Best Western hotels Best Western Rewards San Francisco

Why I booked a hotel room I don’t plan to sleep in

a screenshot of a hotel
Best Western Cartwright Hotel is priced at $530 per night for Flexible cancellation AAA rate.

Today I booked a hotel on an advance purchase rate for 34.50 EUR for an April date where I already have a different hotel stay booked for the city I will be visiting in Europe. I don’t plan to sleep in the hotel room I booked today. My plan is to spend an hour to take a metro to a station near the hotel, check-in, photograph the room and property and take the metro back to the hotel I will be sleeping in for the night.

Best Western Rewards is currently running a promotion through April 14, 2019 for a free night after two stays. I have one Best Western hotel stay booked in California this month, but I had no plans or need for a second stay before the Best Western Rewards promotion ends.

Loyalty Traveler - Best Western free night after two stays Feb 4-April 14, 2019.

My basic reasoning is spending €34.50/$39.00 on a hotel room and taking 60 to 90 minutes to stop by the hotel, check-in and leave is a reasonable price to pay to earn a free hotel night in California.

The Best Western free night certificate is only valid for 60 days after issuance, so I will need to redeem it by mid-June. San Francisco is my default plan for a free night.

Room rates are insane for some nights in San Francisco. Best Western Cartwright Hotel-Union Square is a funky old hotel in the center of the city. This Best Western Premier Collection Hotel is generally priced at 36,000 points per reward night.

a screenshot of a website

A free night at Best Western Premier Collection The Cartwright Hotel – Union Square is the kind of deal that allows me to visit San Francisco overnight without breaking the bank account.

The lowest priced room for Monday June 10, 2019 at Best Western The Cartwright Hotel – Union Square is $521.10 on a prepaid nonrefundable rate.

a screenshot of a hotel
Best Western Cartwright Hotel is priced at $530 per night for Flexible cancellation AAA rate.
a screenshot of a hotel
Best Western Cartwright Hotel $617 after tax on $530 AAA room rate June 10, 2019.

Paying $39 today for a second Best Western hotel stay for a room night I don’t need during the Best Western Rewards ‘Two Stays earns a Free Night’ promotion seems like a good deal. That free night can place me overnight in a downtown San Francisco hotel room priced over $600 per night.

Loyalty Traveler - The Cartwright Hotel Union Square San Francisco 10K points reward night review Nov 27, 2017.

Best Western Rewards has run a 10,000 points per reward night for any hotel in USA, Canada and Caribbean for the past two years Nov-Jan.

Best Western USA-Canada weekday 10K rewards Nov 15-Jan 15 (Nov 1, 2018).

Best Western North America 10,000 points reward nights Nov 1, 2017 to Jan 31, 2018. (Nov 13, 2017).

 

 

9 Comments

  • bluecat March 14, 2019

    I just changed my IHG stays for end of March to Best Western stays, thanks to this post. I hope to get 2 free nights, maybe even at the hotel you mentioned. How can I buy you some beers?

  • Jim March 14, 2019

    Fantastic!!!!

  • Onyx March 14, 2019

    Posts like this are why I love this blog. I like the mainstream BoardingArea blogs too, but you won’t get this kind of information there. Thanks Ric and safe travels!

  • Carl P March 14, 2019

    bluecat – I think the promo allows for one free night only

  • Rupert March 14, 2019

    Good plan, good post!
    Although I wouldn’t call the Cartwright SF a “funky old hotel” – yes, old building, and, yes funky, but renovated and I thought very nice for a.BW!
    I stayed there with the 10k / night promotion and would stay there again …

  • Ric Garrido March 15, 2019

    I like the Cartwright. The place has character. Funky old is not meant to be a bad connotation when I speak of San Francisco. Funky old is a reminder of the 1920s house my grandmother lived in and where my father was raised in San Francisco.

  • Bluecat March 15, 2019

    @carl p: 2 player mode

  • Ric Garrido March 15, 2019

    @bluecat – I’ll set up a GoFundMe beers account 🙂

  • TravelJunkie March 20, 2019

    Thank you so much for sharing this, I had no idea it was so easy to earn free night stays in California, I am definitely getting my free stay quite soon!

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