Alternative Privileges information: How you can earn and redeem factors, elite standing and extra

Alternative Privileges is the rewards program for Alternative Inns, which incorporates manufacturers reminiscent of Cambria Inns, Consolation Inn, Sleep Inn and Econo Lodge. Since Alternative Privileges totally built-in Radisson Rewards Americas in 2023, it additionally contains manufacturers like Radisson, Radisson Blu and Park Plaza in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Regardless of some current devaluations — together with the elimination of the 35,000-point cap on award night time costs for Alternative Inns properties and a rise in Most well-liked Inns & Resorts award charges — it is nonetheless potential to get vital worth from the Alternative Privileges program. Let’s dive in.

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Alternative Privileges elite standing

If you join a Alternative Privileges membership, you will mechanically get Member standing and the next advantages:

• 10 factors per greenback spent at most Alternative Inns properties
• Member charges and promotions
• Personalised Weeknight Advantages (also called Your Extras) on stays that embrace a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday night time

Past that, you will discover three Alternative Privileges elite standing tiers: Gold, Platinum and Diamond.

Alternative Privileges Gold

You may earn Gold standing after finishing 10 qualifying nights in a calendar 12 months. Solely reward nights and nights that earn Alternative factors depend towards elite standing, and a few stays at extended-stay manufacturers earn fewer qualifying nights.

Nonetheless, one straightforward option to snag Gold standing is to have the no-annual-fee Alternative Privileges® Mastercard® (see charges and charges), which presents cardmembers 10 elite night time credit every calendar 12 months.

On prime of the advantages out there to primary members, Gold members additionally get the next perks:

• 10% bonus factors on all qualifying stays
• Welcome reward (bonus factors or beverage and snack) at taking part accommodations
• Early check-in and late checkout when out there
• Room upgrades at Cambria and Ascend Lodge Assortment manufacturers worldwide and Radisson, Radisson Blu, Radisson Crimson, Radisson Assortment, Radisson People and Park Plaza manufacturers in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean
• Elite reserved parking, when out there, at taking part accommodations within the U.S. and Canada
• As much as 9 elite rollover nights per calendar 12 months
• Elite buyer hotline
• Standing match to Penn Play Benefit at greater than 20 on line casino accommodations nationwide

Alternative Privileges Platinum

You may attain Platinum standing after 20 qualifying nights in a calendar 12 months. One straightforward option to keep Platinum standing is by having the Alternative Privileges® Choose Mastercard® ($95 annual price; see charges and charges), which supplies cardholders 20 elite night time credit every calendar 12 months.

Platinum members get all of the perks of Gold standing in addition to:

• 25% bonus factors on all qualifying stays
• As much as 19 elite rollover nights per calendar 12 months

Alternative Privileges Diamond

You may earn Alternative Privileges Diamond standing after 40 qualifying nights in a calendar 12 months. After all, in case you have the Alternative Privileges Mastercard or Alternative Privileges Choose Mastercard, you will get elite night time credit every calendar 12 months as a cardholder perk. Meaning you will not want to remain as many nights to safe Diamond standing.

Along with the above Platinum advantages, Diamond members get the next perks:

• 50% bonus factors on all qualifying stays
• Complimentary breakfast for you and one registered visitor at taking part lodge eating places throughout stays at Radisson, Radisson Crimson, Radisson Blu, Radisson Assortment, Radisson People and Park Plaza properties in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean
• Assured room availability if you name at the very least 48 hours earlier than your keep at taking part Ascend and Cambria accommodations worldwide and Radisson, Radisson Crimson, Radisson Blu, Radisson Assortment, Radisson People and Park Plaza accommodations in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean
• As much as 39 elite rollover nights per calendar 12 months
• Standing match to Penn Play Most well-liked

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How you can earn Alternative Privileges factors

Here is a fast overview of the numerous methods to earn Alternative Privileges factors.

Lodge stays

Fundamental members earn 10 factors per greenback spent on their room price (excluding taxes and incidental fees) at most taking part Alternative accommodations; you’ll be able to see which manufacturers and locations are excluded in Alternative’s guidelines and rules. Elite members earn 10% to 50% bonus factors based mostly on their standing tier.

To earn Alternative Privileges factors, you have to ebook straight with Alternative Inns by means of one of many following channels: the toll-free categorical reservation line, the Alternative Inns web site or cellular app, or straight with the lodge (aside from Ascend Lodge Assortment all-inclusive resorts and on line casino areas).

Nonetheless, even when booked straight, some stays will not be eligible to earn factors. These embrace stays with room charges beneath $40 per night time, sure hotel-initiated promotions, reward night time stays and Factors Plus Money reservations. See the principles and rules for extra particulars.

Bank card spending

In case you ceaselessly keep at Alternative properties, chances are you’ll need to get a cobranded Alternative Privileges bank card. You may earn Alternative factors with the cobranded playing cards as follows:

• Alternative Privileges Mastercard (no annual price; see charges and charges): 5 factors per greenback spent on stays at taking part Alternative Inns properties and on Alternative Privileges level purchases; 3 factors per greenback spent on purchases at gasoline stations, grocery shops, dwelling enchancment shops and cellphone plan providers; and 1 level per greenback spent on different purchases
• Alternative Privileges Choose Mastercard ($95 annual price, see charges and charges): 10 factors per greenback spent on stays at taking part Alternative Inns properties and on Alternative Privileges level purchases; 5 factors per greenback spent on purchases at gasoline stations, grocery shops, dwelling enchancment shops and cellphone plan providers; and 1 level per greenback spent on different purchases

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Switch factors from different applications

A number of applications with transferable currencies accomplice with Alternative Privileges, permitting you to simply get extra Alternative factors even for those who do not frequent Alternative properties:

Purchase Alternative factors

Shopping for Alternative factors is one other option to enhance your Alternative Privileges steadiness. The fee per level varies relying on what number of factors you buy, however you will usually pay between 1 and 1.3 cents per level — not an important deal in comparison with our March 2025 valuation of 0.6 cents per Alternative level. Nonetheless, typically you’ll be able to pay a lot much less if Alternative is providing a reduction or bonus promotion on shopping for factors.

Earn with companions

Alternative Privileges companions with numerous applications to let members earn further factors on different actions. These embrace:

Earn when planning occasions

You may earn Alternative Privileges factors if you host occasions at eligible Alternative accommodations. If you affiliate your Alternative Privileges member quantity together with your group’s reservation, you will earn 3 factors per greenback spent (as much as 150,000 factors) on assembly house, visitor rooms, and meals and beverage fees.

How you can redeem Alternative Privileges factors

Now that you understand how to earn Alternative Privileges factors, let’s take into account the alternative ways you’ll be able to redeem Alternative factors. You may often get essentially the most worth if you use Alternative factors for lodge stays, however there are different choices.

Redeem free of charge nights

Alternative Privileges has no set award chart and does not type properties into classes. Though Alternative not caps award nights at 35,000 factors, most award nights nonetheless price between 8,000 and 35,000 factors.

Alternative not too long ago prolonged the reserving window for reward nights (amongst different modifications to Alternative Privileges in 2025), that means now you can ebook with factors as much as 50 weeks prematurely. Since you’ll be able to ebook premium rooms at some properties for a similar variety of factors as commonplace rooms, you will need to snag these quickly after the reserving window opens.

You may ebook Factors Plus Money charges at some Alternative Inns for those who see the choice if you seek for a reward night time. You will not earn factors on the money portion, as you are successfully shopping for factors with the money copay. As such, make sure you’re shopping for factors at a low sufficient price to make doing so worthwhile. You may be refunded solely in factors for those who cancel a Factors Plus Money reserving, and you should purchase as much as 250,000 factors per calendar 12 months by means of these bookings.

It’s also possible to redeem Alternative factors for stays at taking part Most well-liked Inns & Resorts, Westgate Resorts, Bluegreen Holidays leases and Penn on line casino accommodations and resorts. For example, award nights at Most well-liked properties begin at 25,000 Alternative factors.

Redeem for particular experiences

Alternative Privileges Experiences permits you to bid Alternative factors on unique tickets to live shows and sporting occasions, together with school sports activities experiences and NASCAR tickets with particular entry. The tickets up for public sale change ceaselessly, however you’ll be able to see what’s at present out there on Alternative’s Experiences web site.

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Redeem for reward playing cards

You may redeem Alternative Privileges factors for bodily or digital reward playing cards to a restricted variety of retailers reminiscent of House Depot, Hulu, Kohl’s and Applebee’s. Usually, you’ll be able to redeem 8,000 factors for a $25 reward card, 16,000 factors for a $50 reward card or 32,000 factors for a $100 reward card. This yields solely 0.31 cents per level, so we advocate utilizing different redemption choices that present extra worth.

Donate your factors

You even have the choice to donate your Alternative Privileges factors to a handful of charities, together with American Crimson Cross, Boys & Ladies Golf equipment of America and Operation Homefront. Most of those mean you can redeem $5 for each 1,000 Alternative factors, or you’ll be able to double your donation with $10 for each 1,000 factors at Polaris. This offers you a stable redemption worth of 0.5 to 1 cent per level.

