Terms and conditions

1.1. These membership terms and conditions apply to all members from 1 sep 2022 and replace, from that date, all previously applicable membership terms and conditions.

1.2. The loyalty program is part of Nordic Choice Commercial Services AS (Strawberry), Org. Nr. 968 819 372. The membership terms and conditions are an agreement between the members and Strawberry.

1.3. The membership is personal and only available to persons over the age of 18. The membership and benefits cannot be used by anyone other than the individual members.

1.4. Membership will be confirmed via text message and/or email. Each member has a unique membership number. You can find this number when you are logged in on the website or app.

1.5. Members are responsible for providing their membership number to hotels and partners in order to receive bonus points and benefits.

1.6. Strawberry reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to exclude a member from membership programmes and to remove points the member has earned. This may occur, for example, in the case of the abuse of membership, points and benefits in relation to current terms and conditions, or in the case of criminal, unethical or immoral acts, or in the case of disrespectful or unwanted behaviour towards hotels, employees or partners. The list is not exhaustive.

1.7. If a member expects to earn bonus points based on accommodation paid by their employer, members are personally responsible for notifying and obtaining consent from their employer in advance. Strawberry cannot, under any circumstances, be held responsible if a member does not inform and/or does not obtain prior consent from the employer. The member is generally recommended to obtain consent from their employer to use bonus points.

1.8. The private use of bonus points earned through work may, in certain jurisdictions, such as Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark, be regarded as taxable income. It is the member’s responsibility to inform his/her employer and/or relevant authorities of this, and to pay all applicable taxes and fees resulting from this use. Strawberry disclaims all responsibility for taxes or liability to pay taxes that are incumbent on the member in this regard.

1.9. Strawberry reserves the right to terminate the loyalty program with a six-month notice period to members. Any such notice will be sent via email/text message or posted on the website.

1.10. Should the loyalty program have to be discontinued due to conditions pertaining to a country’s legislation, a court decision or a prohibition by a country’s public authorities, Strawberry will not be held responsible for any losses to the individual member that may ensue from this termination. Strawberry will, as far as possible, attempt to inform individual members as soon as possible if the circumstances described under this point should arise. Section 1.9 above does not apply in the case of discontinuation in accordance with this regulation.

1.11. Members can cancel their membership at any time. Cancellation must be made in writing and sent to:

Email: booking@strawberry.no Postal address: Strawberry Customer Service, Postboks 2454 Solli, NO-0201 Oslo, Norway

Cancellation will take immediate effect from the date on which the Customer Service department receives notice of cancellation.

1.12. Cancellation of membership, on any grounds, means that individuals can no longer use earned bonus points, cf. the requirements regarding active membership when using bonus points, Section 5.1.

1.13. Strawberry retains the right, without prior notification to individual members, to change the terms and conditions of its membership programme. Any such changes will be published on the website and will enter into effect 14 days after these changes were published, unless otherwise stipulated. Members are responsible for keeping informed about any changes to the membership terms and conditions.

1.14. When changes are made to the membership terms and conditions that require legal consent or approval, Strawberry will ask its members for consent or approval. Strawberry reserves the right to terminate membership of members who do not provide their consent or approval of the new terms and conditions. Members may terminate their membership agreement if they no longer wish to be tied to the changed terms and conditions.

2.1. Strawberry will process personal data that is necessary to enable them or participating partners to comply with the agreement concerning the delivery of the member program. The information provided will also be used for communication concerning membership. Further information about the processing of personal data, requirements for transparency, corrections and deletions can be found under Data Protection Terms & Conditions.

2.2. When signing up as a member, it is required to consent to receive information and offers from Strawberry about the company’s and partner’s products. Members must give their consent to receive this via email, phone, text message and other digital channels in order to be eligible to join the programme, but are free to withdraw their consent at any time.

2.3. Members who have given their consent can, based on previous purchases and information they have supplied, receive information and offers from Strawberry and participating partners. Membership can thereby provide a better experience to those who have given their consent.

2.4. Member consent is voluntary, and any part of this consent can be changed at any time. Consent can be managed by logging in to My Page on the app or website. Members can also provide or revoke their consent by contacting Customer Service.

3.1. Bonus points are valid for three years (36 months) from the month in which they were earned. After this time the bonus points will automatically become invalid and cannot be used subsequently. On redemption of bonus points, the oldest, valid bonus points will be redeemed first.

3.2. Bonus points earned are personal and cannot be transferred to other members’ bonus accounts or redeemed for cash.

3.3. Bonus point earnings are based on the member’s personal transactions. This means that members will be able to earn bonus points for his/her own hotel stays, regardless of who pays for the accommodation. A member can never earn bonus points for another person’s or another member’s transaction(s). Bonus points but not qualifying nights, are awarded, however, if, in connection with your stay, you book an extra room for family members from within the same household.

3.4. Benefit bonus awarded, such as double bonus points and extra bonus points, are based on the basic bonus point rate (i.e. the number of bonus points earned per night).

3.5. Strawberry reserves the right to deduct any incorrectly posted/earned points within six months without notice.

4.1. One bonus point is awarded for each krona/krone (local currency) spent (ten bonus points per Euro spent) on overnight stays including breakfast and for any extra beds at Strawberry hotels in the Nordic and Baltic countries. Please note there may be other ways of allocating bonus points for package deals and special rates, etc.

4.2. Overnight stays at Choice hotels outside the Nordic and Baltic countries give 750 bonus points/night. To receive these bonus points, the member must submit copies of the invoices from the hotel(s) in question to Strawberry’ customer service for registration.

4.3. Overnight stays in connection with package deals (conference package, spa package, full/half-board stay etc.), where the board is not an identifiable part of the total price, give 1,000 bonus points/night.

4.4. Overnight stays in connection with special discounted rates such as, but not limited to, bus tours, etc give 500 bonus points/night. Certain exceptions apply.

4.5. Overnight stays booked through online travel agencies (OTAs) including, but not limited to, Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Booking.com, Orbitz.com, CheapTickets.com, Priceline.com, etc give 500 bonus points/stay.

4.6. Bonus points are not awarded for:

• Overnight stays that are paid for with bonus points (bonus nights)
• Use of gift cards for a specific product (without a specified value).
• Booked but not utilised hotel stays, i.e. "no-shows"
• Booking or paying for special events, groups or parties (weddings, dinners, etc.), but the member will be able to earn bonus points for, and limited to, his/hers own stay
• Crew rates (crew are staff, people who work on airplanes, trains or boats or teams)
• Stays in “complimentary” room

4.7. Earning of partner points and Strawberry points cannot be combined on overnight stays.

4.8. For bookings where several members are sharing a room, it is the guest registered as the main guest who receives any available points for the booking.

4.9. Missing bonus points for hotel stays can be applied for via the website up to six months after the date of a stay. Please note that this is only possible for stays made from the day a membership commenced.

5.1. To redeem bonus points, members must have sufficient valid bonus points. The total cost of the reservation must be covered by bonus points, it is not possible to combine points with other payment types. Bonus nights can be taken up to 11.5 months after the expiry of the bonus points but the reservation of bonus redemption must be done before the bonus points expire. For cancellations within normal cancellations deadlines, used bonus points can be reverted to the member, assuming that they have not expired.

5.2. A certain number of standard rooms in each hotel are allocated to bonus point claims. At certain hotels, there may even be a certain number of rooms in other room categories available for bonus point claims. The booking of bonus nights is subject to availability of rooms allocated to bonus point claim, even if all bonus rooms are fully booked, there may be free rooms in other price categories.

5.3. “Be my Guest” gift vouchers are valid for a maximum of 12 months and only at hotels in Strawberry. The validity of the gift card is limited to the validity date of the bonus points. The value of the gift voucher cannot be split across several stays. The gift voucher cannot be used as partial payment for rooms and gift vouchers cannot be combined with other payment types. Gift vouchers validity cannot be extended, nor can their value be reverted to bonus points in a bonus account.

5.4. Extra beds/baby cot can also be booked using points as part of bonus point stays, as long as the respective rooms have capacity to accommodate such beds and the hotel has availability. The bonus point price varies from at different hotels. To pay for an extra bed/baby cot with money instead of points, contact the hotel to add the extra bed/baby cot.

5.5. The following applies for bonus point redemption: Exceptions to the rates quoted above may apply at particular times and during campaigns.

Bonus rooms at Strawberry Bonus nights apply for two persons including breakfast. Applicable bonus prices and availability at the various hotels can be found on the website by logging in. There are 7 categories for bonus point redemption for standard rooms:

• Category 1 - 7.500 points per night
• Category 2 - 10.000 points per night
• Category 3 - 15.000 points per night
• Category 4 - 20.000 points per night
• Category 5 - 25.000 points per night
• Category 6 - 30.000 points per night
• Category 7 - 40.000 points per night

Strawberry reserves the right to change the categorisation system at any time.

