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10 Best Ways To Earn Lots of Best Western Rewards Points [2024]

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Stephen Au
Stephen Au's image

Stephen Au

Former Senior Content Contributor

483 Published Articles

Countries Visited: 24U.S. States Visited: 22

Stephen is an established voice in the credit card space, with over 70 to his name. His work has been in publications like The Washington Post, and his Au Points and Awards Consulting Services is used...
Edited by: Keri Stooksbury
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Keri Stooksbury

Editor-in-Chief

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Countries Visited: 50U.S. States Visited: 28

With years of experience in corporate marketing and as the executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Qatar, Keri is now editor-in-chief at UP, overseeing daily content operations and r...

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Best Western is a privately-held American hospitality franchise best known for its 4,500+ hotels around the world. Centrally headquartered in Phoenix, this chain of hotels is heavily concentrated within the U.S. — in fact, more than 2,000 of its hotels are in North America.

Best Western’s bread and butter is the affordable segment of the hotel business. Its consistency and quality of properties, especially outside of the U.S., has garnered the love of many travelers on a shoestring budget.

In this guide, we’ll be investigating Best Western’s loyalty program: Best Western Rewards. Specifically, we’ll be analyzing the accrual side of Best Western Rewards and we’ll provide you with a comprehensive guide on the best ways to earn lots of Best Western Rewards points.

Let’s begin!

Start by Joining Best Western Rewards

Without a doubt, the easiest way to earn tons of Best Western Rewards points quickly is through credit card spending. The first step you’ll want to take is to sign up for the Best Western Rewards loyalty program.

To earn Best Western Rewards points, you first need to have a Best Western Rewards account. In addition to gaining access to points-earning opportunities, you’ll also get the chance to earn points with special, member-exclusive offers.

After you earn Best Western points, you can redeem them for free nights, gift cards, merchandise, and even charity donations. You can even transfer your Best Western Rewards points to airline mileage programs, although the transfer ratios are quite poor.

Earning Points With Best Western Rewards Credit Cards

1. Best Western Rewards Card Welcome Bonus Points

Best Western Rewards Credit Cards
There are 2 main U.S. co-branded Best Western credit cards. Image Credit: Best Western

While the Hilton Honors credit cards and Marriott Bonvoy credit cards get most of the press, you can actually find Best Western Rewards credit cards in the U.S.

Just like most other credit cards, Best Western Rewards credit cards usually come with a welcome bonus. You can choose between these 2 cards issued by First National Bank of Omaha:

  1. Best Western Rewards® Premium Mastercard®
    • A welcome bonus of 80,000 Best Western Rewards points when you spend $3,000 in the first 3 billing cycles after the account is opened
    • Automatic Best Western Rewards Platinum elite status
    • Earn 40,000 points when you spend at least $5,000 during each 12 billing cycle period
    • Earn 20 points per $1 on Best Western stays (10 points as a Best Western Rewards member and 10 points for using your Best Western Rewards Premium card)
    • Earn 2 points per $1 everywhere else
    • Exclusive member room rates
    • $89 annual fee
    • No foreign transaction fees
  2. Best Western Rewards® Mastercard®
    • A welcome bonus of 40,000 points when you spend $1,000 in the first 3 billing cycles after the account is opened
    • Earn 20,000 points when you spend at least $5,000 during each 12 billing cycle period
    • Automatic Best Western Rewards Gold elite status
    • Earn 13 points per $1 on Best Western stays (10 points as a Best Western Rewards member and 3 points for using your Best Western Rewards card)
    • Earn 2 points per $1 everywhere else
    • Exclusive member room rates
    • $0 annual fee
    • No foreign transaction fees

The key difference is the welcome bonus. With the $89 annual fee version, you’ll earn 80,000 Best Western Rewards points, compared to the 40,000 points from the no-annual-fee card.

Unlike some other hotel credit cards, the Best Western Rewards credit cards will not award extra points for spending on dining, travel, and other bonus categories. Instead, you can only earn bonus points on Best Western stays.

While Best Western Rewards points aren’t included in our travel points and miles valuations, you’ll find the value to be around 0.5 to 0.6 cents per point.

2. Best Western Hotel Stays

BWH Hotel Group
Best Western has several different hotel brands under its umbrella. Image Credit: Best Western

In addition to credit card spending, you’ll also find that Best Western Rewards members will earn points on eligible hotel stays.