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Trade your factors for miles

In case you’d fairly have airline miles than lodge factors, you’ll be able to switch your Alternative factors to the next loyalty applications on-line:

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Aeromexico Rewards
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue
• Alaska Airways Mileage Plan
• British Airways Government Membership
• Iberia Plus
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Saudia AlFursan
• Southwest Fast Rewards
• Turkish Airways Miles&Smiles
• United MileagePlus
• Velocity Frequent Flyer

It’s also possible to switch Alternative factors to Spirit Airways Free Spirit by calling Alternative Privileges customer support; this switch might take two to 6 weeks.

Switch ratios fluctuate by program, however none of them are nice. For many of the above airways, 5,000 Alternative factors will provide you with only one,000 airline miles. We expect you are higher off preserving your Alternative factors and redeeming them for lodge stays, however this feature may make sense for those who do not frequent Alternative Inns and are quick just a few miles on your subsequent airline redemption.

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Redeem for cruise credit score

Lastly, you’ll be able to redeem Alternative Privileges factors towards a crusing by means of Alternative Privileges Cruises. Based on the phrases and circumstances, you have to ebook by cellphone to redeem factors this manner.

You may redeem 85,000 factors for a $250 credit score towards your cruise or 160,000 factors for a $500 credit score. This offers a redemption worth of 0.29 or 0.31 cents per level, so it is not one of the simplest ways to maximise your Alternative factors.

Maximizing Alternative Privileges factors

As you’ll be able to see from the above choices, redeeming Alternative factors for award nights is often one of the simplest ways to maximise their worth. Listed below are just a few tricks to get much more worth from the Alternative Privileges program.

Alternative Privileges promotions

The Alternative Privileges program ceaselessly presents promotions that can assist you lower your expenses or earn bonus factors. For example, you’ll be able to at present earn double factors on taking part stays by means of April 7, or earn a $200 reward card or 40,000 Alternative factors (value $240 by our valuations) on a three-night Bluegreen Holidays keep.

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Candy spot redemptions

There are many alternatives to get outsize worth from Alternative Privileges factors. For instance, in Europe and Japan, you’ll be able to usually ebook properties for 20,000 or fewer factors per night time.

Alternative factors can even present good worth within the U.S. For example, listed below are some properties close to Myrtle Seaside, South Carolina, the place you’ll be able to ebook a weekend night time for 15,000 or fewer factors.

Lowest Worth Assure

Alternative’s Lowest Worth Assure applies if you ebook straight with Alternative after which discover a decrease publicly out there value inside 24 hours of reserving. You will need to have booked at the very least 48 hours earlier than a 6 a.m. arrival on the primary day booked, and you have to full the declare kind inside 24 hours of reserving.

Inside 48 hours of your declare, a Alternative Inns consultant will contact you. In case your declare is authorized, Alternative is not going to solely honor the decrease price on your keep but in addition offer you a $50 reward card after your keep for those who’re a U.S. or Canadian resident. (In case you’re a world resident, you will obtain the primary night time free.)

Standing match to Alternative Diamond

In case you have elite standing with one other lodge loyalty program, you’ll be able to make the most of Alternative’s standing match program for tiers as much as Alternative Platinum. Or you should utilize Alternative’s Cambria Diamond Elite Standing Bounce to get top-tier Diamond standing after one qualifying keep at a Cambria Lodge. Since Alternative standing matches are as soon as per lifetime, we advocate choosing the latter.

To request Diamond standing after your keep, e-mail Status_Match@choicehotels.com with the next data:

• Your full title and Alternative Privileges quantity
• Proof of elite standing with one other main lodge loyalty program
• A duplicate or screenshot of a folio/receipt from a points-eligible Cambria keep within the final 12 months

In case your request is authorized, you will acquire Diamond standing for the remainder of the 12 months in case your Cambria keep or your request was between January and June. You may get Diamond standing by means of the tip of subsequent 12 months in case your Cambria keep and request are between July and December.

Do Alternative Privileges factors expire?

It doesn’t matter what standing you maintain in this system, Alternative Privileges factors will expire after 18 months with none qualifying exercise. You may forestall this by doing one of many following at the very least as soon as each 18 months:

• Earn factors on a lodge keep
• Redeem factors
• Purchase factors
• Refer a pal to Alternative Privileges
• Earn or redeem factors by means of companions
• Switch factors

Associated: How you can hold your airline, lodge and rental automotive factors and miles from expiring

Backside line

As is commonly the case with factors and miles, the high-value redemptions you will get with Alternative factors have dwindled through the years. Nonetheless, we love redeeming as few as 8,000 factors per night time to remain in lots of Alternative Inns properties, and even a 35,000-point award night time redemption could make sense in in any other case costly locations. Plus, you will get much more worth from this system with a Alternative bank card.

Nonetheless, Alternative Privileges elite standing offers comparatively few advantages. If elite standing is necessary to you, chances are you’ll need to take into account a special lodge loyalty program.