Best Western Rewards - Are 10,000 BW Rewards points worth $60

The AMEX Daily Getaways promo has announced that, on May 7, you can buy 10,000 Best Western Rewards points for about $60 if you use an AMEX card for the purchase.

https://dailygetaways.ustravel.org/OfferDetails.aspx?pid=2c0a6484-8a99-4260-be7d-21e9fa447778

A lot of the mid-priced hotel chains (like Wyndham and Choice) have had good Daily Getaways point sales over the years. I think this is the first time they've sold BW points (in years past, BWI has generally participated with lousy high-priced promos like Dog Whisperer packages).

I'm not that familiar with the value of BW points, but my initial reaction is that 10,000 points for $60 is NOT a great deal. It doesn't seem like many properties participate at the 10,000 point level, with a lot of $100/night hotels wanting 20,000 points.

Am I missing something? Are there some unique destinations where you can get good value buying points in this promo? Or is it just another lousy BW promo?

2 $30 Grand Slam hits...

I'm not that familiar with the value of BW points, but my initial reaction is that 10,000 points for $60 is NOT a great deal. It doesn't seem like many properties participate at the 10,000 point level, with a lot of $100/night hotels wanting 20,000 points.I would agree.
Never knew much about BW program until last year.
Then, 6 stays in Oregon yielded about 16K balance
(even with a "generous" status match and some promo points).

That only covers a few hotels that would cost $60-80.
20K points starts to cover some $100 properties.
....so... no deal. :(

By and large, one has a fairly wide choice of rooms on the outskirts of major urban centers for 16,000 points.

So a pre-tax price of $96.00 should be a reasonable yardstick with which to measure value.

The sale price is 6/10th of a cent per point.

By and large, one has a fairly wide choice of rooms on the outskirts of major urban centers for 16,000 points.

So a pre-tax price of $96.00 should be a reasonable yardstick with which to measure value.

The sale price is 6/10th of a cent per point.

Yeah, unless there are some "special" redemptions (like Choice has some hotels in Europe that are illogically cheap to redeem) it doesn't seem like there's any real reason to buy these points. If you want to stay at a particular BW, just pay for the room. :)

not for me..

Just as a data point:

http://www.bestwesterndevelopers.com/membership/pdfs/2012%20Membership%20Fees-withTable%20FINAL.pdf
shows the hotels are paying $.0055/point ($55 for 10,000).

Whether it makes sense for you depends on the property(ies) you want to stay at as well as the dates. I've seen redemptions over $.01/point, but most aren't that high.

High value:
Friday Harbor, WA - 8/10/12 - 36,000 points - (higher summer weekend rate) $309.99 + $30.38 taxes and fees = $340.37 = $.0095/point
Scotts Valley, CA - King Junior Suite - 8/10/12 - 20,000 points - (higher summer weekend rate) - $219 + $23.40 = $242.40 = $.0121/point

Low value:
Gold Canyon, AZ - 8/10/12 - 24,000 points - (who wants to be in AZ in August rate) $89.99 + $6.62 = $92.61 = $.0039/point

If you had a hotel in mind in the next month maybe....otherwise I wouldn't think so.

2 $30 Grand Slam hits...

Surprised nobody has commented on this. Seems like a pretty reasonable hit. And in the hotel category, the loss of Hyatt as a US partner means we're down a ringer.

May be worthwhile if one needs the Grand Slam hit. The last time I spent $50 for 5K BW --> 1K US. $60 for 10K BW will now get you two hits worth, and with less hassle than the last time where one had to first set up a status match for elite status (necessary to buy points), then call BW customer service to buy the minimum transferable 5K points.

Like everyone else, my attraction was for the easy GS hits, especially since we are physically located in Australia and miss out on some hits which need you to be present in the USA. Oddly enough, mine have posted but my husband's haven't so not sure what to think there. It can't be alphabetical as we both have the same last name, purchase was made within 5 minutes of each other.

2 $30 Grand Slam hits...

+1 for the Grand Slam hit value. No real reason to get more than that...
My points have already posted to my account.

Surprised nobody has commented on this. Seems like a pretty reasonable hit. And in the hotel category, the loss of Hyatt as a US partner means we're down a ringer.

We all know about the GS hits. That's the reason why we purchased the miles.

I thought that I had missed out on these as I have been traveling, but was pleased to find they were still available today.


https://dailygetaways.ustravel.org/OffersList.aspx

Seems to be only one left. I can't select more than that.

Bought the 10k points for U.S Grandslam. I can't find any property I would like to stay for 8k points so useless unless I use for U.S .GS