The
Choice Privileges® Mastercard® is a good credit card to consider if you have
good credit and you want to earn free hotel nights but don’t want to pay an annual fee. The
Choice Privileges® Mastercard® is actually the
best hotel credit card with no annual fee on the market right now, according to our analysis, due to its valuable bonus rewards.
You can quickly earn up to five free nights with this card by spending
$1,000 within
3 months of opening your account and earning the initial bonus of
40,000 points. More free nights are soon to follow, too, because you’ll earn
1 - 5 points per $1 spent on purchases, and those ongoing rewards include several popular bonus categories.
It’s also important to point out that owning this card does not limit you to Choice Hotels. Choice has a long list of partners at which you can earn and redeem rewards, including Radisson Hotels, Cambria Hotels, Comfort Inn and more.
Choice Privileges® Mastercard® Review Highlights
40,000-point initial bonus
The
Choice Privileges® Mastercard® currently offers
40,000 points after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months. Those points are redeemable for up to five nights at a Choice hotel, and they are worth
$496 on average, according to our calculations.
If you’re going to spend enough to qualify for the bonus in the next few months anyway, and you’re planning a trip in the near future, you might as well get up to a week’s worth of hotel nights out of it. Just remember that you have options, as several other cards offer hundreds of dollars in free hotel nights early on, too. The Choice Credit Card’s initial bonus is bigger than the average bonus available right now, though.
1 - 5 points per $1 spent on purchases
The
Choice Privileges® Mastercard® rewards you with
5 points per $1 spent at Choice Hotels, 3 points per $1 spent at gas stations, grocery stores, home improvement stores and phone plan services, as well as 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases. You will get a well-above-average return on purchases in the 3- and 5-point categories, assuming you redeem your points for hotel stays. However, you may want to use another card for purchases that will get you just 1 point per $1 spent, as that is an average earn rate.
Choice points are worth an average of
1.24 cents when used for hotel stays. They are worth as little as
0.56 cents with other
redemption options.
$0 annual fee
This feature will save you an average of
$22.29 per year, compared to all the other credit card offers available right now. It will save you even more compared to most hotel credit cards, too. Very few hotel credit cards have no annual fee.
Automatic Gold status
Being a cardholder automatically gets you 10 elite night credits per year, which gives you
Gold status at a minimum. Gold status in the Choice Privileges rewards program in turn gets you perks such as early check-in, late check-out, and a welcome gift. You can graduate to higher status levels by making purchases with your card and staying at Choice properties, too.
$800 in cell phone protection
If you pay your cell phone bill with the
Choice Privileges® Mastercard® and your phone gets damaged or stolen, you can file a claim and get up to $800 toward repairs or a replacement, minus a $25 deductible. The
Choice Privileges® Mastercard® isn’t the only credit card offering
cell phone protection, but this benefit could certainly come in handy if you decide to get this card.
20.99% - 29.99% Variable APR
The Choice Credit Card’s interest rate could be anywhere from
20.99% to 29.99% Variable, depending on factors such as your credit history, income and debt when you apply. In any case, the rate you receive will not be low. As a result, you should plan to pay your statement balance in full monthly to avoid interest charges entirely.
700+ credit score recommended
This card requires
good credit for approval, which means you will need a
700+ credit score to have good odds of being approved. You can
check your credit score for free right here on WalletHub.
Note: This review is not provided, commissioned or endorsed by any issuer. Opinions and ratings are our own.