Better Offer for Barclaycard Choice Privileges, Worth ~$635! Or Use It Towards Southwest Companion Pass
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Update: One or more card offers in this post are no longer available. Check our Hot Deals for the latest offers.There’s a better offer for the Barclaycard Choice Privileges card! You’ll earn 32,000 Choice Hotels points after meeting minimum spending requirements. And a $25 statement credit after your first purchase.
Normally, the offer doesn’t include a statement credit. So this is a good deal if you’re interested in earning Choice points for award stays.
Or if you’re working towards earning the Southwest Companion Pass! More on that in a bit!
We don’t earn a commission for the Barclaycard Choice Privileges card, but we’ll always share the best offers with you!
I’ll show you how to find the better offer! And I’ll explain why this is NOT a card I recommend for those of y’all just starting out with credit cards.
What’s the Deal?
Link: Barclaycard Choice Privileges (Direct Link to Offer)
Link: Choice Hotels
You’ll earn 32,000 Choice points (enough for 4 award nights at many locations) with the Barclaycard Choice Privileges card after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days of opening your account.
And you’ll get a $25 statement credit after your first purchase.
To see the better deal, make a test booking on the Choice Hotels website. Select a room. And on the final booking screen you’ll see an ad for the offer.
I’ve included a direct link to the offer, but the landing page does NOT mention a $25 statement credit. So you might want to take a screenshot from the Choice Hotels website to be safe.
With this card, you’ll also get:
- Complimentary Gold elite status (extended award booking window, 10% bonus points on stays, welcome amenity at US Comfort Suites locations)
- 15 Choice points per $1 spent at eligible Choice Hotels when you book with your Choice Privileges membership number (free to join!)
- 5 Choice points per $1 spent on Choice points or gift cards
- 2 Choice points per $1 spent on everything else
- 8,000 bonus Choice points each anniversary year you spend $10,000+ on the card
- NO annual fee
This card adds a foreign transaction fee, so it’s not a good card to use when you’re abroad.
What Can You Get With the Sign-Up Bonus?
Choice Hotels doesn’t publish an award chart, but award nights range from 6,000 to 35,000 (higher in Australasia) Choice points per night.
You can also book award nights using a combination of points & cash. But it’s not always a good deal.
So the 32,000 point sign-up bonus could be worth up 4 or 5 free nights at their lower-end locations. Or you could splurge on a free night or two at luxury Ascend Collection boutique hotel!
Save Over $600 on Your Trip to Orlando
For example, you could get a room at the Comfort Inn Maingate near Disney World in Orlando for 6,000 Choice points per night. It gets very good reviews, and you can book an award room with 2 queen beds and a bunk bed for the kids!
If you paid cash, the same room would cost ~$122 per night. And you could get 5 nights here with the Barclaycard Choice Privileges sign-up bonus worth ~$610. Add that to the $25 statement credit and you might value opening this card at $635.
Save Money in Europe
And some folks like to use their Choice points in Europe. That’s because hotels there are typically expensive, but you can book them for a reasonable amount of points.
In London, you could get 2 nights at the Comfort Inn Westminster with the 32,000 point sign-up bonus (16,000 Choice points per night). The cash rate is 189 British Pounds per night (~$269). So you’d save ~$538 on a 2-night stay.
Who Should Consider This Card?
If you’re new to miles & points, do NOT apply! There are far better credit card sign-up bonuses available. Especially valuable Chase cards, which you likely won’t be approved for if you’ve opened ~5 or more credit cards in the past 24 months.
But if you already have lots of cards, and enjoy Choice Hotels, this might be a good deal for you.
Choice Hotels brands are mostly budget and family-friendly, and many have large rooms, swimming pools, in-room refrigerators and microwaves, and free breakfast (no elite status needed!). And you’ll often find them in smaller cities and towns, so they’re great if you like to road-trip!Plus, most brands offer free Wi-Fi to all guests.
Remember, Barclaycard typically only approves folks for 1 or 2 cards per year. So consider other cards, like the Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite Mastercard, before you apply! Here’s my review of the Barclaycard Arrival Plus.
Earn More Points for the Southwest Companion Pass
This could also be a good option for folks who need extra points to earn the Southwest Companion Pass. It’s the best deal in travel, because a friend or partner can fly with you for almost free on paid and award tickets for up to 2 years!
To qualify for the Southwest Companion Pass, you need to earn 110,000 Southwest points in a calendar year.
You can transfer Choice points to Southwest at a ratio of 6,000 Choice points = 1,800 Southwest points. And they’ll count towards the Companion Pass!
For example, if you’ve earned 104,000 points from 2 Southwest credit cards (100,000 points from the cards and 4,000 points from meeting the minimum spending requirement), you still need 6,000 Southwest points to get the Southwest Companion Pass.
So you could transfer 24,000 Choice points from the sign-up bonus to earn 7,200 Southwest points (transfers must be done in 6,000-point increments). And still have points left over for hotel stays!
Bottom Line
There’s a better offer for the Barclaycard Choice Privileges card which includes a $25 statement credit after your first purchase. This is in addition to the usual 32,000 Choice points you’ll earn after meeting minimum spending requirements.
This is a nice deal if you like Choice Hotels, because you could get up to 5 award nights with the sign-up bonus and a boost from the statement credit. And there’s no annual fee.
If you need extra points for the Southwest Companion Pass, you can transfer Choice points to Southwest to top-off your account.
Keep in mind, this is NOT a good card to apply for if you’re new to miles & points. You should apply for valuable Chase cards first, because they’ll likely not approve you if you’ve opened ~5 or more cards in the past 24 months.
Emily and I don’t earn anything for the Barclaycard Choice Privileges card, but we’ll always tell you about the best deals!
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