Best Western Fall 2011 2x or 3x points or miles Sep 12-Nov 20

Best Western has a convoluted fall 2011 promotion offering double points/miles or triple points/miles for some stays from September 12 and November 20, 2011. The bonus is confusing since it only applies to every second stay and has different earning limits depending on elite status and whether the member chooses to earn points or miles.

Fall Promotion Details

• Promotion registration is required prior to stays. Read the different promotion rules before choosing which version of this offer for registration.
• Earn double points for every second stay (20 points per US$1). (see earning limit rule below)
• Earn triple points for every second stay (30 points per US$1). (see earning limit rule below)
• Earning limit: Non-elite members may earn the bonus only two times on 2nd and 4th stays. Elite members may earn bonus only four times on 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th stays. (Miles version has no earning limit).
• Triple bonus points: Stays in two different types of the three Best Western types (Best Western, Best Western Plus, Best Western Premier) results in triple bonus points. The additional bonus points will be added after the promotion ends for members who meet the two different hotel types criteria.
• AAA/CAA members earn an additional 1,000 points bonus when qualifying for this promotion if registered using these promo code links: www.bestwestern.com/fallaaa or www.bestwestern.com/fallcaa.

Got all that fine print?

Best Western Rewards has made this promotion unnecessarily complicated for what is ultimately a relatively low value bonus.

Sample Bonus Points Earning showing why the order of your hotel stays matters.

Best Western Stay 1: September 19 – Best Western Park Crest Inn, Monterey California

• $120.89
• 1,200 base points
• No promotion bonus points

Best Western Stay 2: September 27 – 30 (3 nights) Best Western Plus Victorian Inn, Monterey California

• $143.20 x 3 = $429.60
• 4,290 base points
• 4,290 double points bonus (2nd stay)
• 4,290 triple points bonus (two types of Best Western hotels)
• 12,870 total points for second stay.
• 14,070 total points for these two hotel stays.

The main thing to remember for this promotion is the bonus is based on the money spent for only the 2nd, 4th, 6th or 8th hotel stays. You may want to plan out stays to be sure the high spend stays fall on these alternate stays.

Using the same two stays shown above, but in reverse with the three nights high spend stay first and the lower spend stay second will result in far fewer points.

• Stay 1 = $429 = 4,290 base points
• Stay 2 = $120 = 1,200 base points + 2,400 bonus points.
• Total Best Western Rewards points = 7,890 total points.
• Original stay pattern shown = 14,070 points for the same amount of hotel spend.
• Depending on which stay is second the total points earned changes by 6,180 points for the same hotel spend.

Bonus Miles promotion has an advantage and disadvantage

Members can register for double or triple miles with American Airlines or Aeroplan or Airmiles.

• American Airlines (250 base miles)
• Aeroplan (250 base miles)
• Air Miles (20 base miles)

The rules are basically the same when choosing to earn double miles on every second stay. Members earn triple miles if stays in two different types of Best Western hotels during the promotion period. The advantage of the miles bonus promotion is there is no limit to the number of times this bonus can be earned and the hotel spend per stay is not a factor. The number of miles earned is independent of hotel spend.

Double miles = 500 miles on the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th and so on … stays for AAdvantage or Aeroplan.

Triple miles = 750 miles.

Miles can be a better deal for someone with low spend stays.

• Stay 1 = $70 for 250 AAdvantage miles.
• Stay 2 = $60 for 500 or 750 AAdvantage miles.
• Double miles = 750 total miles. (Double points = 2,000 points)
• Triple miles = 1,000 total miles. (Triple points = 2,500 points)

Bottom line is this offer is rather complicated and not necessarily worth strategizing too much over unless you have a really high spend Best Western stay planned. There are bonus miles and points to be earned, and with hotel rewards typically in the 16,000 points range, this offer might get you a free night or two or a couple thousand bonus miles if you frequently stay at Best Western hotels.