Choice Privileges Select Mastercard

Rewards by category

Our take

The Choice Privileges Select Mastercard fits two profiles at once: regular Choice Hotels guests and households with heavy everyday bills. It earns 10x at participating Choice Hotels properties and 5x on groceries, gas, home improvement, and phone and internet — enough to rank first in our home improvement table and second for phone and internet. At our conservative 0.6-cent point valuation, that 5x works out to roughly 3% back.

The tradeoff is the currency. Choice Privileges points are worth 0.6 cents each in our rankings, so a point is not a cent, and the top rates carry fine print: the 5x phone rate covers phone plan services only, and the 10x covers stays at participating properties and Choice Privileges point purchases. The $95 annual fee is real, but 30,000 anniversary points — about $180 at our valuation — cover it for anyone who actually redeems with Choice.

In a small wallet this card is a specialist, not a workhorse. Its 1x base rate means everything outside the bonus categories should go on a flat-rate card, and this Wells Fargo card handles the rest: hotel stays, groceries, gas, home projects, and the phone bill. With no foreign transaction fee, it also travels cleanly outside the US. Elite status and 20 night credits come automatically, with no spending hoops.

The math

Run $600 a month of groceries through this card and you're earning about $216 a year at our conservative valuations. Against the $95 annual fee, that top rate needs roughly $800 a month of groceries spend before it beats a no-fee flat 2% card.

Where it lands in our rankings: #3 for home improvement

Store bonuses

• Choice Hotels10x

Key benefits

• 30,000 bonus points every account anniversary
• Automatic Choice Privileges Platinum Elite status + 20 elite night credits
• Up to $120 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit every 4 years
• Up to $800 cell phone protection ($25 deductible)

Common questions

Does Choice Privileges Select Mastercard have an annual fee?

Yes — $95 per year.

What does Choice Privileges Select Mastercard earn on groceries?

5x on groceries.

What rewards does Choice Privileges Select Mastercard earn on everything else?

1x on all other purchases, in Choice Privileges.

What's the catch with the 5x phone and internet rate on the Choice Privileges Select Mastercard?

The 5x phone rate covers phone plan services only — spending at a carrier that is not a plan service does not earn the top rate. Internet service is part of the same 5x category. The card also carries up to $800 in cell phone protection with a $25 deductible, another reason to route the monthly phone bill here.

Do you get elite status with the Choice Privileges Select Mastercard?

Yes. The card grants automatic Choice Privileges Platinum Elite status along with 20 elite night credits. Beyond status, it includes up to $120 in Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit every four years and no foreign transaction fee, which matters for spending abroad. If you stay with Choice a few times a year, these perks arrive without any extra effort.

Related reading

• How we value points and miles (and why our numbers are lower than everyone else's)SwipeCaddy ranks cards by reward rate × a conservative cash value per point: 1¢ for cash back and transferable points (Chase, Amex, Citi, Capital One, Bilt), 1.1–1.3¢ for airline miles, 0.4–1.4¢ for hotel points, and 0.8–0.9¢ for store currencies. Optimistic transfer values are recorded for context but never ranked, because most people never achieve them.