The Choice Privileges Hack to Buy Cheap Qantas Points

Qantas A330-300 Business Class
Qantas Airbus A330-300 Business Class. Photo: Qantas.

There are so many ways to collect Qantas points in Australia. Some of the best value ways include through credit card sign-up offers and buying wine, and you can even earn Qantas points for free by completing surveys and quizzes.

Did you know that there’s also a little-known and very cost-effective way to boost your Qantas points balance by combining multiple offers from Choice Privileges? It’s a method I’ve used multiple times to effectively buy Qantas points at a low price. This has also helped me to qualify for Points Club.

What is Choice Privileges?

First of all, you might be wondering what Choice Privileges actually is.

Choice Privileges is the loyalty program of Choice Hotels, which has over 7,000 properties worldwide – though many of these are in the Americas. Their brands are mostly budget-focused, such as Quality Inn and Comfort Inn & Suites.

Choice hotel brands: Comfort Inn & Suites, MainStay Suites, Quality Inn, Clarion, Sleep Inn, Ascend Hotel Collection, Cambria Hotels, Suburban Studios, Rodeway Inn, EconoLodge.
A selection of Choice Hotels brands.

The Choice Privileges loyalty program is straightforward enough: earn points on stays, and redeem them for free nights. They use dynamic pricing for reward nights at their hotels, so in periods of peak demand, the points required increases. Still, you can reliably get at least 1-1.5 cents per point in value when redeeming Choice Privileges points on stays.

One thing to note is that you can only use Choice Privileges points to book hotels within 100 days of your stay.

But booking hotel nights is not the only way you can use Choice Privileges points. You can also transfer them to various airline loyalty programs, including Qantas and Velocity Frequent Flyer. This is where things start to really get interesting!

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How to get cheap Qantas (and Velocity) points via Choice Privileges

Firstly, this “hack” isn’t for everyone. It requires a bit of speculation and patience, and there is an element of risk involved. But here’s how it works…

Step one: Buy Choice Privileges points

The first part is simple: you buy Choice points when they offer discounts or bonuses. You can do this on the Choice Hotels website.

For example, until 13 December 2024, you can buy Choice points with up to a 60% bonus. The bonus amount does vary and could be different for each member. In this promotion, my account was only eligible for a 50% bonus:

Screenshot of Choice website showing 50% bonus
Screenshot of Choice website with 50% bonus

With a 60% bonus, you can buy Choice points for approximately one AUD cent per point. Note that normal offers are less, but 60% is the highest bonus we’ve commonly seen. If you can, pay using a credit card with no foreign transaction fees as the transaction is processed overseas.

You can typically buy up to 120,000 points directly from Choice Privileges per calendar year, excluding bonuses. This cap may be raised during specific promotions.

Step two: What for a transfer bonus

So, how do you get these points into a frequent flyer program?

Choice Privileges actually partners with both Qantas and Velocity, allowing one-way transfers from Choice to either Qantas or Velocity at a normal ratio of 5:2. That is, 2,000 Choice points = 800 airline points.

Crucially, Choice Hotels regularly runs double transfer promotions for its airline partners, such as this one in October 2024:

Choice Hotels double transfer promotion
Choice Hotels double transfer promotion. Screenshot from Choice website

So, by waiting for a double transfer promotion, you could convert 2,000 Choice points into 1,600 airline points! You’ll have to link your airline and Choice Privileges accounts first, and then transfer your points via the Choice Privileges Rewards Exchange portal.

Beware that you can’t generally transfer points that you’ve bought during the period of the transfer bonus offer. You have to buy the points beforehand, which is why there’s an element of risk involved.

But where there’s a risk, there’s often a reward. With a 60% bonus and a double transfer offer, you could effectively buy Qantas or Velocity points for 1.24 cents per point.

How does this compare to other ways you can get Qantas Points?

Qantas does sell top-up points, although these are very expensive. You should only buy these if you need a small top-up to make an immediate redemption.

A Qantas Boeing 737-800 and Emirates A380 at Melbourne Airport
Buying Qantas points when you’re just short of a redemption can make sense. Photo: Matt Graham.

At the best possible rate, outside of any bonus offers, Qantas sells its points for 2.66 cents each. That’s over double the price! It is worth noting though that Qantas top-up points do credit near instantly, so there’s no waiting involved.

Getting a large sign-up bonus for a Qantas points-earning credit card is a much more cost-effective way to acquire lots of Qantas Points cheaply. But you’ll typically need to meet a minimum spend amount during the first few months of holding the card before you receive the bonus points, so this does require some patience.

