Choice Privileges Points Plus Cash: How It Works and When It’s Worth It

Points Plus Cash is the option Choice Privileges shows you when you don’t quite have enough points for a free night, but you’re not far off either. Instead of paying full cash rate or waiting to earn the rest of the points, you redeem a small chunk of points, pay a preset cash top-up for the rest, and book the room today. It’s a narrow tool, but for the right stay it’s one of the more genuinely useful redemption options in a hotel program that doesn’t have many bells and whistles to begin with.

Here’s exactly how the math works, what you actually get for the cash you spend, and when it beats just paying for the room outright.

How Points Plus Cash Actually Works

Points Plus Cash lets you redeem a minimum of 6,000 points toward a stay, then pay cash for the remaining points you’d otherwise need for a full points redemption. Choice doesn’t publish one fixed per-point rate for the cash portion — it varies by hotel and date, so the same 9,000-point gap might cost noticeably different amounts at two different properties.

A real example, screenshotted above: Quality Inn Miami South prices a room at 15,000 points for a free night, or 6,000 points plus $77 in cash through Points Plus Cash. That $77 is covering a 9,000-point gap, which works out to roughly $8.55 per 1,000 points (about 0.86 cents per point) at this specific property and date. Check the actual combination Choice displays for your dates before assuming any rate — it moves around, sometimes by a meaningful margin.

One eligibility detail worth knowing upfront: Points Plus Cash is only available on rooms with a reward price of 8,000 points or more per night. Cheaper reward nights, priced below 8,000 points, can only be booked with points — there’s no cash-blend option on those.

What You Earn (and Don’t) on a Points Plus Cash Stay

• You still earn elite night credit. A Points Plus Cash stay counts toward Choice Privileges elite status qualification the same as a fully paid stay — useful if you’re pushing toward Titanium Elite or another tier.
• You don’t earn points on the cash portion. Unlike a normal paid stay, where you’d earn points on every qualifying dollar spent on room revenue, the cash you pay toward a Points Plus Cash booking doesn’t generate new points.
• There’s an annual ceiling. You can “buy” up to 250,000 points per calendar year through Points Plus Cash — a generous cap for nearly everyone, but worth knowing if you’re using this heavily.
• Cancellations refund points, not cash. If you cancel within the property’s cancellation window, both the points you originally redeemed and the points you effectively purchased with cash go back into your account as points — you don’t get the cash back separately. Once you’ve committed the cash portion, it has converted into points value for good.
• US members only. Points Plus Cash is restricted to Choice Privileges members with a US address on file.

That refund mechanic is the detail people miss most often: a cancelled Points Plus Cash booking doesn’t hand your money back — it hands your points back, cash portion included. Treat the cash you spend as points from the moment you book, not as a separate refundable charge.

When Points Plus Cash Is Actually Worth It

The math comes down to one comparison: is the specific cash top-up Choice is quoting you a good deal for the points you’re buying? That depends entirely on what the cash-only room rate would otherwise cost you — and since the rate varies by property and date, you have to check it stay by stay rather than assume a number.

Take that Quality Inn Miami South example: 6,000 points plus $77 for a room that would otherwise cost 15,000 points. If the cash-only rate for that same room and night is $150 or more, Points Plus Cash is a clear win — you’re getting the room for a fraction of the cash outlay, plus you still earn elite night credit. If the cash rate is closer to $70 or $80, though, Points Plus Cash stops making sense: you’d be spending real points and real cash for a deal that’s no better, or worse, than just paying for the room.

It’s also worth comparing against buying points directly. Choice periodically runs discounted points-purchase promotions, sometimes as much as 40-45% off the standard rate — when one of those is live, buying points outright ahead of time can easily beat whatever per-point rate Points Plus Cash happens to be charging for your specific stay. If you know you’ll need the points anyway, timing a bulk purchase during a sale is often the better long-term move; Points Plus Cash is better suited to a one-off gap you’re closing right now, not a strategy to build a points balance.

The other scenario where it clearly wins: you’re 6,000+ points into saving for a free night, the room you want is priced at 8,000 points or more, and you don’t want to wait until you’ve earned the rest. Points Plus Cash turns “almost enough points” into “booked tonight” without forcing you to pay full cash price or abandon the points you’ve already got sitting in your Choice Privileges account.

Pro Tips

• Always compare against the cash rate before booking. Points Plus Cash isn’t automatically the better deal — pull up the standard paid rate for the same room and do the side-by-side math first.
• Watch for points-purchase sales if Points Plus Cash has become a regular habit — buying points at a discount ahead of time often beats whatever rate Points Plus Cash is charging for that specific stay.
• Remember cancellations return points, not cash. Don’t book a Points Plus Cash stay you’re unsure about assuming you can get your cash back — you’ll get points instead.
• Use it to protect elite night progress. Since Points Plus Cash stays count as elite-qualifying nights, it’s a reasonable way to keep a status run going without paying full cash rate on a night you’d rather use points for.
• Check the 8,000-point threshold first. If the room you want is priced below 8,000 points, Points Plus Cash won’t be offered at all — you’re either paying full points or full cash.

Bottom Line

Points Plus Cash is a narrow but genuinely useful tool: redeem a minimum of 6,000 points, pay whatever cash top-up Choice quotes for the rest, and book a room you’re not quite able to afford in points alone — that top-up isn’t a fixed rate, so check it for your specific stay rather than assuming a number from a past booking. It’s worth using when the cash rate you’d otherwise pay is meaningfully higher than the cash portion Choice is asking for — and worth skipping when it isn’t, or when a points-purchase sale would get you the same points for less. Do the comparison every time rather than defaulting to it, and remember that if your plans change, you’ll get points back, not cash.

Frequently Asked Questions