Choice Hotels just gave cardholders two good reasons to pull out their cobranded Mastercard this summer. There's a sweepstakes running through September 30 where every purchase earns an entry to win up to 1 million Choice Privileges points, and new applicants can grab an elevated welcome bonus on the no-annual-fee Choice Privileges® Mastercard® before the offer expires September 8. Here's everything you need to know to take advantage.

The Sweepstakes: What You Can Win

Both the Choice Privileges® Mastercard® and the Choice Privileges® Select Mastercard® are eligible. Every purchase made between now and September 30, 2026 earns one sweepstakes entry automatically. No registration required.

The prize structure breaks down like this:

• Grand prize (1 winner): 1,000,000 Choice Privileges points
• Monthly prizes (4 winners, one per month): 250,000 Choice Privileges points each
• Daily prizes (122 winners, one per day): 50,000 Choice Privileges points each

That's 127 total winners across the promotion period. Not bad odds for something that requires zero extra effort beyond using your card normally.

What are these points actually worth? Choice Privileges points are generally valued at around 0.6 cents each, which puts the grand prize at roughly $6,000 in hotel value, the monthly prizes at around $1,500 each, and the daily prizes at approximately $300. These are sweepstakes-level values, so they're most useful if you already stay at Choice Hotels properties regularly. The portfolio includes Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, Cambria Hotels, Clarion, Sleep Inn, Econo Lodge, and the Ascend Hotel Collection, among others.

How to Maximize Your Sweepstakes Entries

Since each purchase earns one entry regardless of the purchase amount, you want volume of transactions, not necessarily higher spend. Here's how to think about it:

Pay for everyday purchases with your Choice card instead of another card in your wallet. Gas, groceries, and home improvement stores already earn 3x points per dollar on the base card (5x on the Select), so you're doubling up on value. A cardholder who uses their card for 15 purchases a month across June, July, August, and September would rack up 60 entries total. Someone who pays bills, subscriptions, and daily spending with the card could push well past 100 entries without changing their actual spending behavior.

The key insight: this sweepstakes rewards frequency, not spending size. Splitting larger purchases into separate transactions where possible (where it makes sense and your card allows) would technically increase entries, though that's worth doing only when it fits naturally into your routine.

The New Welcome Bonus: Worth Applying For?

New applicants to the Choice Privileges® Mastercard® can earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 in the first three months. This offer runs through September 8, 2026.

At 0.6 cents per point, that's roughly $360 in hotel value from the welcome bonus alone. The card has no annual fee, which makes it a genuinely low-risk option if Choice Hotels fits your travel patterns.

Compare that to the Choice Privileges® Select Mastercard®: it offers the same 60,000-point welcome bonus but requires $3,000 in spending to unlock it and carries a $95 annual fee. Unless you're a frequent Choice Hotels guest who will take full advantage of the Select's higher earn rates (10x at Choice properties, 5x at gas, grocery, and home improvement), the base card is the stronger offer right now. Same bonus, a third of the spending requirement, no annual fee.

If you apply before September 8 and are approved, you'll also be eligible for the sweepstakes through September 30, giving you roughly three weeks of entries on top of the welcome bonus.

Should You Apply?

If you already stay at Choice Hotels a few times a year, this is an easy yes. The no-annual-fee Choice Privileges® Mastercard® costs you nothing to hold, earns solid points on everyday spend categories, and the sweepstakes adds upside with no required behavior change. The welcome bonus of 60,000 points is elevated compared to historical offers, and the September 8 deadline creates real urgency.

If you're not a regular Choice Hotels guest, this card is harder to justify as a primary card. But if you travel for work and occasionally end up at Comfort Inns or Quality Inns because they're convenient and affordable, the card could still make sense to hold at no cost. Just don't let this sweepstakes push you into applying for a card that won't earn meaningful value beyond the promotion window.

The sweepstakes itself is already live. If you hold either eligible card, there's nothing to do but use it. Every purchase from now through September 30 is already an entry. Start swiping.

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