this problem? Any help is much appreciated.
Frequent Miler has a tweet where there is a video showing how it fund Preferred properties. I have found that logging into Choice first creates issue finding Preferred Hotel properties.
Curiously, the INIALA HARBOUR HOUSE is also a Hyatt redemption option
Upon review, you are absolutely correct. Booking a stay here on CP points through the Preferred Hotels program is a much better value than using Hyatt points through the Mr.& Mrs. Smith program.
I’ll be writing a post on this from Frequent Miler Insiders. Thanks for this!
Wonder if you could book w Choice and then switch loyalty to Hyatt
I seriously doubt that, but the link below might result in I Prefer Platinum status to use there and other hotels.
https://frequentmiler.com/easy-i-prefer-titanium-status-for-new-members-with-promo-code/
Along with the caps going up to 118k/ night, it looks like on average the value across the board now is 0.5cpp. I think it would be great if we could get an updated list of the best value options like this post after this new devaluation.
Head ups Greg, looking at the list on choices website today I noticed that the maximum for booking Preferred hotels is now up to 118k points. What an absolute joke, especially after removing the Montage in Laguna and the Montage in Maui.
Anyone stayed at Live aqua with choice points? I read online that some preferred hotel booking reservations have issues showing up on individual hotel’s systems. I wanted to see if there are any positive DPs.
[…] have a record of what the prices used to be those 3 properties, so I decided to use the prices in Frequent Miler’s post (Great value Preferred Hotels bookable with Choice points) from April 2024. The highest price in the Frequent Miler post was 55K points / night. I then […]
I noticed a lot of properties that show on in choice preferred hotels also show in FHR especially in DC. I know Amex points are more valuable but with the breakfast, hotel credit and all the amenities that come with it how do you make a decision when FHR is worth using or not?
I never use Amex points to book FHR stays since you’ll only get 1 cent per point value that way. Instead I pay with my Platinum card for those bookings (and you’ll earn 5x that way). So, then it comes down to whether the better deal is to book with Choice points or pay with cash and get FHR benefits. I’m not sure that I have a set method for deciding, but when I last faced that exact situation, I had a $200 FHR credit to use up so I went with FHR.
That makes sense. I just try to avoid paying for my stays. Maybe I can go a different route altogether and use TravelZork or Virtuoso to stay at a property and pay with Aeroplan card and use PYB for 1.25 cpp. I believe those services should register as Travel?
Imo you should remove the hyperlinks and photos from the Never-Available hotels.
It should simply be a wall of shame.
I think the Preferred Hotels plays games with availability. Atelier was wide open a couple of weeks ago and is completely unavailable now along with Live Aqua.
I wonder if there are any tricks to booking. We’ve heard amazing things about the Xcaret Playa del Carmen and I was stoked to see it on this list. But on the Choice/Preferred site, it shows no availability at all for even a single night for the duration of the calendar.
I don’t know of any tricks but if you find any let us know! That hotel was in the section of this post titled “Never available hotels”
The Boston Harbor Hotel, when I stayed there about a decade ago, had somewhat dated rooms which hopefully have been refreshed. However, the saltwater lap pool and jacuzzi are amazing, as was the spa.