Best Western Rewards is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a global flash sale promotion available for bookings made today only. In a twist on flash sales, this offer is not a hotel rate discount, but instead a hotel loyalty promotion of 6,500 bonus points for each hotel booking made today for stays completed by October 31, 2013.
Terms & Conditions
BWR members who
(i) reside in a participating country†; (LT Note: this is a global offer. The full list of participating countries are at the end of this post.)
(ii) register between 9:00 a.m. Mountain Standard Time (“MST”) and 5:00 p.m. MST on September 12, 2013, using the following link: bestwestern.com/blast091213.
LT Note: These registration hours are the same as 9:00am to 5:00pm PDT time, the time currently in effect in California for today, Sep 12.
(iii) book a qualifying stay* by 11:59:59 p.m. MST on September 12, 2013, on bestwestern.com**; bookings made on the Best Western mobile website or application will also be eligible for the bonus points offer.
LT Note: Again this is the same time as 11:59:59 pm in Los Angeles today, Sep 12. Since this is a global offer you can check the time for Los Angeles to see when the booking period expires in your location.
and
(iv) complete the qualifying stay by October 31, 2013, will receive 6,500 BWR bonus points, enough to redeem for a $25 gift card at bestwesternrewards.com.
Enrollment in BWR is free. To enroll, visit bestwesternrewards.com.
Multiple bonuses may be earned under this promotion so long as each qualifying stay meets all of the terms and conditions.
BWR 25th Anniversary Promotion link.
Loyalty Traveler Promotion Analysis
6,500 points are equivalent to base points earned after $650 in hotel spend at Best Western. That is a great bonus on what might only be a $60 hotel night.
Unfortunately, 6,500 bonus points is not sufficient for a free hotel night. Hotel reward nights start at 8,000 points, then climb at 4,000 point increments to 12,000 points and up to 36,000 points per night.
Best Western Rewards Hotel Categories
- 8,000 points
- 12,000 points
- 16,000 points
- 20,000 points
- 24,000 points
- 28,000 points
- 32,000 points
- 36,000 points
Global Free Night Room Vouchers
The Global Free Room Night award allows you to enjoy a free room night at any Best Western hotel in Asia, Australia, Europe, Central America, North America and South America. There are eight point-redemption levels, starting as low as 8,000 points, so you will be sure to find a hotel in the point-category youre looking for. Also available is the 4,000-point level adjustment voucher, which can be used with an existing Global Free Room Night Voucher when you desire to change to a higher point level. Advanced hotel reservations are required to ensure availability, so please call one of our worldwide reservations offices to book your room for the Global Free Night award.
One of the major flaws in Best Western Rewards is the inability to see a list of hotels in each reward category. Consumers must check by city.
In my area of San Francisco and Monterey, the lowest priced hotels are 16,000 points with most hotels in the 20,000 to 36,000 range. A place like Boise, Idaho or Jackson, Mississippi has hotels at 12,000 points.
I don’t know where any 8,000 point hotels are located. I was unable to locate a hotel reward night for 8,000 points after several searches. 9/12 Update: I found the Best Western Greenville Airport Inn, Greenville, South Carolina is 8,000 points for a free night or $63 AAA rate for Sep 19.
Deal or No Deal?
6,500 bonus points are worth a minimum $25 in gift card value with this offer.
Assume 2 one-night stays at $75 room rate. You earn 750 base points and 6,500 bonus points for each night with this 25th anniversary bonus offer.
- 2 stays = $150 = 14,500 points in Best Western Rewards.
- 3 stays = $225 = 21,750 points. Elite bonus points are additional, if applicable.
Three or more stays with this bonus offer will provide sufficient points for a free night at a large range of hotels in the 20,000 points tier.
This is a promotion that could be worth booking speculatively for hotel reservations you can cancel without penalty.
I think this is a good value offer if you can get three to five bonuses for hotel stays booked today.
Best Western Rewards Status Match – No Catch
Another thing to remember is Best Western Rewards offers elite status match for elite members of other hotel loyalty programs. It is possible to match to BWR Diamond elite with high elite in a program like SPG, IHG, Hyatt, Marriott or Hilton.
Best Western has over 2,000 hotels outside the USA. Paris and London are mostly in the 32,000 and 36,000 range. New York City has several hotels at 36,000 points and one hotel, Best Western Plus President Hotel at Times Square for 28,000 points.
I once stayed in a Best Western in Paris in the Latin Quarter and it was a wonderful location at a low price. But for me, Best Western is more of a rural location hotel chain. The Best Western hotel brand rules for proximity to U.S. National Parks.
This is a great deal if you already planned on a Best Western stay and you can cancel your existing reservation and make a new one to qualify for bonus points.
This is a good value if you can change your existing reservations with another chain during the promotion period and make a comparable hotel reservation at Best Western to earn these bonus points.
The flash sale nature of this promotion makes it harder to plan Best Western stays if this is not already a hotel brand you frequent. I have loads of travel planned before October 31, 2013, however my tentative plans may now be taking me to Ireland in mid-October rather than Yellowstone National Park.
I see there are several Best Western hotels in Dublin.
I have the next 15 hours to plan out some hotel stays with Best Western. I currently have over 36,000 points in the program and another 20,000 to 30,000 points would be a nice reserve for those times I find myself seeing a Best Western as the best hotel option for miles around. That has happened frequently the past couple of years.
†”Participating countries” include: Afghanistan, Albania, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla – St. Kitts, Antarctica, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Bermuda, Botswana, Bouvet Island, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Chad, Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, Comoros Island, Congo, Cook Islands, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands/Malvinas, Faroe Islands, Fiji Islands, former USSR, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Heard and McDonald Islands, Iceland, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Marshall Island, Mauritania, Mayotte, Micronesia, Montserrat, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Netherlands Antilles, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palestine, Panama, Pitcairn Island, Puerto Rico, Republic of Palau, Rwanda, S. Georgia and S. Sandwich Islands, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis Anguilla, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome Principe, Senegal, Seychelles Islands, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, St. Pierre Miquelon, St. Vincent Grenadines, Sudan, Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, USA Minor Outlying Islands, Uganda, United States, Vanuatu, Virgin Islands, Wallis Futuna Islands, West Indies, Western Sahara, Western Samoa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, East Timor, Hong Kong, India, Indian Ocean Islands, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kuwait, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen, Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Ric Garrido, writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. Check out my page of collated current hotel promotions.
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