Two ways to book (Nordic) hotels with Choice points

Now that Preferred Hotels & Resorts are bookable online with Choice points (see this post for details), it’s worth pointing out that there are a handful of hotels that can be booked with Choice points in two different ways: they can be booked either through Choice Privileges directly or through Preferred Hotels. I think that this situation is limited to select Strawberry Hotels (previously known as Nordic Choice hotels) that also participate in the Preferred Hotels program, but it’s possible that there are other hotels around the world where this happens too. It’s especially likely with Choice’s Ascend Collection hotels since these are independent hotels that may be free to participate in both programs: Choice Privileges and Preferred Hotels & Resorts. This theory is somewhat reinforced by the fact that the website for booking Preferred Hotels with Choice points includes “/ascend/” in the URL path. Please let me know if you find dual participating hotels other than those listed below.

Overview

There are two ways to book hotels online with Choice Privileges points:

1. Book Choice hotels at choicehotels.com
2. Book Preferred Hotels with Choice points at choicehotels.com/ascend/preferred-hotels (after logging into your Choice account and clicking “Book Here” you’ll be redirected to the Preferred Hotels website)

The vast majority of hotels through these two channels are completely separate. There are, however, a number of hotels that appear in both websites. Here are the ones I’ve identified so far:

• Oslo, Norway
  • Amerikalinjen
  • THE THIEF
• Stockholm, Sweden
  • Nordic Light Hotel
  • At Six
  • Hotel C Stockholm
• Copenhagen, Denmark
  • Villa Copenhagen
• Helsinki, Finland
  • Klaus K Hotel
  • Hotel Lilla Roberts
  • Hotel Haven

As you’ll see in the following sections, it does matter which way you book these hotels. There are material differences in point prices, availability, room types, and more…

Point Prices Vary

Among dual-available hotels identified so far, only one (THE THIEF) has the same point price in both channels (20K points either way). Usually, booking directly through Choice is cheaper, but in one case I found booking through Preferred Hotels was cheaper (Klaus K Hotel in Helsinki). Here are the details:

• Oslo, Norway
  • Amerikalinjen (20K Choice, 45K Preferred)
  • THE THIEF (20K Choice, 20K Preferred)
• Stockholm, Sweden
  • Nordic Light Hotel (20K Choice, 35K Preferred)
  • At Six (20K Choice, 45K Preferred)
  • Hotel C Stockholm (16K Choice, 25K Preferred)
• Copenhagen, Denmark
  • Villa Copenhagen (40K Choice, 45K Preferred)
• Helsinki, Finland
  • Klaus K Hotel (30K Choice, 25K Preferred)
  • Hotel Lilla Roberts (30K Choice, 35K Preferred)
  • Hotel Haven (30K Choice, 45K Preferred)

Availability Varies

I haven’t seen big differences in room availability, but there are some differences. For example, when trying to book THE THIEF through Choice’s website, you can see that June 26-29 is not available:

But when trying to book the same hotel through Preferred Hotels, THE THIEF is available for those same dates (June 26-29):

Preferred Offers Much Bigger Booking Window

When booking hotels with points through Choice’s website, you’re limited to booking stays within the next 100 days. With Preferred Hotels, though, you can generally book much farther out. I’ve seen hotels available as far out as a year, but not all go that far into the future.

Here you can see that the Klaus K Hotel in Helsinki is only available through July 1st (100 days from the date of writing this post) via Choice’s website:

But by booking through Preferred Hotels, it’s possible to book the same hotel a full year in advance:

Cancellation Policies Vary

Sometimes the cancellation policies are the same regardless of whether you book through Choice or through Preferred Hotels, but sometimes they’re different. Here’s an example of where they’re different…

Through Choice’s website, Villa Copenhagen offers free cancellation until 6pm on the day of check-in:

Through Preferred Hotels, Villa Copenhagen offers free cancellation until 4pm the day before arrival:

Room Types Vary

One of the biggest advantages of booking through Choice is that you can often pick from multiple room types for the same award price. When booking through Preferred Hotels, I believe that you are always limited to their cheapest room type.

For example, when booking the Villa Copenhagen via Choice, you get to choose from several room types:

When booking the same hotel through Preferred Hotels, you get whatever they assign you. In this case it’s a Standard Queen Room.

Which way is best to book?

In general, when hotels are available to book either way, booking through Choice is usually better. You’ll usually be charged fewer points and may have the ability to pick from a number of different room types. The one place where the advice is flipped on its head is when booking far in advance. Only Preferred Hotels allows booking with points more than 100 days in advance of the reservation. Of course, it may be possible to have your cake and eat it too: Book initially through Preferred Hotels, but once you are within 100 days of your stay, check to see if the hotel is available through Choice for your preferred dates. If so, cancel with Preferred Hotels and rebook through Choice.

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