Originally Posted by
sdsearch
I think you're noticing this at Best Western not because its payment system is so different from other hotels, but simply because you probably don't have gift cards from most other hotels the way you do from Best Western, because no other hotel program I can think structures one or two of its "main" promos a year strictly as "stay N times, get a hotel gift card valued at $XX" with no other choices of what you get for those N stays.
Perhaps the reason other hotels don't do that is because they have decided that misleading their customers isn't in their best interest.
At any rate, I was able to redeem my BW Gift Card for an advance purchase rate simply by calling the hotel in question and asking if they wouldn't mind overriding their parent organization's policies. To my surprise, they said it would be no problem. Thus, I made the reservation at the cheaper advance purchase rate, and the location did not charge me until arrival, at which time I paid using a combination of the gift card and my credit card.
I consider this a positive outcome. That said, my days of collecting BW points are over.