Restaurant visits Members may use an even number of 10,000 bonus points to the value of 300 NOK/SEK/DKK to pay for meals at selected Strawberry owned restaurants. Please contact the hotel in advance to confirm that it is possible to use points in the restaurant and to reserve a table. No change is given when redeeming bonus points in restaurants.

Withdrawals from partners Members can view current information about partners, offers and withdrawals on the website.

6.1. The member program has four levels: BLUE, SILVER, GOLD and PLATINUM. The membership level is determined by the number of qualifying nights or how many points the member collects during the course of the member’s member period.

6.2. A membership period lasts for 12 months from the month that members registered their membership.

6.3. One qualifying night is equivalent to a night that counts towards reaching the next tier level.

6.4. Qualifying nights are not registered for:

• Overnight stays that are paid for with bonus points (bonus nights).
• Use of gift cards for a specific product (without a specified value).
• Booked but not utilised hotel stays, i.e. "no-shows".
• Crew rates (crew are staff, people who work on airplanes, trains or boats or teams).
• ”Complimentary” rooms (free stays).
• Overnight stays at Choice hotels outside the Nordics and Baltic region.
• Hotel stays at Strawberry booked via online travel agencies (OTAs).

6.5. Overnight stays with discounted special rates provide 0.5 qualifying nights.

6.6. Qualification for a higher level occurs in accordance with the following regulations:

• SILVER – 5 qualifying nights or 15,000 points during the 12-month member period.
• GOLD – 30 qualifying nights or 50,000 points during the 12-month member period.
• PLATINUM – 60 qualifying nights or 100,000 points during the 12-month member period.
• LIFETIME GOLD - 500,000 points since membership began.
• LIFETIME PLATINUM - 1,000,000 points since membership began.

6.7. In the course of a member period, members may qualify for SILVER, GOLD or PLATINUM. There are no qualification requirements for BLUE. Members who are promoted to a higher level will receive this level straight away during the current period and members retain this level for the next member period (the subsequent 12 months). The calculation of the qualifying nights and bonus points shall revert to zero at the end of the member period. This will not affect the redeemable bonus points.

6.8. The qualification for LIFETIME membership is calculated based on the entire membership time, not per member period. If members reach a LIFETIME, members will retain this as long as they do not terminate their membership. Members who have reached LIFETIME GOLD still have the opportunity to advance to PLATINUM during a member period, or reach the LIFETIME PLATINUM in the future according to the rules outlined above.

7.1. Different membership benefits apply to each tier level in the program, the higher the tier level, the more benefits.

7.2. Membership benefits pertaining to the individual tier level apply, at all times, as they appear in these membership terms and conditions.

7.3. The following membership benefits do not apply to Comfort Hotel Xpress, and they do not apply for the apartments at Comfort Hotel Solna: complimentary mineral water, upgrade upon arrival and guaranteed room upgrade. At Sommerro, the guaranteed upgrade benefit and upgrade to best room upon arrival benefit do not apply.

7.4. Membership benefits do not apply to stays booked via online travel agencies (OTAs, see Section 4.5).

7.5. For bookings where several members are sharing a room, it is the guest registered as the main guest for the booking who receives any available benefits associated with the membership level.

7.6. Benefits that are delivered during a stay will be delivered according to tier level held upon check in.

7.7.1. Bonus points and qualifying nights in line with these terms and conditions.

7.7.2. Membership prices with a discount on bed and breakfast rates for bookings made on the website, app, with the hotel or Customer Service. This discount cannot be combined with other offers. Members must be logged in to claim the discount online. Non-members must sign up at the time of booking or check in in order to process the booking.

7.7.3. Members get a restaurant voucher worth 35 kr or 4 EUR per night when staying overnight at Clarion Hotel®, Quality Hotel or most of our independent hotels. The voucher is issued in the app and can be used to purchase food and beverages in hotel restaurants (excludes spirits and tobacco). In order to use the voucher to purchase alcoholic beverages, you need to order a meal at the same time. At Quality Hotel® vouchers can also be used to purchase selected food and beverages from Petite X. Vouchers are personal and dated and can only be used on a specific date. They cannot be accumulated or exchanged for cash and no change is given. Members staying at Comfort Hotel®, Clarion Collection hotels or at hotels where the restaurant is operated by an external partner do not receive restaurant vouchers.

7.7.4. Members can earn an extra 10% worth of bonus points by booking via the website or app. These additional points are calculated based on the basic bonus point rate.

7.7.5. Members can make bookings on the website or app without providing a debit/credit card number. The same cancellation terms apply. Bookings must be cancelled if members do not wish to use a room. If members fail to cancel the room in time, they will be billed for the first night. In case of non-payment, we will take action to claim the money.

7.7.6. Free tea/coffee for members - one cup per day with a refill. This applies to brewed coffee/tea when that is available for sale (not barista coffee). This cannot be combined with any other discounts or offers.

7.7.7. Information about special offers, benefits and/or discounts can be found on the website.

7.7.8. Red carpet - an opportunity to opt in to, in connection with events and activities, receive marketing and information from Strawberry and partners.

7.8.1. All benefits pertaining to BLUE level apply.

7.8.2. Cancellation deadline extended to 9pm on the day of arrival. This does not apply to package bookings including more than bed and breakfast, prepaid bookings or bookings made via online travel agents including, but not limited to, Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Booking.com, Orbitz.com, CheapTickets.com, Priceline.com, etc.

7.8.3. Restaurant voucher to the value of 75 kr or 8 EUR. Other terms and conditions pursuant to 7.7.3.

7.8.4. An extra 10% benefit bonus. These additional points are calculated based on the basic bonus point rate.

7.8.5. Late check-out option until 4pm free of charge. To be agreed with the staff at reception the day before you are due to depart.

7.9.1. All BLUE and standard SILVER benefits apply.

7.9.2. A free bottle of mineral water or soft drink from the mini bar per night. If the room has no mini bar, the beverages are available from reception.

7.9.3. Guaranteed room at a destination if members book at least 48 hours prior to arrival via customer service at standard rates (exceptions apply during certain periods and in certain destinations). The benefit requires that customer service is open, create the reservation and confirm back before the time limit is reached.The benefit cannot be combined with contract prices or other discounts. Benefits such as upgrades, early check-in and late check-out are not guaranteed for this type of booking.

7.9.4. Free early check-in option, if the hotel has an available room(s).

7.9.5. Restaurant voucher to the value of 125 kr or 13 EUR. Other terms and conditions pursuant to 7.7.3.

7.9.6. Late check-out option until 6pm free of charge. To be agreed with the staff at reception the day before you are due to depart.

7.9.7. Possible upgrade to best available room, free of charge upon arrival. Possibility decided upon arrival.

7.9.8. An extra 20% benefit bonus based on the basic bonus point rate.

7.9.9. Members can get 2-for-1 on entry to spas at Strawberry. This benefit is subject to availability and must be requested at the time of booking in cases where reservations are possible.

7.10.1. All BLUE, SILVER and GOLD benefits apply for PLATINUM members.

7.10.2. Restaurant voucher to the value of 125 kr or 13 EUR. Other terms and conditions pursuant to 7.7.3.

7.10.3. Guaranteed room at a destination if members book at least 24 hours prior to arrival via customer service at standard rates (exceptions apply during certain periods and in certain destinations). For other terms see Section 7.9.3.

7.10.4. Guaranteed room category upgrade one level if the hotel has the next category available at the time that the booking is registered (excludes suites).

7.10.5. Late check-out option until 6pm free of charge. To be agreed with the staff at reception the day before you are due to depart.

7.10.6. If the hotel has standard double rooms available upon booking, PLATINUM members can use bonus points. This only applies when the members make the booking themselves and cannot be used by others. Exceptions apply during certain dates Does not apply when using the 24/48-hour guarantee and excludes the benefits of guaranteed and possible upgrade.

7.10.7. Complimentary fitness at those of our hotels that are equipped with fitness facilities, including in cases where the member is not staying at the hotel. Show your PLATINUM level in app or state your membership number for admission to the fitness facilities. Note that not all hotels offer changing rooms and showers for use after exercise.The benefit is not included at gyms that offer subscriptions/personal memberships to use the facilities.

7.10.8. An extra 30% benefit bonus. These additional points are calculated based on the basic bonus point rate.

8.1. If members apply for and receive a Strawberry Mastercard, the membership number will be detailed on the card.

8.2. Separate regulations, terms and conditions apply to Strawberry Mastercard. These terms and conditions will be sent along with the member’s first Strawberry Mastercard. Information about rules and benefits linked to Mastercard and a link to updated terms and conditions will always be published on Strawberry website.

9.1. Nordic Choice Commercial Services AS (Strawberry) is only responsible for any financial losses relating to the membership if Strawberry has been negligent and is the reason for your financial loss.

9.2. Strawberry will in accordance to general legal provisions be able to hold you accountable for misuse of membership or membership cards that violate these terms and conditions.

10.1. Strawberry has the right to transfer your membership agreement to another company that will continue to operate the members club.

11.1. In the event of disputes regarding the applicable membership terms and conditions, Norwegian law will apply.