I'm surprised that I did not find another thread on this topic.

I've been BW Diamond for several years ever since I discovered that the BW in the town where my company HQ is located provides excellent value - decent rooms at a good price. I stayed there 35-40 nights a year and stayed at other BW's in the USA 15-20 nights per year. At the other BW's I was always treated well and often received upgrades.

I saw that I did not receive points or stay credit for my January trip, so I applied for credit on the website. Here is the reply that I received:

We apologize for any misunderstanding, but according to Best Western Rewards policy, this stay was reserved at a third party booking rate that does not qualify for credit. As a one-time courtesy from our office we issued your account 500 points bringing your point balance to XX,XXX. Future third party bookings will receive no points. Due to the nature of this reservation, this stay will not count toward any promotion nor toward accumulated qualified nights stayed.

To be assured future credit on a qualified stay, you can book your reservation directly through www.bestwestern.com,by calling the hotel, or by calling our office at 1-800-528-1234. A complete list of non-qualified rates can be viewed by following the link below.

http://www.bestwestern.com/rewards/benefits/terms.asp

When I followed the link, I found this text in the terms and conditions:

All stays are eligible to earn points (“Eligible Stays”) with the exception of the following (NonEligibleStays”):
- Stays booked through online travel agencies (“OTAs”), such as priceline.com, expedia.com, travelocity.com, booking.com, kayak.com (i.e., channels other than Best Western branded booking channels);

I work for a large corporation, and their strict policy is that all trips are booked through the company's online travel agency, so I do not have the option to book through a BW-branded site.

I assume this policy change started on January 1, as all of the bookings I've done over the past several years were through my company's agency.

Oh well, more business for Holiday Inn and Hilton brands...