Best Western Rewards - Who has the most points?

Hi,

I am just curious who has racked up some MONSTER point numbers? Also do most of you redeem your pts right away, or do you prefer to let them build up? From what I can see there is no real benefit to letting them add up, but I prefer to do so anyway because I want to save them until I need them.

I am only a traveler for pleasure for the most part so I am sure I do not travel like some of you do, but currently I have 32,450 BW rewards points.

What is your number, and what is your savings preference?

I just cashs them out for southwest credits as I need them.

I spend them. I have 0 now.

33020 and haven't redeemed so far.

Considering, that most of the big city hotels require 32000 points for a night, it is not easy to "spend right away".

We now have 48000 - enough for two rooms in SD on New Years Eve. (When the prices are skyrocketing.)

Otherwise we always spend when we reach 24k. I am somehow concerned, that they might change to redeeming rules, if I wait too much. (See airline programs.)

Considering, that most of the big city hotels require 32000 points for a night, it is not easy to "spend right away".

We now have 48000 - enough for two rooms in SD on New Years Eve. (When the prices are skyrocketing.)

Otherwise we always spend when we reach 24k. I am somehow concerned, that they might change to redeeming rules, if I wait too much. (See airline programs.)

That's a good point you make. It is funny that they do not give any incentive for saving the pts. I suppose that makes sense on their end though.

I am going to try and hit 250,000 pts before I redeem them, I feel like when you work that hard to earn them, it has more fulfillment when you can trade them in for an amazing experience like a 12 day vacation to your favorite destination.

As a diamond member is that about what you bring in a yr? 48,000 pts.

As a diamond member is that about what you bring in a yr? 48,000 pts.

We already redeemed other 48,000 for two nights this year.

We usually have 60-80k with different kind of "double-triple points" actions.
This year we visited some excellent BW hotels in Europe, that is why we earned around 100k.

Actually to get the diamond level, you only need 30 nights. It can be done with $60-80/night. Even with the bonus it is only 30k.

We already redeemed other 48,000 for two nights this year.

We usually have 60-80k with different kind of "double-triple points" actions.
This year we visited some excellent BW hotels in Europe, that is why we earned around 100k.

Actually to get the diamond level, you only need 30 nights. It can be done with $60-80/night. Even with the bonus it is only 30k.




Interesting. I was looking at the BW properties in Italy and they do look very nice. Can I ask you also as a diamond member does that help you in anyway beyond the bonus? For example I am platinum, and I am trying to get into the Best Western Monterrey, CA beach resort hotel in november, but it shows all booked on the websight. I called BW customer service to see if my platinum status could get me in but they told me it was simply all booked.

Does diamond get you any extra perks in that way?

Thanks,

Stephan

The only thing I have found hilton has given me as a diamond that I didn't get at any other status level is the 30% point bonus which isn't much comparted to what hilton gives in bonuses and seeing BW won't let you double dip. if you go for airline miles you basically have no other benefit. The only benefit I saw was this summers promo where you got a free night for ever two stays and it was limited at one for regular memberrs and you were able to get two nights if you were premium which I think included gold and platniums as well. You are also suppose to get upgrades but I was told at the only north america BW I stay at anymore that my status doesn't matter and I will get upgraded provided they have the inventory regardless of if I am blue or diamond.

For a sold out property BW doesn't offer that benefit. You could try calling the property and seeing if they will put you on a waiting list. The BW I stay at you have to book directly with them on special event weekends, you can't book on the BW site. I have that benefit with Hilton as a diamond with the diamond force and I think some other chains offer a similar benefit. I have to call out 48 hours before and they will get me in a property unless it is considered a high demand weekend (like if you are trying to stay in the host city of the superbowl that weekend) but I know someone that was able to use that benefit during the inaugeration in DC. Catch is you are going to be stuck paying rack rates if the hotel is sold out but if you really need to stay there it is worth it. I just use points those weekends. Even if the inventory of the free room types is not available I have always been able to get the diamond force at hilton to let me use points and certificates, I am staying 4 nights at the time square doubletree thanks to the diamond desk at hilton on points and certs. I priced the stay on hilton and it would be over $7K, so that is deifnitely a great benefit.

IMO the BW program is one of the worst out there.




Interesting. I was looking at the BW properties in Italy and they do look very nice. Can I ask you also as a diamond member does that help you in anyway beyond the bonus? For example I am platinum, and I am trying to get into the Best Western Monterrey, CA beach resort hotel in november, but it shows all booked on the websight. I called BW customer service to see if my platinum status could get me in but they told me it was simply all booked.

Does diamond get you any extra perks in that way?

Thanks,

Stephan

Well, I had close to 90k at the start of July, but most of that was transferred in from Diners Club, because I thought I needed 80k for a 5-night stay (somewhere where BW is the only points option at all), though I ended up not staying the 5th night, so only used 64k. (I realized I needed that many points relatively suddenly, compared to the speed of earning, so transferring in was the only easy solution. Luckily I'd been hoarding my Diners Club points for several years, waiting for a good use for them...)

Right now I'm just above 40k. I thought I would need to redeem 20k for a hotel last month, but then I realized I could just use one of my free night vouchers, and so I saved that 20k. (I have another voucher left, though not sure if I'll use it in a case where I would have used BW points, this other voucher I'll probably just use in a case where I would have used another hotel's program's points if I didn't have a BW voucher.)

Can I ask you also as a diamond member does that help you in anyway beyond the bonus? For example I am platinum, and I am trying to get into the Best Western Monterrey, CA beach resort hotel in november, but it shows all booked on the websight. I called BW customer service to see if my platinum status could get me in but they told me it was simply all booked.

Does diamond get you any extra perks in that way?


If you check back some older threads, you will see that we (almost) all share the same experience: perks are based on your loyalty to individual hotels, and not on your BW general status. With my husband we have been frequent visitors of 5 BW hotels in the last decade. In three of them we always get the best rooms, even without requesting them. In two of them there are no real difference between rooms, so there we always get the room with our desired location.
On the other hand, when we visit new BW properties, nobody interested in our status.

I would say: do not choose BW for its loyalty program. Choose it because of the affordable price, free breakfast (in Europe those breakfast could be royal), free internet, free or very cheap parking fee etc.

We stay in BW, when we only want a small, clean room where we can crash for the night. In 'inn category' for us BW seems to be the best.
For example:
- in far away from civilization places
- in big US cities when we visit some big event (sport, convention, etc.), and the room prices in the 'full service' hotels skyrocket
- in big European, Asian cities, where the 'full service' hotels are extremely overpriced

For business travel, where the full service is required, I prefer Radisson - with very generous loyalty program. For my guests we prefer Marriott - again nice loyalty program.

For leisure travel, I generally stay at Best Western, especially in Europe since it usually is the only affordable rates that can be found. The reward program isn't great, and the promos aren't great, but the quality is pretty consistent (I've never had a horribly bad BW stay yet).

I don't have any say where I stay for corporate travel most of the time, so its generally moot. I may switch from BW to Hilton though depending on my travel habits; Hilton has some cheap properties in Asia ...

I don't have any say where I stay for corporate travel most of the time, so its generally moot. I may switch from BW to Hilton though depending on my travel habits; Hilton has some cheap properties in Asia ...

Hiltons loyalty program is a LOT better than BW's. And with the exception of Hampton, I prefer their properties usually over BW and the promos are great. The thing I really like about Hilton is the double dipping and I think they are are great with the promos. Right now I am enrolled in 3 promos with them. One is for double points this quarter (and if you have a sunday night stay included in that stay, you will get quadruple points for the stay), 1000 delta miles per stay (and 500 of those are MQM's which is REALLY nice seeing Delta rolls over miles now) and for every ten nights stayed I get a voucher good for a free nights stay. I know people complain about Hiltons program, but it is a LOT better than BW's.