Best Western Rewards - Best Western MasterCard

Hi all, anyone have this card ??? I think it's issued by Juniper Bank.

Thx.

Hi all, anyone have this card ??? I think it's issued by Juniper Bank.
Yes, I do, and indeed it's issued by Juniper. I got it get the bonus points with a balance transfer, so as to "top off" my BW points to where I could tranfser to airline miles (you can only do that in 500 point increments), as I now typically collect airline miles rather than points on the occasions when I actually stay at BW. I don't think I've actually made any purchases with it. :) (I always have another card that earns me something of higher value, and I no longer need to "top off" my BW account.) But since there's no annual fee, there's no problem keeping it around for unforeseen promos. :)

I got the BW card about 6 months ago so I'd have a no-fee MasterCard for various promos that show up (got a great rate at Budget that required MasterCard). So far I've been impressed with Juniper's customer service -- just emailed a request to lower my line of credit and they responded, accurately & completely, within 12 hours.

I got it, as well. Beware the fees for transfering balances.

My frustration was that I got it to book a free room in Riga, Latvia. About the time I had the points together, BW quit offerering free nights there for the rest of the year :mad: .

Now I've got to figure out if the certificates they've sent me can be redeposited, or if I need to use them before the expiry date. If not, I've wasted time & points...

JP

This is a slightly different situation -- but I wasn't able to use the free nite certificate (rec'd when I applied for the MC) before it expired. I called BW to see if I could redeposit it and they said there's an automatic extension of 90 days beyond the expiration date. Of course...I can't find that info in writing anywhere...but I plan to try to use it later this month.

how soon does the free nite certificate arrive after application? Do you have to use the card or just activate?

How do you go about booking the room?

Thanks!
This is a slightly different situation -- but I wasn't able to use the free nite certificate (rec'd when I applied for the MC) before it expired. I called BW to see if I could redeposit it and they said there's an automatic extension of 90 days beyond the expiration date. Of course...I can't find that info in writing anywhere...but I plan to try to use it later this month.

If I remember correctly, the award cert showed up within about a week after my first statement (w/a single transaction).

You must make the award resv by phone (800 WESTERN) but you can check hotels' point requirements on the web by geographic area. It seems many hotels do change their point requirements for an award nite based on the season...but the web site prompts you for the month you'll be staying.

We used the free nite just last week and had no major problems. The front desk person did say it was the first one he had ever seen! And then we got a call the next morning telling us it was expired...but when I mentioned the 90-day extension it was ok. When we made the resv by phone I was told only a standard room (2 dbls) was avail for award nites, but the hotel upgraded us to a very nice, large room with 2 Queens.

I just got the cert and it's for a 1200-point stay. I want to use it at the BW BWI this fall, which is a 2000-point stay. I have 834 points in my GCI account. Can I augment the cert's value with points from my account to get to 2000?

P.S. Beware the balance transfer fee on this card indeed. Zero percent for six months sounds like a good deal until you see the first month's statement. Not sure I'll keep this card if there are any more surprises like that.

I also needed add'l points and found you can get "Level Adjustment Vouchers" for 400 points each to add to your award certificate.

When I made the resv to use the award cert, the phone agent told me to just have the hotel redeem the add'l points directly from my account when I checked in (rather than using paper certs). It worked out very well 'cause the hotel didn't want the add'l points -- they were happy w/the original 1200 point cert.

Excellent guidance! Thank you!