How to Transfer Citi Points to Choice Privileges (2026 Guide)

Choice Privileges spans more than 7,400 hotels across brands that run from Econo Lodge and Rodeway Inn at the economy end, through midscale staples like Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, and Sleep Inn, up to Cambria Hotels and the independently branded Ascend Hotel Collection at the upscale end. Unlike Hyatt or Marriott, most of Choice's inventory sits along interstate exits, in secondary markets, and in small towns that bigger luxury-leaning chains skip entirely — this is a program built for road trips and everyday travel, not aspirational splurges.

That breadth is exactly why Citi added Choice as a transfer partner in the first place: ThankYou Rewards' airline lineup is strong, but its hotel bench has historically been thin. Choice fills the gap for travelers who want a reliable, inexpensive place to redeem points on a random Tuesday night in a market where nothing else is glamorous — a Comfort Inn or Quality Inn will be there.

Until April 18, 2026, Citi transferred ThankYou points to Choice Privileges at a 1:2 ratio — 1,000 ThankYou points became 2,000 Choice points, one of the most generous ratios on Citi's chart. Effective April 19, 2026, that ratio dropped to 1:1.5, a 25% cut to the number of Choice points you receive for the same number of ThankYou points transferred. (Citi cut its other hotel partner, I Prefer Hotel Rewards, even harder that same day, from 1:4 down to 1:2 — a 50% reduction.)

The practical effect: a redemption that required 15,000 ThankYou points before April 19 now requires 20,000 ThankYou points to reach the same 30,000 Choice points via transfer — a 33% jump in the ThankYou points needed for an identical award, even though the headline ratio cut looks like 25% on paper. Choice is still a usable partner — transfers remain instant, and its award pricing is generally accessible — but the devaluation makes it worth double-checking that a Choice redemption still beats paying cash or using points elsewhere before you transfer anything.

Choice Privileges doesn't publish one fixed, global award chart the way some hotel programs do — pricing is set per property and can shift with demand and season, so the same hotel might cost 12,000 points one weekend and 18,000 the next. As a rough guide, economy brands (Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn) tend to run somewhere in the 6,000-15,000-point range per night, midscale brands (Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, Sleep Inn) typically land around 8,000-25,000 points, and upscale options (Cambria Hotels, Ascend Hotel Collection) generally run 15,000-35,000 points, with a smaller number of in-demand or international properties pushing past 40,000 and occasionally reaching 50,000 or more during peak dates.

Because pricing is property-specific rather than tier-based, the only way to know what a stay actually costs is to search the exact hotel and dates before transferring anything. Choice also runs frequent promotions — bonus points on paid stays, discounted award nights — that can shift the math further in your favor if you have flexibility on timing.

At roughly 0.6-0.8 cents of value per Choice point in typical redemptions, transferring ThankYou points to Choice rarely produces the eye-popping value an airline transfer can. But Choice earns its spot on Citi's chart for reliability and reach rather than peak value — it's the partner you use when you need a clean, inexpensive room somewhere Marriott or Hilton doesn't have a property, not the one you use to book a five-star suite.

The devaluation makes the calculation a little tighter than it used to be, so it's worth comparing the Choice-points cost of a specific stay against Choice's own cash rate, and against what a Citi Strata Premier or Prestige cardholder could get by redeeming points directly through the Citi travel portal instead. If the award rate clearly beats cash, transfer; if it's marginal, cash or a portal redemption may now be the better call.