Nordic Choice Hotels and Nordic Choice Club loyalty program

Choice Privileges members from the U.S. may not realize this clause in the hotel loyalty program rules and regulations:

You can earn Choice Privileges points at any Comfort Inn®, Comfort Suites®, Quality®, Sleep Inn®, Clarion®, Ascend Hotel Collection®, Cambria Suites®, MainStay Suites®, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel®, Econo Lodge® and Rodeway Inn® location in the U.S., Canada, Europe (excluding Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden), the Middle East, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and Australasia (including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Papua New Guinea and Fiji). You can also earn points through our partner programs.

Choice Privileges Rules

 

Basically the rule is no points are earned for Choice Hotel stays in the eight Nordic and Baltic countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden.

Choice Privileges members can redeem points for award stays in these countries. Only the earning points side is blocked.

This article looks at Nordic Choice Club and earn rates for points and other benefits on paid stays at Choice Hotels in the Nordic/Baltic region.

The difference in points awards and benefits of elite members between Choice Privileges and Nordic Choice Club is examined.

Nordic Choice Club for Nordic Choice Hotels

A different hotel loyalty program is not the only unique thing about Nordic Choice Hotels.

Best Words Guarantee promise you won’t find this description on a Comfort Inn brand website in the U.S. based sites.

Comfort Hotels – Pretty Damn Good

About Nordic Choice Hotels

About our five different hotel chains

Comfort Hotels – Pretty Damn Good

Here are the full brand descriptions for Nordic Choice:

Good hotels in good locations at a good price. We could have stopped here, but we have more to say. Urban, accessible, timely, low profile, high efficiency, all packed together in a good deal. You get everything you need, and we have dropped some of the things you do not need. Simple and easy!

Quality Hotels:

Attractive full-service hotels with emphasis on courses, conferences and meetings. Located in the center of small and medium-sized cities, on the outskirts of the major cities and at key airports in Scandinavia.

Quality Resorts:

Most hotels located close to attractive destinations. The resort is a big part of the experience, with a variety of activities, attractions and wellness.

Clarion Hotel:

Clarion Hotels are international full service hotels offering modern living meetings in attractive areas for curious and conscious traveler.

Clarion Collection:

Clarion Collection Hotel offers centrally located hotels with personalized service for those who travel extensively in Scandinavia.

Nordic Hotels & Resorts:

Nordic Hotels & Resorts consists of eight unique hotels. All trademarks are individual focused on creating strong individual concepts and guest experiences.

 

Earning Nordic Choice Club points in Nordic Choice Hotels

When planning a trip to Nordic Choice countries, consider joining Nordic Choice Club for the option to earn points and earn elite status nights. Elite only kicks in with 10 nights and they must be in the Nordic/Baltic hotels. But even a Blue member with entry level status gets some benefits from membership when staying at Nordic Choice hotels.

There does not appear to be any country resident restrictions to membership. I registered a couple years ago.

Nordic Choice Hotels

Nordic Choice Hotels company Facebook page provides a summary:

Nordic Choice Hotels Company Overview

We run 160-something cool hotels in beautiful Scandinavia and a few more in the wonderful Baltic countries (we’re rapidly increasing, so it’s hard to keep count even for us).

Just look for any of our brands, Clarion, Clarion Collection, Quality, Quality Resorts and Comfort. Once you see any of these, you’re on the right track to a great hotel experience!
And yes, we are a franchisee to Choice Hotels International, though we only run the hotels in the Nordic and Baltic countries. Any other inquires about Choice Hotels International or other hotels all over the world stands a far better chance of being answered if addressed to Choice Hotels International. “

Nordic Choice Earn Rate:

• One bonus point is awarded for each [Norwegian] krone ($1 USD = 5.73 NOK) spent for overnight stays including breakfast and also for any extra beds at Nordic Choice hotels in the Nordic and Baltic countries.
• One bonus point is awarded for each krone spent in hotel restaurants (food only) during stays at the Clarion Hotel, Quality Hotel, Quality Resort or Nordic Hotels & Resorts in Norway and Denmark (max. 4,000 bonus points per stay). A stay here means that the individual member stays for consecutive nights at the hotel in question.
• 750 bonus points per night during stays in connection with conferences, packages and full and half-board stays
• 750 bonus points per night when staying at Choice hotels outside the Nordic  and Baltic countries.To receive these bonus points, however, the member must submit copies of the invoices from the hotel(s) in question to Customer Service for registration. Qualifying nights are not calculated (card level increase) for such stays.
• 500 bonus points per night for stays in connection with discounted special rates such as tour operator packages
• Members can earn 10 bonus points for every euro spent during stays at any SOKOS hotel run by the Finnish S-Group (Suomen Osuuskauppojen Keskuskunta). To receive these bonus points, however, the member must present your membership number either on booking or on checking in/checking out of the hotel.
• Bonus points earned for hotel stays can be registered up to six months after the date of a stay by sending the name of the hotel and the date of your stay to Customer Service.

Note: I assume krone means Norwegian krone since the contact information is Oslo Norway. More confusion over currency with Nordic Choice Club elite benefits list dining vouchers in Swedish krona (SEK).

Points Expiration:

36 months from date earned.

Comfort Hotel Børsparken, Oslo, Norway

Redeem Points in Nordic Choice Club

To redeem bonus points, members must have minimum of 10,000 valid bonus points in their bonus account.

10,000 base points earned at 1 point per Norwegian krone = about $1,750 in hotel spend.

The ability to earn 750 bonus points for stays outside the Nordic Choice countries means the potential to earn more bonus points through Nordic Choice for a $60 U.S. hotel stay than you earn from Choice Privileges.

10,000 points = One weekend night

• (Fri-Sat, Sat-Sun Sun-Mon, the day before a public holiday or a public holiday) for two people at Comfort Hotel, Quality Hotel, Clarion Hotel, Clarion Collection as well as Nordic Sea Hotel and Nordic Light Hotel.

10,000 points = One weekday resort night

• One weekday night (Sunday til Friday) for two people at Quality Resort or Selma Spa, Stenungsbaden Yacht Club, Copperhill Mountain Logde Farris Bad and Yasuragi Hasseludden.

20,000 bonus points:

• One weekday night (Monday til Friday)for two people at Comfort Hotel, Quality Hotel, Clarion Hotel, Clarion Collection as well as Nordic Sea Hotel and Nordic Light Hotel.
• One weekend resort night (Friday til Saturday, Saturday til Sunday or the day before a public holiday or a public holiday) for two people at Quality Resort hotels or Selma Spa, Stenungsbaden Yacht Club, Copperhill Mountain Logde Farris Bad and Yasuragi Hasseludden.

20,000 bonus points or more gets you:

• One night at selected Choice hotels in Europe. An overview of the hotels to which this applies will always be published on the Nordic Choice Club website.

30,000 bonus points =

One hotel night for 2 at The Thief (Ascend Collection in Oslo) for 30,000 bonus points and above.

Choice Privileges members can book The Thief hotel in Oslo for 20,000 points per night.

Comfort Hotel Grand Station, Oslo, Norwayis literally adjacent to the railway station building for trains directly to Oslo Gardermoen Airport.

Points Discrepancy between Choice Privileges and Nordic Choice Club Award Stays

The award points needed for hotels in Nordic Choice Club are based on day of week and not hotel published rate or category.

Choice Privileges members can redeem points for award stays at Nordic Choice Hotels even though only members of Nordic Choice Club earn points on paid stays.

As shown above with the Ascend Collection hotel The Thief in Oslo, Norway, the price of hotel award nights can be less costly using Choice Privileges for 20,000 points per night compared to Nordic Choice Club requiring 30,000 points per night.

Clarion Royal Christiania Hotelin central Oslo had rates over $400 per night on a recent rate check. This hotel can be booked for a 3-night weekend Friday-Monday award for 30,000 Nordic Choice club points. The same award will cost 16,000 points per night as a Choice Privileges member.

The same Clarion Collection Hotel will cost 20,000 points per night for award stays including any Monday to Thursday night if you are a Nordic Choice Club member. The hotel award is only 16,000 points per night paying as a Choice Privileges member.

I analyzed Nordic Choice Club a few years back and came to the conclusion that there is a way to leverage points in both programs if you are frequenting the eight Nordic and Baltic countries for business or leisure and have the ability to pick up points in Nordic Choice Club in Scandinavia and Choice Privileges in the USA and elsewhere around the globe.

Nordic Choice Club Elite Level Benefits

Elite membership is based on 12-month period; not more commonly used calendar year in hotel loyalty programs.

Blue = entry level membership

• newspaper
• In Sweden only, members receive 35 SEK ($5.35 USD) restaurant food and beverages voucher.

Silver = 10 elite qualifying nightsin Nordic Choice region hotels. Stays in other regions do not count as elite qualifying nights.

• 5% discount on best available rates.
• 9pm day of arrival cancellation with no penalty.
• In Sweden only, members receive 75 SEK ($11.50 USD) restaurant food and beverages voucher.

Silver elites can select 2 benefitswith each stay from the following list or choose 10% bonus points instead of benefits.

• An upgrade to the next room category, if available on arrival
• 50% discount on Pay TV every night’
• Double bonus points for every tenth overnight stay
• Room upgrade when redeeming bonus points, if available on arrival
• Complimentary mineral water from the minibar (one bottle per overnight stay)
• Late check out up to 4 p.m. (subject to agreement on check-in)

Gold = 35 nights.

• Early check-in option, if the hotel has an available room(s).
• When staying at Clarion Hotel, Quality Hotel, Quality Resort and Nordic Hotels & Resorts  in Sweden, members on GOLD level will receive a restaurant voucher to the value of SEK 125 ($19.16 USD), which may be redeemed for food or beverages in the hotel restaurant (does not apply to spirits or cigarettes).
• Late check out option until 6 p.m. Please agree this with the staff at reception on arrival.
• An upgrade to the next available room category, if available on arrival. Room category to be determined on arrival.

In addition, a Gold member can choose three of the following benefits:

• Complimentary Pay TV every night
• Room upgrade when redeeming bonus points, if available on arrival
• Complimentary mineral water from the minibar (one bottle per overnight stay)
• Double bonus points for every eighth overnight stay.
• Members at Gold level can choose to exchange the individual benefits for 20% extra bonus points per stay.

Platinum = 60 nights.

All GOLD individual benefits apply, but the option of choosing 10 % or 20 % extra bonus points does not apply to PLATINUM members. However, PLATINUM members do receive double bonus points for every eighth overnight stay(an individual GOLD benefit).

• Complimentary laundering of a shirt/blouse (one per stay) if dropped off before 6 p.m. (varies between hotels).
• Guaranteed room category upgrade. Room category to be determined on arrival.
• Guaranteed late check out up to 6 p.m. If you wish to avail of late check out, please inform the staff at reception prior to the normal check out time.
• If the hotel has standard double rooms available, a PLATINUM member can use bonus points whenever it suits the member. This only applies when the members make the booking themselves and cannot be used by others. Does not apply when using the 24/48 hour guarantee.
• Complimentary admission to fitness facilities at Clarion Hotel, Clarion Collection, Quality Hotel, Quality Resort and Nordic Hotels & Resorts our independent hotels. If the hotel does not have suitable training facilities, you may be offered access to other local fitness centres etc

Nordic Choice Club Terms & Conditions.

Nordic Choice Hotels are one of the major chains of Scandinavia and the Baltic with over 160 hotel properties.

Nordic Choice Club can be a beneficial hotel loyalty program if you plan to spend any length of time in the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden.