Rate Best Western Rewards
 

We are going to review Best Western Rewards in the February issue of InsideFlyer magazine and would like your input.

If you would like to participate, please post your response in the thread with the pros and cons of membership in Best Western Rewards and grade the program from A to F (A being the highest grade). You can include a plus or minus with the rating.

You can also respond directly to me at [email protected].
Thank you!

Well,

I am actually a big fan of the BWR program overall. They give many opportunities to earn bonus points outside of mere hotel stays, such as:

Buying flowers
rental cars
buying wine
tasking surveys
even an online poker game where points are completely free

I think the stay 2 nights and get a night free was one of th best promos this yr, and it got me hooked to go for diamond elite status.

Also, the status match is great, the other thing I like is obviously they have a property pretty much everywhere that you go which is great.

I would like to see a little extra reward besides just the bonus points for reaching platinukm & diamond elite & I would also love to see some type of a lifetime loyalty award given , but all in all I put them right up there with Starwood as far as the rewards structure itself.

I'd give it a C or a C-

Reasons:
- Non-existent upgrades even for Diamond members
- I never get my free bottled water or points upon check-in or any recognition of my status, even when I call attention to it by saying "Is my BW number on file?"
- Crappy points to miles conversation numbers
- Hard to find 8,000 point redemption locations.
- Slow as hell to post points, especially for promotions (still waiting on points from some November promotion).

Pros:
At least Best Westerns are seemingly everywhere and they're usually decent to stay at. Still, I guess I was a little more excited when I became a BW Diamond this year.

My grade for BW is b plus=)

Also,

On the water and snacks all you have to do is ask for it and they have the option to give the points or the snack. I find that a lot of hotels have not decided what to give as a snack so they only offer you the points.

Also BW customer service can be called after the fact and will automatically add the points.

It is true there are basically zero BW's for really under 12K pts so that stinks, but all the chains are that way with their lowest redemption level. The conversion to the airmiles does stink but other than that BW is great!!=)

I would give the program a C minus at the best.

the ONLY benefit you achieve as an elite with BW is bonus points, and since you can't double dip like with hilton, if you preference is set at miles instead you receive no added benefits.

The only positive I can see with the program is they seem to have a lot of promos. The promo this summer where you got a free night with two paid stays was GREAT and the past couple years there have been some good promos with gift cards to earn southwest credits or other airline miles. BW also has numerous hotels in other countries but that isn't really a benefit of the program.

While Hilton has it's shortcomings like any other loaylty program with hilton as a diamond I get 50% bonus points on any stay (only 30% with best western PLUS I get airline miles as welel and the 500 MQM delta miles offer was helpfuly this month), I get access to the lounge if there is one and IO don't get upgraded to that level and free breakfast at any hotel, a priority check in line in some hotels (the vip lounge for checking at LAS is a real time saver), upgrades if available (BW doesn't do upgrades based on status), free internet at any hilton property ahd real big benefit is the diamond force where I can get a room at any hilton property with a few days notice.

Best Western Rewards®: ^ A+, all pros, and no cons

My travel pattern brings me to some really odd places.

The main benefit of this programme for me is that there are properties more or less everywhere - this means you can find a property in cities where eveything is $400+ per night for one quarter of this - and still stay somewhere clean and still earn some points.

In most other respects, the programme resembles a cadaver.

I've become a serious road warrior and the most important factor effecting where I stay is the frequent traveler loyalty program. I monitor all hotel promotions very closely. Although there is a very nice Best Western in the area where I travel, their promotions have not beaten the competition at any time during the past year. This year I've spent 165 nights at Hiltons, 105 nights at Marriotts, 45 nights at Hyatts and 22 nights at the Holiday Inn Group (Priority Club). Also, I've taken advantage of promotions for a few nights at Country Inns/Radisson (Goldpoints Plus) and Choice Privileges, but never wanted to take advantage of any of the Best Western (Gold Crown Club) promotions. I had one stay at a Best Western in the past year just to see how nice the hotel was and it was a very nice well appointed newly decorated comfortable place with a good free breakfast. Even though I had gotten a status match and I was traveling as a Diamond member, I was disappointed that I didn't get any special recognition whatsoever. This is not unusual. I was not treated well when I started staying at Hyatts either, but the staff at Marriott, Hiltons and IGH group hotels really go out of their way for high status customers. When you're spoiled by the big name hotel chains, it's a little disappointing to go someplace that treats you like anybody else even when you're listed in their highest elite traveler status. Thus, my rating is D mainly because the website works OK. Although it doesn't keep track of the promotions you're signed up for very well, at least they try to do so which is not the case for some of the other hotel rewards programs.

You got a rating in that long paragraph alxir or is that just a breakdown of what a dynamite hotel guy you are? :rolleyes:

Don't even bother giving feedback here.
We posted pages of + and mostly - for AF/KL FB and their review didn't reflect this at all. Very disappointing. Don't waste your time with this.

no points on best western rewards mastercard spend less than $10
 

unlike all other hotel reward programs, charges to best western mastercard for dollar amounts less than ten dollars do not get rewards points. best western never discloses this anywhere

Which Mastercard is that? :confused: The one from Barclay that just stopped working a week ago, or the one from First Bank that just took it over a week ago?

Ie, any reviews of the Barclay BW MC are pointless by now, because it's dead. And I'm not sure how you could yet know, given that it's only been active a few days, how the First Bank BW MC treats small dollar amounts. :confused: