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The Choice Privileges® Mastercard® credit card is a co-branded card of Choice Hotels that gives you 5 points per $1 spent at eligible Choice hotels, 3 points per $1 spent on purchases at gas stations, grocery stores, home improvement and phone plan services, and 1X points on all other purchases. There is also a sign-up bonus of 40,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months, enough for up to 5 Rewards nights at select Choice Hotels® properties. You can redeem your points for free nights at Choice Hotels or gift cards from over 80 restaurants and retailors. You'll hardly be able to use these points anywhere else.

Therefore, you may want to apply for a general rewards credit card instead. A good card to get is the Discover it® Miles credit card. It gives you unlimited 1.5 miles on all purchases, matches all of your earned miles at the end of the first year (if you are a new cardmember) and you can redeem rewards for any travel expenses, including Choice hotel stays, flights, popular cruises and other travel expenses. What is more, this card comes with no annual fee and no foreign transaction fee - use your card with no additional costs.