Originally Posted by
jm1991
Most hotels don't allow the use of gift cards while reserving online so I don't see your point. Retailers and airlines charge for the stuff right away while hotels charge at time of check in for most reservations . Taking funds out of a gift card may cause too many problems if you decided to cancel your reservation. Some laws may apply regarding cashing git cards. Say you used a $50 and wanted to liquidate it you could make a reservation, apply gift card, cancel later and demand the 50 to be refunded to your credit card.
Although you see it as an inconvenience of applying the card at time of check in or check out, it would be a bigger headache trying to get your money back in case you need to cancel.
I don't consider being forced to pay a higher rate in order to use a form of payment issued
by the hotel to be an "inconvenience." I consider it a rip-off.
It would be quite easy, logistically-speaking, to handle a canceled reservation made using a Best Western gift card. BW would simply refund the gift card portion of the payment in the form of an electronic voucher (which is what most travel companies use here in the 21st century). Thus, no one could launder a gift card into a credit card refund as you suggest.
The technology exists and is in use by most modern companies. As I said, the fact that Best Western doesn't offer this is either due to an unwillingness to invest in the necessary e-commerce upgrades, or a deliberate attempt to milk their loyalty program customers for even more money by forcing them to pay a higher rate.