Great Credit Cards for Earning Qantas Points

Qantas American Express Ultimate
Earn
1.25

Qantas Frequent Flyer Qantas Points on everyday purchases

Signup Bonus

50,000 bonus Qantas Points

Apply by 14th Jan 2025

Annual Fee
$450 p.a.
Go to offer
Qantas Premier Platinum
Earn
1

Qantas Frequent Flyer Qantas Points on everyday purchases

Signup Bonus

Up to 80,000 bonus Qantas Points*

Annual Fee
$349 for the first year and $399 p.a. ongoing
Go to offer
Qantas Premier Titanium
Earn
1.25

Qantas Frequent Flyer Qantas Points on everyday purchases

Signup Bonus

150,000 Qantas Points

Annual Fee
$1200 p.a.
Go to offer

Lastly, getting bonus points via Qantas Wine is another excellent way of topping up your points balance. You can often find offers that allow you to buy Qantas points for less than two cents per point, with some great wine thrown in as well.

You won’t get as much value (on a pure cost-per-point basis) with Qantas Wine compared to purchasing via Choice Privileges, especially if you don’t drink alcohol! However, you will get the points a lot quicker by buying wine.

Regardless of how you’re earning Qantas points, don’t forget that any points you earn from non-flying methods – up to 125,000 points per transaction – help you to qualify for Qantas Points Club or Points Club Plus.

Wilson's love of travel started from a young age, but his love for points developed after figuring out ways to travel on a gap year for less - leading naturally towards Australian Frequent Flyer! Wilson's hobbies include skiing, cricket and planning trips, both with and without points.

Wilson posts on the AFF forum as @WilsonM.
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Looks like Choice Hotels is at it once again offering a promotion where you can transfer your Choice points to double the normal amount of Virgin Australia points. Specifically, during this promotion you can transfer 2,000 Choice Hotel points to 1,600 Virgin Australia points. This could be useful if you need Virgin points in a pinch and are sitting on Choice Hotel points acquired prior to today, 14 October 2024. Importantly, you cannot take advantage of the current Choice Hotels bonus points promotion on buying points (although some colleagues were lucky enough to buy points a couple of days ago ahead of this promotion) as the points will only transfer at the improved rate if they were earned/purchased prior to today.

Here's the offer:
https://www.choicehotels.com/en-au/choice-privileges/double-airline-points

And here's the T&Cs:

The Double Airline Points transfer offer is available from 14 October to 20 October 2024. 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 14 October 2024 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). For this promotion, redemption cannot be done by an agent in CSC Web. It must be done through the rewards Exchange at Rewards.

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 (https://www.choicehotels.com/en-au/choice-privileges/rules-regulations). All Choice Asia-Pac hotels are independently owned and operated.

VELOCITY TERMS: Velocity members will receive double Velocity Points when they transfer eligible points from Choice Privileges to Velocity into Velocity Points in one transaction between 12:01am (AEDT) 14 October 2024 and 11:59pm (AEDT) 20 October 2024 (Offer Period). The minimum transferable amount is 2,000 Choice Privileges points per conversion, which during the Offer Period is equivalent to 1600 Velocity Points (800 base Velocity Points and 800 bonus Velocity Points). Members can move Choice Privileges points in 1,000 increments. You can transfer your Choice Privileges points online or by calling the Choice Service Centre and providing your Velocity membership number. Velocity Points cannot be exchanged for Choice Privileges points. Transfers must be made to a Velocity Frequent Flyer account that is in the same name as the Choice Privileges member account that the points are being transferred from. Only points earned/purchased prior to 14 October 2024 will be able to be transferred into Velocity. Please allow 2 - 6 weeks for the Points to be allocated to your Velocity Account. Changes, re-issuance or re credit of Choice Privileges points are not allowed once you have made a request to transfer Choice Privileges points to Velocity. For full Choice Privileges terms and conditions visit Choice Hotels website. View full Choice Privileges terms and conditions. After your Choice Privileges Points are converted into Velocity Points, these Points are subject to the Velocity Frequent Flyer general terms and conditions.

-RooFlyer88

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Just thought I'd provide an update here. Yesterday morning I transferred over 130,000 Choice points to Qantas and the points have landed this morning:

View image at the forums

So pretty quick transfer time from Choice Hotels. Additionally, these points counted towards earning Points Club Plus status, as others indicated it should.

-RooFlyer88

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Choice has an up to 60% bonus for buying points now - https://www.choicehotels.com/en-au/choice-privileges/buy-points

You can buy these points in anticipation of a transfer bonus, which are regular enough

If you get a 60% bonus, you can get QF/VA points for about 1.24 cents per point

Reply 3 Likes

Choice has an up to 60% bonus for buying points now - https://www.choicehotels.com/en-au/choice-privileges/buy-points

Per sources, this would be the best promotions they've run in recent memory in terms of bonus points on offer.

You can buy these points in anticipation of a transfer bonus, which are regular enough

It would seem like they do run these promotions once a year around the October/November time frame. However, there is no guarantee that Choice doesn't tweak the transfer rate in the interim or stop running this annual promotion.

One thing I can safely mention now that the Qantas/Virgin transfer promotion is over is that there may have been a small window of time (1-2 days) where the 50% bonus promotion on buying Choice points was running and the website announcing the transfer bonus to Qantas would begin in a couple days was up thereby allowing you to buy Qantas points at a guaranteed rate of 1.27 AUD cents per point (at least that was the AUD/USD rate at the time). Something to keep in mind in the future. Also, ensure you read the fine print on the promotion. For instance, you need to have bought/earned the points before a certain time.

-RooFlyer88

Reply 1 Like

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I see my thread has received front page attention on AFF:

Just thought I’d correct a few items from the article:

  • Choice offers fixed price award nights at their hotels. However, more popular days of the week (Fridays and Saturdays) may be priced at a slightly fixed price. These fixed price redemptions can be very attractive. For instance a year ago I stayed at a Comfort Inn in North Adelaide for 8,000 Choice points per night which worked out to roughly $40 USD/night. I’d challenge anyone here to find me a hotel in a major Australian city for that price!
  • Although Choice has a reputation (somewhat warranted I suppose) of being a budget hotel option, that’s not always the case. They have a couple of more luxury and boutique brands like Ascend Collection, Raddison, etc.
  • Choice’s footprint is indeed large in North America (particularly given their acquisition of Raddison Americas). However they do have a sizeable presence in Europe and they even have some properties in Australia (albeit many are of the Comfort Inn variety). Personally, I’ve stayed at Choice hotels in Wollongong and Adelaide and Cairns. It’s also a well known trick to book hotels in Europe using choice points (particularly in Scandinavian countries where a hotel night can run you several hundred Euros per night) as the hotels there are of good quality and again the redemption is cheap

I suppose the point I’m making is even if they don’t run a point promotion at their usual time (e.g., October/November) those points can be extremely useful, particularly if you are flexible with where you are staying.

-RooFlyer88

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I’ve stayed at Choice hotels in Wollongong and Adelaide and Cairns. It’s also a well known trick to book hotels in Europe using choice points (particularly in Scandinavian countries where a hotel night can run you several hundred Euros per night) as the hotels there are of good quality and again the redemption is cheap
I suppose the point I’m making is even if they don’t run a point promotion at their usual time (e.g., October/November) those points can be extremely useful, particularly if you are flexible with where you are staying.

-RooFlyer88

I'm pleased to see you have been able to make Choice work for you. My experience has not been so good.

I bought some points at 1.008 australian cents per point but found that in the places where I wanted to stay (in Australia) the amount I had paid for the required points worked out dearer than the cash price.

Plus Choice points expire if you have no activity for 18 months so I ended up buying some more to keep them alive.

Eventually I did manage to get good value on a stay in Timaru, NZ. I transferred the remainder to QF.

For me, they were more trouble than they were worth and I'm pleased to have none left.

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I'm pleased to see you have been able to make Choice work for you. My experience has not been so good.

I bought some points at 1.008 australian cents per point but found that in the places where I wanted to stay (in Australia) the amount I had paid for the required points worked out dearer than the cash price.

Generally for hotel bookings, I'll look at the various chains to see what works best for a given booking. Now, in my case I tend to travel enough where the purchasing of points (be it hotel or frequent flyer) makes sense. Some highlights of bookings I made using Choice points include:

  • The Vic, An Ascend Collection Hotel (25,000 points/night)
  • Comfort Inn Towradgi Beach (Wollongong) - 10,000 points/night
  • Comfort Inn Regal Park, North Adelaide - 8,000 points/night

I think the key with Choice is always to search and see what you find. You may not think there is a Choice hotel where you are heading but you'd be surprised.

Plus Choice points expire if you have no activity for 18 months so I ended up buying some more to keep them alive.

That is true, but that is true with many programs as well.

Eventually I did manage to get good value on a stay in Timaru, NZ.

There are sweet spots. I think you do have a point though that often times the cash rate at Choice hotels can also be very low that redeeming points doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But there are plenty of examples where the redemption rate is considerably less than the cash rate. Oh and the other thing about Choice points is that it doesn't cost extra to book a nicer room. Indeed, when booking the Vic, I ensured to book the expensive suite room because it costs the same as a standard king bed room.

I transferred the remainder to QF.

Hopefully during the promotion!

For me, they were more trouble than they were worth and I'm pleased to have none left.

To each their own. I think the key when pursuing the points game is figuring out which programs make sense, and staying on top of your points so you can use them effectively before they expire (or get devalued).

-RooFlyer88

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I agree there are sweet spots, but generally not at the time and place that suited me.

While I have my own system for staying on top of expiring points, I've also reduced the number of programs I'm a member of.

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I transferred double points 3 years ago, was already this year, but i missed the email and promotion on 14 Oct. Does anyone know if there will be another one this year or early next year?

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Does Choice Hotels have any good 5 star options?

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