Choice Hotels is offering Canadian residents a summer discount for travel within Canada. At participating properties across the country you’ll get 35% off one night stays or 40% off stays of two nights or longer. There are a large number of Choice hotels here in the Maritimes. When travel becomes a regular activity again this promo could be a nice way to save some cash on a little jaunt around the region.
Book By June 21, 2020 – Stay By September 30, 2020
This is primarily a promotion for summer and early fall travel as the discount won’t apply to stays beyond the end of September. You do however have to lock in your booking by later this month.
Free Cancellation
In keeping with the current trend of travel providers encouraging risk-free bookings, you can cancel your reservation with no penalty if your plans change. Therefore you could make a few speculative bookings if you’re not sure when or where you’d like to go. Just remember of course to cancel the extras once you’ve firmed up your plans.
Terms and Conditions
Here’s the fine print for the promotion:
*Currently available at participating hotels only in Canada. Offer is subject to availability at participating hotels. Choice Privileges membership required to participate. Reservation must be booked through a Choice Hotels direct channel, such as www.choicehotels.com, Choice Hotels mobile application, Choice Hotels contact centers or at a Choice branded hotel. Book by June 21, 2020 and stay by September 30, 2020. A stay includes all consecutive nights at the same hotel regardless of check-ins or checkouts. Only valid for qualifying stays, which exclude rooms booked below certain rates, reward night stays, complimentary rooms, rooms paid for as part of a convention or meeting, rooms booked through a travel agent or third party online retailer including online travel agencies, wholesale packages, group tours, and stays booked using the employee discount or the friends, family and associate discount. This offer is a 35% discount off Best Available Rate for one-night stays and a 40% discount off the Best Available Rate for stays of two or more nights. Offer cannot be combined with any other discounts (including Choice Privileges discounts), promotions, or offers. Discount will be applied immediately upon booking the room. Choice Hotels reserves the right to change or discontinue this offer at any time. Available to Canadian residents only. Hotels are independently owned and operated.
Maritime Bubble?
Rumours abound regarding the possibility of a “Maritime bubble” so that residents of the three provinces would be able to travel freely around the region. At the very least, Nova Scotians are encouraged to enjoy the summer by vacationing in their own province as active case numbers dwindle and by following the safety guidelines to prevent potential community spread of COVID-19.
Choice Hotels in the Maritimes
Choice has individual webpages listing their properties in Nova Scotia New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island but I’ll include them below as well because their NS and NB lists appear to be incomplete. Please let me know if I missed any.
Nova Scotia
Sydney – Comfort Inn
New Glasgow – Comfort Inn
Amherst – Comfort Inn
Truro – Comfort Inn
Halifax Airport – Quality Inn
Fall River – Inn on the Lake, Ascend Collection
Bedford – Comfort Inn
Halifax – Comfort Hotel Bayer’s Lake
Dartmouth – Comfort Inn
Bridgewater – Comfort Inn
Yarmouth – Comfort Inn
New Brunswick
There are a lot of Choice hotels in New Brunswick. Note the properties that include “Amsterdam” in the name are affiliated with the Amsterdam Inn group of hotels.
Dieppe/Moncton Airport – Quality Inn & Suites
Moncton – Comfort Inn East
Moncton – Comfort Inn Magnetic Hill
Moncton – Quality Inn
Quispamsis – Quality Inn & Suites Amsterdam
Saint John – Comfort Inn
Saint John – Econo Lodge Inn & Suites
Fredericton – Quality Inn & Suites Amsterdam
Fredericton – Comfort Inn
Edmundston – Comfort Inn
Edmundston – Quality Hotel & Conference Centre
Campbellton – Comfort Inn
Campbellton – Quality Hotel & Conference Centre
Bathurst – Comfort Inn
Bathurst – Quality Inn & Suites
Miramichi – Rodeway Inn
Miramichi – Econo Lodge
Prince Edward Island
Charlottetown – Quality Inn & Suites Downtown
Charlottetown – Comfort Inn
Cornwall – Quality Inn & Suites
Summerside – Quality Inn & Suites Garden of the Gulf
Atlantic Bubble?
Just in case travel to the Rock is permitted this summer…
Newfoundland and Labrador
St. John’s Airport – Comfort Inn
Clarenville – Quality Hotel
Gander – Comfort Inn
Gander – Quality Hotel & Suites
Corner Brook – Comfort Inn
Corner Brook – Quality Inn
Sample Rates
Maybe this will get corrected in the coming days, but while checking rates on the Choice website, several hotels displayed the 1 night 35% discount instead of the 40% discount when searching for a 2 night stay.
The discount is off the “Best Available Rate” which is not typically the lowest rate available when you put prepaid, senior or CAA rates into the mix, but if this promo rate is available on your dates, it will be the lowest.
If you’re willing to gamble on a loosening of restrictions over the next few weeks, there are rates in the $70s to be found, but the sample rates below are for September 5-7, 2020, the Saturday and Sunday of the Labour Day long weekend.
Best Bets
Presumably, your lodging selection will be determined by where you intend to be travelling. When it comes to an affordable chain like Choice, the hotel itself is not likely to be the focal point of the trip. And while the majority of them will suit one’s purposes fine as a place to sleep and shower, it’s worth checking the reviews on a site like TripAdvisor to avoid any real duds. As always, take the one-and-done reviews with a grain of salt.
The Comfort Hotel Bayers Lake in Halifax sits at #1 of 28 when sorted by Traveller Rankings on TripAdvisor and has for quite a while, I believe. The Comfort Inn in Bedford is down at #9 with very good reviews as well.
In New Brunswick, the two Quality Inns with Amsterdam in the name in Fredericton and Quispamsis are rated very highly on TripAdvisor.
The four Choice hotels on PEI are fairly even in reviews. The Quality Inn & Suites in Cornwall near Charlottetown has an indoor pool with a slide and offers a 2 bedroom suite which would be great for a family.
As for Newfoundland, the Quality Hotel in Clarenville has a high rating albeit with a small number of reviews, but a few of them mention recent renovations so that’s a positive. The Comfort Inn in Gander is ranked #1 of 6 hotels in town.
Stay Twice, Get 8000 Points
Choice Privileges, the loyalty program associated with Choice Hotels recently announced a new promotion for stays between June 10 and September 7, 2020. Although they use the words “free night” it’s actually just a point bonus, not a free night certificate. Here’s the registration page though it hasn’t been working consistently for me and when it does, the terms show the spring promo dates. After you register it displays the updated terms and conditions along with a FAQ with more details.
This is the same promotion that Choice has done for ages. While it’s described alternately as a free night or 8000 points, it’s a good offer. The 35-40% discount promo requires Choice Privileges membership and the terms state that it cannot be combined with other promotions. Perhaps that’s boilerplate text referring to other promos involving rate discounts and not point promotions, but one could confirm with Choice directly that these rates are indeed qualifying rates for the 8000 point bonus if you’re concerned.
If you think it’s possible you’ll stay more than once during the promo period, be sure to register. And remember, if your Choice Privileges account is set to earn Aeroplan miles, change it to earn Choice points before you register and before you make any hotel reservations.
Bottom Line
Getting a hotel rate under $100 during summer in the Maritimes is a good deal. Right now, most of the tourist sites are either closed or offering limited access but who knows what developments may happen as the weeks go on. Provincial parks and trails are open and one can certainly still enjoy the scenery of the area and have a picnic outside. If you need a place to stay, keep an eye out for discount promotions like this one.
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