Choice Service Center

After booking 2 nights at a Choice Hotel, I was encouraged to sign up for their Choice Privileges program. I signed up, received a rewards number, and called membership to make sure both nights were documented. After spending a lot of time on the phone, I was finally told that both reservations were in my «account» and I qualified for one night free if booked by 4÷22÷15. On 4÷22÷15, I called to make another reservation and was told that only one night had been credited, that there was no way to verify my stay (although I kept telling them that I had the receipt in my hand), and that there was no supervisor available to help me with this problem. I was on the phone for close to 30 minutes before finally giving up. Whenever possible, I will not stay at a Choice Hotel due to this terrible customer service.

Choice Privileges, the loyalty program for a whole bunch of hotels such as Quality, Comfort, Econolodge, Sleep Inn, and Rodeway Inn, works fine if you use it correctly. If you don’t, and you have to contact their customer service, it can be an annoying experience.
Using it correctly means setting up an account, creating a profile with (earning) preferences, getting an account number and a card, and making your reservations ON LINE. When you get to the hotel, simply ask whether your Choice Privileges number got picked up. If it did, everything should be fine, and your latest earning preference will be tallied.
Because, unlike Wyndham, Choice Privileges is sort of optional, it’s also a source of confusion. One doesn’t have to join Choice Privileges and can simply indicate a frequent flyer account to the front desk at check-​in. When the person checking me in is either indifferent and/​or can’t speak English well, I don’t know whether or not this information will be entered, and I don’t feel like FAXing off a receipt to get the airline points later. Therefore, to skip this step, I joined Choice Privileges.
I then made a reservation without having the loyalty number handy. Upon arriving to the hotel, the old data for mileage earning preference populated my record. I pointed out that the earning preference was «past tense.» The manager of the hotel tinkered with the account, and the stay racked up points instead of miles.
I then had to call the Choice Privileges customer service number. The woman on the phone just wasn’t getting it. She talked about older reservations I had made. She pulled up airline loyalty numbers that hadn’t been used in a long time. Being that it was «the 602» and she had a Spanish sounding accent, I decided to ingratiate myself in Spanish. This can backfire, as it can come across as patronizing. Instead, she «woke up» and became interested. She then understood that I wanted miles instead of points, and that I wanted them to hit the airline account last picked as a preference. Sheez. Never did I think when I took college Spanish that I would have to use it to conduct basic customer service transactions … in the States. I took it because of a fascination with the Southern Cone (Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile).
Again, get a Choice Privileges account if you use their hotel brands and do everything ON LINE so you don’t have to contact them. Comparatively speaking, I’d rather deal with the brusque north Jersey verbal exchange one might get with Wyndham, the similar program for Ramada, HoJo, Super 8, and others, rather than having phone conversations like the one I had with Choice Privileges customer service.