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Next up in our Vacation Rentals Series is Bluegreen Vacations. They are in a “strategic partnership” with Choice Hotels. The booking is a little strange, but the partnership between these two allows you to utilize your Choice Points for a truly spacious vacation with your family.
The Good News
- You can pay with Choice Points! These also transfer from AMEX, Capital One, or Citi.
- The number of points you pay is dependent on property, not size of room. You can book a 3 bedroom or a 1 bedroom for the same number of points (as available). This is unheard of, and very exciting!!
- There’s a number of very discounted Timeshare presentation offers for Bluegreen Vacations as well. If you have the ability to sit through one of these and not sign up, this may be a good way to get a discounted rate.
- The number of points per night I am seeing on most of these are equivalent to a basic hotel room at a Marriott Hotel 20-25k points. This makes this a spectacular deal if you are transferring points and receiving a suite with multiple bedrooms.
The bad news
- You can only book 100 days out, and they only release whichever rooms are unused by timeshare guests, which means sometimes there’s no availability for the dates you are hoping for.
- The website is not easy to navigate. I included some instructions on booking below to help.
- Only 28 of the Bluegreen Vacations properties are currently available with Choice through the Ascend Collection.
Timeshare Presentations
An alternate option to booking with points is booking on the BlueGreen Vacations page under their “Deals.” There is very little information listed, just the phone number to call to book. A caution we would extend – Be leery of a hard credit inquiry. Occasionally, timeshare companies will do a hard credit inquiry with your social security number, so be cautious as you fill out paperwork and ask good questions. Also, be sure you can say no to a timeshare – their job is to convince you otherwise.
However, there were some really stellar deals listed that would get you a really nice family vacation for less.
All the Info
To book these hotels, as we said above, you have to book within 100 days of your vacation. You will go to the choice hotels website for Bluegreen Vacations. This website is DIFFERENT from the Bluegreen Vacations page, as they are separate companies, in a strategic alliance. Once there, you will work to book your vacation. You can also view the locations that are included via Choice’s Ascend Collection if you scroll down on the page. Only 28 of the Bluegreen locations are currently included with Choice at the time of this writing.
Paying for the Bluegreen Vacations Rental
To pay for this rental with points, you could obviously use Choice Points if you have those accumulated. Your other choice is to transfer AMEX, Capital One, or Citi points to your Choice account, and utilize those points. Remember, the price per night with points is determined per property, and you can book any room or suite with the same number of points.
Summary
This was not the most intuitive process to figure out, but it allows you to utilize Choice points for a really nice stay at a nice property. These properties are run and managed by a timeshare property that is working to retain guests. There are widely available reviews and photos online that could help you determine cleanliness and amenities as well. As long as you can find availability, this could provide a really excellent option for your family to spread out.
