The Americas Transfer Radisson Rewards and Choice Privileges are active; Loyalty program soon to be integrated

In August 2022, Choice Hotels acquires Radisson Hotels Americas the words Radisson Hotel Group. Since this acquisition, the Choice hotel website displayed the following message:

Stay tuned for news when you can use Choice Privilege points to book rooms at Radisson properties and earn points for your stay. Choice Privileges and Radisson Rewards US loyalty programs will remain separate for the time being.

On Tuesday, hotel of choice are sharing some good news: You can now exchange midpoints Choice privileges and Americas Radisson Award. The exchange rate is 2 Radisson Rewards Americas points per 1 Choice Privilege point.

The ability to exchange rewards between the Choice Privileges and the Americas Radisson Rewards combined with the existing ability to suitable status between programs. Here’s what you need to know about the points exchange and a preview of what we know about how the programs will combine later this year.

Exchange points between Choice and Radisson Americas

Now you can switch midpoints Choice privileges and the Radisson Awards Americas. To do so, you will need a Privilege of Choice account and a Radisson Rewards Americas account. If you don’t have one or the other, you can create a free account on the respective loyalty program’s website.

When you’re ready to redeem your points, you can sign in to your Choice Privileges or Radisson Rewards Americas account. You’ll see a prompt to redeem your points if you sign in to either site.

For the sake of simplicity, I will focus on how the exchange works from your Choice Privilege account. Once you sign in, you’ll see Radisson Rewards Americas listed with airline partners in Exchange rewards. You will need to enter your Radisson Rewards Americas login to link your accounts.

Once you’ve linked your accounts, you can redeem between 500 and 250,000 Choices or 1,000 to 500,000 Radisson points per transaction. According to Choice, the exchange will usually transfer points from one account to another within minutes, but it can sometimes take up to 24 hours. Note that you can only make 12 exchanges (in either direction) per calendar year.

The ability to exchange points between Choice Privileges and Radisson Americas Rewards adds more redemption options for members with Radisson points, including access to Choice’s extended-stay properties. For example, Radisson Rewards Americas members can now exchange 120,000 Radisson points for 60,000 Choice points and then redeem them for two nights in New York City at the Cambria Hotel New York – Chelsea.

Meanwhile, Choice Privileges members have access to more full-service hotels and additional properties on the West Coast. For example, Choice members can exchange 45,000 Choice points for 90,000 Radisson points and exchange them for two nights at the Radisson Aquatica Resort in Barbados.

Valuation of TPG pegged the value of Choice points at 0.6 cents per point and Radisson points at 0.4 cents per point. So, in theory, Radisson Rewards Americas members could lose some value when exchanging Radisson points for Choice points. But overall, I believe the swap rate of 2 Radisson points for 1 Choice point is reasonable as it opens up new redemption opportunities for members of both loyalty programs.

Related: Sign up for your Choice Hotel Add-ons to earn gift cards and other perks on weekday stays

Use transferable currencies to book rooms in Radisson

The new ability to transfer Choice Privilege points to Radisson Rewards Americas means you can now indirectly use the following transferable currencies to book your Radisson Rewards Americas stay:

As a reminder, Radisson Rewards Americas is a loyalty program used by residents and hotels in the United States, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Meanwhile, the Radisson Rewards are available to residents and hotels in other parts of the world.

So, if you live in the US and want to book a Radisson Rewards property in Europe, you must convert Radisson Rewards Americas points to Radisson Rewards and then book your stay. Bookings with Radisson Rewards after the program ends is much less desirable. massive devaluation October 2022 — but now you can theoretically transfer Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One mile and Citi ThankYou points indirectly to Radisson Rewards through Choice Privileges and Radisson Rewards Americas. However, run the numbers for the redemption you want before doing so.

Related: How (and why) you should earn transfer points

Choice Privileges will soon integrate Radisson Rewards Americas

I spoke with Matt Rubin, senior director of loyalty at Choice Hotels, and Matt Vaccarella, senior director of loyalty strategy at Radisson Hotel Group Americas, about redemption and Upcoming integration of two loyalty programs.

The Radisson Rewards Americas loyalty program will be included in the Choice Privileges program in the coming months. However, loyalty directors are quick to note that point balances and elite status will be safe. I have confirmed that when the programs are combined, the Radisson Rewards Americas point balance will convert to Preferred point of choice with the same 2:1 ratio that members can enjoy today.

Choice and Radisson Americas are still refining how the shows are combined. One complication is that the elite tiers of America’s Radisson Choice Privilege and Rewards have some differences. For example, top Radisson Rewards Americas elite members currently receive free breakfast during their eligible stay, while breakfast is not an elite benefit for any Choice Privileges member. And Radisson Rewards top elite status in the US requires 60 nights or 30 stays per calendar year while Top Choice Privileges elite status requires 40 nights per calendar year.

Loyalty directors say members should sign up for both programs now if they haven’t already. The selection will take into consideration the status and nights of members in each show as the shows combine. Loyalty Manager confirmed that you can potential get a higher spot on the combined show than you get on both shows because nights on both shows will count.

Choice and Radisson Americas confirmed that there are currently no changes to the awards standings in both shows. Even better, loyalty directors told me that Choice would still use the award leaderboard after integrating Radisson Rewards Americas. One loyalty manager noted that he doesn’t believe in fully dynamic reward pricing for any loyalty program.

It is not yet known whether Choice’s current prize limit for most properties will remain in place following the integration of Radisson Rewards Americas. That said, I hope you’ll soon be able to book Choice Privileges rewards holidays more than 100 days before your stay, unlike the current program.

Choice is still evaluating how the prize charts will work in the matching program. However, we can expect Choice Hotels Sweet Spot Rewards to continue, as these redemptions launched recently and are similar to the Radisson Rewards Americas last-minute RewardSaver rates.

Related: What I want to see in the updated Privilege of Choice program