As part of their “Members Only Madness” last week, Choice hotels is offering “over 80% off” a Bluegreen Resort Vacation plus bonus points and a $100 gift card. If you’re not familiar with their resort brand, you can earn and burn Choice points at any of the Bluegreen Resort properties in their portfolio, which amounts to around 60 destinations. Bluegreen Resorts is overwhelmingly domestic, as they only have two international properties: one in Aruba and one in the Bahamas.
7-night vacation offer
I knew there had to be some fine print to an “over 80% off” offer. Choice is offering these stays for $499 for seven nights, which amounts to ~$71 per night, an excellent rate. I’m sure taxes are excluded, so factor those in as well. There also may be pesky resort fees, which I would certainly ask a phone rep about if interested. Still, if you’re not opposed to paying for a family vacation, this is a pretty good deal.
Not all properties are available under the offer, but you do have a decent pick of destinations, including Orlando, St. Augustine, Myrtle Beach, Las Vegas, Phoenix(ish), the Great Smoky Mountains and Williamsburg. It’s unfortunate neither of the international destinations appear to be available.
The other cool thing about this deal is that not all seven nights need to be at the same hotel, nor do they need to be consecutive! So you could actually make 2-3 weekend vacations out of this offer. Choice also sweetens it with 10,000 Choice points (probably worth $70, conservatively) and a $100 Mastercard gift card.
Here is the direct link to the deal.
But there is one catch…
The ol’ timeshare sales pitch
This is the real rub. The offer is contingent on sitting through a timeshare pitch where someone will be trying to tell you that you need to be paying for a Bluegreen Resorts vacation every year. If you can stomach this for two hours, then you can spend the rest of the week enjoying your vacation for an excellent price. But I know these deals can easily turn some people away. From many reports, the time share salespeople can be pretty pushy.
As is normal with these deals, if you are married or have a partner, you must bring them along to attend the pitch as well. This requirement is the only reason I have not taken advantage of a couple of others over the past year. Not that my wife would cave to the pressure, but she would not enjoy it, and the trips where we could have potentially taken advantage of this have just been me and the older kids traveling.
Other than having to bring your spouse, the bar is fairly low for this timeshare offer. I’ve been priced out of some by the annual income requirement. But Choice is willing to take a household that makes $40,000 annually and one of whom has a credit score of at least 575.
Conclusion
If you’re interested in the Choice Hotels 7-night vacation deal for $499, you better consider it and act quickly. The offer expires on November 30.
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
If you are not going to buy (no matter what the price), then the min income and credit score do not matter. Just saying.