Choice Privileges® Mastercard® review: Solid rewards for a no-annual-fee card

Choice Hotels® includes many popular hotel chains such as Radisson Inn & Suites, Quality Inn and Cambria hotels, so if you are a frequent guest at any Choice Hotel®, this card is ideal. You can also take advantage of its competitive rewards rate and attractive welcome offer. 

Rewards rate: Enjoy elevated rewards on popular categories and as a Gold Elite member 

Not only do you earn 5X points for hotel stays at Choice Hotel® properties but the card comes with automatic Gold Elite status. Under the Choice Privileges program, Gold Elite members earn up to 10X points, plus 10 percent bonus points. So you could earn 5X with the Choice Privileges Mastercard, plus up to 10X points under the hotel’s reward program and another 10 percent bonus points for being a Gold Elite member. This comes out to about 16X points, so if you spent $1,000 on a five-night stay, you might earn up to 16,000 rewards points — potentially enough for two free rewards nights, depending on when and where you stay.

Eligible Choice brands include:

• Ascend Hotel Collection
• Cambria Hotels
• Clarion
• Clarion Point
• Comfort Inn
• Comfort Suites
• Econo Lodge
• MainStay Suites
• Quality Inn
• Radisson
• Rodeway Inn
• Sleep Inn
• Suburban Studious

On top of that, you earn 3X points on popular categories like gas, groceries, home improvement and phone plan services. With these everyday purchases, it should be easy to load up on rewards. 

However, you might find higher rewards rates on competitor cards. For instance, while the IHG Rewards Club Traveler Credit Card offers the same elevated rate in similar categories, its base rewards rate is 2X points on all other purchases instead of Choice Privileges' 1X points. But if you prefer the hotel selection Choice Privileges offers, then this card's rewards rate is hard to beat.

Welcome offer: Doesn't require a high spend to earn 

With this card's welcome offer, you can earn 40,000 bonus points after you spend $1,000 within the first three months of opening your account, enough points to redeem up to five reward nights at select Choice Hotels® properties. The spend requirement for this welcome offer should be within reach for most cardholders if you typically charge around $400 on your card per month.

You won't see this kind of redemption value on many other cards. The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card, even with an annual fee, offers a $150 Statement Credit after you make your first purchase in the first 12 months from account opening, and earn 100,000 Bonus Points after spending $3,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening. For anyone planning a vacation, this welcome offer could help minimize travel costs significantly.

The Choice Privileges Mastercard comes with attractive rewards and a terrific signup offer, but its high APR may give you pause. Plus, while automatic Gold Elite status is a great benefit, the Choice Privileges Mastercard offers little else in premium perks. 

High APR: Can affect credit card debt

Choice Privileges Mastercard has no annual fee, which means you can start reaping rewards without having to offset the cost of carrying the card. It also has no foreign transaction fee, potentially adding up to a lot of savings for frequent international travelers. 

But this card's APR is above the current national average for credit card interest rates. If you tend to carry a balance on your credit card, choosing a general travel rewards card with a chance at a lower APR or an intro APR offer might be a better option.

Other fees include a late fee of up to $40 and a cash advance fee with a relatively high APR. Lastly, if you do a balance transfer, you'll incur a cost of $5 or 5 percent of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.

Perks: Low on premium benefits

While you can enjoy some solid perks with this card, the benefits are typical for a card of this type. For instance, earning automatic Gold Elite membership comes with added benefits, like increased points for hotel stays, complimentary breakfast and reserved parking. But most co-branded hotel cards come with automatic elite status, usually at its lowest tier, so this isn’t a standout feature.

The Choice Privileges Mastercard does come with worthwhile protection plans, like its cellphone plan. You can get up to $800 of cellphone protection against damage or theft when you pay your monthly cell phone bill with your Choice Privileges Mastercard (subject to a $25 deductible, maximum two claims per year). As a Mastercard World Elite card, this card is also loaded with travel protection features like lost baggage reimbursement, an auto rental car collision waiver and trip cancellation and interruption reimbursement (terms apply).

However, other travel or hotel cards might offer more premium perks such as anniversary bonus points or an extra free night after you've booked a certain number of days using your rewards. So if you are looking for more ways to save or earn rewards, the Choice Privileges Mastercard might disappoint.

Bankrate writer and frequent traveler Ryan Flanigan says the newest version of this card is a big step up from its previous iteration. In his years of international travel, he's also been impressed with Choice's reach.

The recent reboot of this card is a welcome change, offering boosted rewards rates and more bonus categories than the version of the card I held years ago. As a frequent traveler, I’ve found that Choice Hotels® have a large global footprint and are the only points option in some parts of the world, so having a nice cache of Choice points is always beneficial.

— Ryan Flanigan, Writer, Credit Cards

This Choice Privileges Mastercard is a great option for most travelers, especially if you’re a fan of Choice Hotels®. But other cards may offer more flexibility or a higher rewards rate without having to pay an annual fee.   

The Choice Privileges Mastercard offers many redemption options but no cash back, so a good card type to pair it with is a cash back rewards card. With a cash back card, you can often redeem as a statement credit, so if you want to book travel outside of Choice Hotels®, you can still save on expenses.

This card is ideal for frequent travelers who can commit to the Choice Hotels® brand as well as those who are already Choice Hotels® fans. 

The Choice Privileges Card is a great choice if you travel frequently and stay in Choice Hotels®. The hotel chain offers over 7,000 hotel options all over the world, making finding a great hotel in your destination city easy. However, if you’d like to have the option to stay elsewhere and still earn rewards, or if you want more flexibility with how you redeem your rewards, you can likely find another travel credit card that’s a better fit.

Dig deeper: Guide to Choice Privileges

**For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the benefits may be provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.

We rate credit cards using a proprietary card scoring system that ranks each card’s estimated average rewards rate, estimated annual earnings, welcome bonus value, APR, fees, perks and more against those of other cards in its primary category.

Each card feature is assigned a weighting based on how important it is to people looking for a card in a given category. These features are then scored based on how they rank relative to the features on other cards in the category. Based on these calculations, each card receives an overall rating of 1-5 stars (with 5 being the highest possible score and 1 being the lowest). 

We analyzed over 150 of the most popular rewards and cash back cards to determine where each stacked up based on their value, cost, benefits and more. Here are some of the key factors that influenced this card’s overall score and how the score influenced our review: