If you recall, I posted a deal last year where Choice Privilege Rewards was running a promotion for double miles when you transferred to Qantas or Velocity Frequent Flyer.
At the time, Choice was also selling miles to their own program with a 40% bonus which meant you could “double-dip”.
This time around, the promo is back, but there are a few things you need to keep in mind. First off, the sale Choice Privilidege Rewards is running at the moment is for a 25% discount. This works out slightly more expensive (4.8% more expensive) than last year’s promo, which was for 40% bonus points.
The second and most important thing you need to know is that only points purchased BEFORE February 1, 2022, will be eligible for the double points bonus transfer to Qantas or Velocity.
How do double points work?
For Choice members, this means for 2,000 Choice Privilege points, they will receive either 1,600 Qantas Points or 1,600 Velocity Frequent Flyer Points.
Note: the double points promo starts on February 1 and ends on February 28. However, ANY points purchased on or after February 1 will NOT be eligible for the double points transfer.
How does the deal work?
Working out if this deal has value comes down to what you plan to use the points for. It’s by no means the cheapest way to accrue Qantas Points and slightly over what I usually prefer to pay for them. The current promo lets you buy Qantas Points at AU$0.013.
How To Buy Choice Rewards & Convert Them To Qantas Points
- Sign up for a Choice Rewards membership
- Log in and click “my account”
- Copy your membership number
- Click “buy points” do this before February 1 or visit: https://www.choicehotels.com/en-au/choice-privileges/buy-points
- Enter your Choice Privileges number and purchase the points required.
To transfer Choice Rewards to Qantas or Velocity, follow these steps before February 28:
- Log in and visit: https://www.choicehotels.com/choice-privileges/rewards-exchange-partners
- Click on the airline partner you want to send points to.
- Link your Qantas or Velocity number with Choice Privileges and select the amount you wish to transfer.
Example: Buying 140,000 Choice Rewards
Let’s do a quick example so you can work out if buying points makes sense for you! Choice Rewards are sold in USD so make sure to use a card that doesn’t charge you a 3% markup (most do!). I use my Revolut Debit Visa or since it has no fees or you can also get a free Up debit card (with $10 bonus via this link) or use the Crypto.com debit card with US$25 bonus to avoid those pesky foreign exchange fees.
Buying 140,000 Choice Rewards should net me 112,000 Qantas or Velocity Points once converted. That’s assuming we transfer 140,000 points during the double points promo.
The cost of 140,000 Choice Rewards is US$1039.5, so the effective cost per QF/VA point is US$0.0092, which is around 5X cheaper compared to buying points directly from Qantas. The maximum amount of Choice Rewards you can buy in a calendar year is 180,000 (excluding bonuses), and purchased points will be credited to your account within 24h so keep this in mind if you plan to transfer them to Qantas or Velocity.
Click here to buy Choice Rewards.
Sample Itineraries – What Are These Points Worth?
- Sydney to Perth with Qantas on the A330 in business: AU$594 one way taxes included.
- Amsterdam to Dubai with Emirates on the A380/B777 in first class: Eur 799 one way, taxes included.
- Dubai to New York with Emirates on the B777 first class suite: US$1609 one way, taxes included.
- Haneda Japan to London with Japan Airlines in first class: US$1417 one way, taxes included.
Why would you not use a points earning card like Coles Mastercard to purchase the points? No international transaction fees plus earn points on the spend
If you have a card that doesn’t charge FX then yes absolutely. The issue in Australia is that the majority of cards have a 3% FX rate. The only ones that don’t Are Macquarie Platinum Visa and Coles MC as you mentioned (unless I missed one?).
CBA Ultimate Rewards and ANZ Travel Adventures too
Of course! For some reason, I thought ANZ TA was history! Thanks
Latitude 28 degrees doesnt charge either.
Yes but no rewards in which case I’d prefer Crypto .com debit visa with 2% cashback
What’s the exchange rate from Choice to QFF? I can’t currently pull up the calculator as I don’t have an account balance it keeps pushing me back to the home page. Looking to net 36,800 Qantas Points and want to check whether this is valuable.
As per the article, 2000 Choice = 1600 QF/VA during the double points promo.
Thanks, missed that!
I have the same issue, when I click “transfer now” it just redirects me back to the home page every time. I have points in my account after purchasing them yesterday. Tried on multiple browsers. Anyone have a work around for this or am I missing something?
same here. wish we can do it online without calling in.
I just called to transfer the points and the agent on the phone said that I would receive 15k Qantas points for 100k choice privileges? I didn’t go through with the transfer to Qantas. Obviously something is going on here especially as they can’t be transferred online at the moment either.
That’s incorrect, it’s 2000 Choice points for 1600 QF points. The transfer promo-only goes live today but I’m unsure what time zone they work in so probably best to wait until tomorrow to see if online transfer is enabled under the correct calculation.
Hi Dom did you have any luck ???
I am having the same issues, and keep going round in circles on their website, lost and feeling my age !!! lol
No luck yet. Tried calling again, the agent said “there must be a glitch with online transfers” and that she could process it for me over the phone but same as the last agent was told it would only be 15k Qantas per 100k choice points if done over the phone.
Update: I reached out to them on social media and they advised that they are having IT difficulties launching the promotion and are working on a resolution.
Where is the link to Double points promo? Cant seem to find one
The link is here: https://www.choicehotels.com/en-au/choice-privileges/double-points Note that the double promo starts tomorrow (Feb 1) but only points purchased before Feb 1 will be eligible for the double points transfer.
This link takes you through to last years promotion in March 2021
Yep yesterday they still had the old details on the landing page. It should be updated today I believe.
Cheers!
Hi Immanuel is there a way of checking which airlines participate before buying? Had a quick look but couldn’t see.
Hi Patricia, as per the article the double points promo is for Qantas and Virgin Velocity.
I registered points just now and I tried to see what will happen when I redeem points to Qantas miles, but It only show Hotel Reward but no airline miles reward appear for me to choose. What shall I do ? Can I redeem the points for Wantas miles tomorrow? Does Double Promo still work then?
The double points promo starts tomorrow! You just have to make sure you buy the Choice rewards today because any points purchased tomorrow will NOT be eligible for double points transfer to Qantas/Velocity.
Thank you for your prompt reply and very helpful! I bought some points but it didn’t come to my account after I paid which I did half a hour ago. Is this website replicable? Because I never used it before.
It can take a while if you have a new account. You could proactively reach out to Points.com as they often cancel orders from new accounts. And yes they are legit. They sell points for most of the major airline/hotel programs around the world.
Hi Immanuel do you know if SQ and QR participate in this?
Only Qantas and Velocity, unfortunately.
Could you tell me where it shows double points Promo for choice points transfer to Qantas miles will start from Feb 1 to 28? I try to find this news but couldn’t find it.
I live in Germany and seriously considered buying these points to fly EK F but the maximum number of points wouldn’t get me 2 one-way tickets that I’d need because I’d want to travel with someone. Unless you know of a way to top up my account at a reasonable price?
You could just open an account for the second person
Is that points bought US time? Ie it’s still not too late to buy some now?
Hey Graham, I think it’s too late now unless the T&C relies on US time zone.
And yes, purchases are through Points .com
found the page: https://www.choicehotels.com/en-au/choice-privileges/double-points
but it says March 2022?
“Terms & Conditions
The Double Airline Points transfer offer is available from 1 March 2022 to 31 March 2022. During this offer, when you redeem Choice Privileges points for these Frequent Flyer programs, you will receive twice as many Frequent Flyer Points as normal; for 2,000 Choice Privilege points, for example, you’ll receive either 1,600 Qantas Points or 1,600 Velocity Frequent Flyer Points. The minimum number of Choice Privileges points that can be redeemed under this offer is 2,000, and Choice Privilege Points must be redeemed in 1,000 point increments.
Only points earned/purchased prior to 1 Feb 2022 will be able to be redeemed for Double Frequent Flyer Points.
To take advantage of this offer, login into the Choice Privileges member portal and select rewards exchange (https://www.choicehotels.com/choice-privileges/rewards-exchange-partners), alternatively contact the Choice Privileges Customer Service number and provide your Choice Privileges and your Airline Frequent Flyer numbers.
Australia: 1800 806 644
New Zealand: 0800 443 101
This offer is only available to Choice Privileges Members in Australia and New Zealand and members must also be a member of their nominated Frequent Flyer program. Allow 2-6 weeks for points to be credited. This offer may be amended or terminated at any time. For Choice Privileges program details, eligible rates, eligible countries and point redemption rules, visit http://www.choicehotels.com/en-au/choice-privileges/rules-regulations. All Choice Hotels are independently owned and operated.”
Good find! They didn’t have the updated terms available yesterday.
I talked to Choice support team earlier and the wrote me that the conversion period for the double points promotion is Feb: “The Double Airline Points transfer offer is available from 1 February 2022 to 28 February 2022”
It´s still stated incorrect in their T&C though where they speak of March 2022.
Hi Andi, yes I think they have messed up their T&C and mixed them with the promo from last year. I’ve had someone else message me who also called Choice and they had been told to wait an extra day to access the online transfer page…
I have contacted them via email and social media and received two different responses. Via social media they said that it’s an ongoing issue and are hoping to have it resolved by next week. The email response I received back they told me it’s a Qantas issue and there is nothing they can do until Qantas resolves the problem. It is clearly not a Qantas issue as it’s a problem with the choice website.
Immanuel maybe you could reach out to your contact to see what is going on?
Thanks for the update. I’d put my money on it being a Choice issue as well. Their PR team specifically reached out with this promotion; which I only write about if I can see some real value other than what’s in their interest. I will follow up again and see what the deal is, I’m still waiting on a response in regards to the T&C’s which i noticed were out of whack prior to the promo going live.
Does this mean that if you live in Europe, you won’t get the x2 bonus?
Seems to be the case under the new terms, personally, I’d just change the address to AU before transferring.
If I’m based in Europe, should I change my ‘home address’ to an Aussie address before transferring any points?
Yes might be a good idea since the terms are now updated to be for AU residents…
Cheers!
Has anyone got luck making the transfer yet?
I’ve gotten some messages from others saying that Choice told them to wait another day for the transfer page to work.
has anyone been successful?
Nope, I have tried contacting them numerous times and receive a different response or reason each time.
The t&c’s state that we can transfer them online or “ alternatively contact the Choice Privileges Customer Service number and provide your Choice Privileges and your Airline Frequent Flyer numbers.” However when I call them to do this they tell me i can’t get the double points if done over the phone?
Think I may have wasted a few grand $ on this between me and my partner.
Hey Dom, still waiting to hear back from my PR contact. So far, crickets. Whatever they are saying appears to be contradicting the T&C’s. Worst case, credit card chargeback.
The page is now working! At least on the Choices side, waiting for it to credit on Qantas.
Thanks Immanuel.
Super! Thanks for sharing. I didn’t participate in this round so thanks for the update.
Heads up!
I was able to transfer the points with the correct doubled amount.
Data points: my Choice account was registered as Canadian one. I just changed to my OZ address since I read this page but still eligible for double points.
Nice! I’m glad to hear it worked. Thanks for sharing Nathan!