Base members will earn 10 Best Western Rewards points per $1 spent on eligible stays. This includes VAT in certain areas outside the U.S. but excludes amounts paid for non-VAT tax and incidentals.

Eligible stays do not include:

  • Stays booked through OTAs (online travel agencies) such as Priceline, Expedia, Travelocity, Booking.com, Kayak, etc. (i.e., channels other than Best Western-branded booking channels)
  • Stays booked through tour operators
  • Stays booked at special discounted rates, such as employee rates, FIT/wholesale/net rates, motorcoach/bus rates, crew rates, BWR free night awards rates (FX rates), or discounted rates for stays longer than 30 nights

Additionally, you can earn points for up to 3 rooms per stay provided that these conditions are met:

  • 1 room is occupied by you
  • All the rooms are paid by you
  • Points for that room haven’t been issued to another member
  • You presented your Best Western Rewards membership number at the time of booking or at check-in

Hot Tip: Best Western Rewards points can be redeemed at lots of different brands, including Best Western Plus.

3. Best Western Rewards Elite Status Bonuses

Best Western Elite Status cards
Image Credit: Best Western

Best Western Rewards awards more points on hotel stays depending on what elite status tier you fall under. Check out the table below to get an idea of how many more points you’d earn per $1 spent.

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Best Western Rewards Status Level

Accrual Rate

Qualification Criteria

Blue

10 points per $1 (0% bonus)

Gold

11 points per $1 (10% bonus)

5 nights

Platinum

11.5 points per $1 (15% bonus)

7 nights

Diamond

13 points per $1 (30% bonus)

15 nights

Diamond Select

15 points per $1 (50% bonus)

25 nights

When you put all this information together, you’ll find that by putting your Best Western stays on your Best Western Rewards Premium card and being a Best Western Diamond Select member, it’s possible to earn up to 25 points per $1 on Best Western Hotel spending, which is equivalent to a 12.5% to 15% return on spend, depending on how you value Best Western Rewards points.

Remember that Best Western Rewards points never expire, which is a great plus.

If you’ve got elite status with another hotel brand, check to see if you’re eligible for a status match or challenge.

Hot Tip: Find out more about all the major points expiration policies for airlines and hotels in our guide!

4. Best Western “Earn Bonus Points”

Best Western has a separate section of its website called Earn Bonus Points. This page is dedicated to displaying select hotels that qualify for double, triple, or even quadruple points earnings.

Typically, these are one-off hotels in small cities in the U.S. However, there are frequent offers in small European cities as well. The bonus points you earn are only on top of the hotel stay’s accrual. It will not multiply your Best Western credit card earnings.

For example, if you are a Best Western Platinum member and book a 1-night, triple-points hotel stay with a room rate of $150 and a total price of $200 using your Best Western Rewards Premium card — you’ll earn 34.5 points per $1 from the triple points, plus 10 points per $1 from the credit card spend. As a result, you’ll end up with 44.5 points per $1 which is worth a fantastic 22.5-26.7% return on spend.

If you take this to the complete extreme, you can earn a maximum of 70 points per $1 if you find a quadruple-points hotel and you book the stay as a Best Western Rewards Diamond Select using your Best Western Rewards Premium card. These 70 points per $1 can translate into anywhere from a magical 35% to 42% return on spend.

5. Best Western Green Housekeeping Program

If you’re staying at a Best Western property, you can opt out of housekeeping services during your eligible stay to receive 500 points per night. There’s a 2-night minimum stay requirement and the offer doesn’t apply to the day of checkout.

To participate in this, you can follow these steps:

  1. Inform the front desk upon check-in that you wish to opt-out of housekeeping service OR you can place the door hanger located in your room outside of your door.
  2. You’ll receive 500 Best Western Rewards points for each day you opt-out of housekeeping.

One caveat, according to Best Western Rewards, is that “[i]f the hotel has an on-site restaurant, you may receive an equivalent in food and beverage credit.”

6. Best Western Rewards Special Offers

This particular section of the Best Western Rewards page can only be viewed after logging into your account. To find this page, click on the top-right profile icon of the Best Western page after logging in. Then, click on Special Offers.

You can scroll down and find the area titled Special Offers, which might look something like this:

Best Western Special Offers
Image Credit: Best Western

As you can see, there are several different offers, ranging from bonus points to discounts and even gift card promotions. This can be a great way to earn bonus points for eligible activity.

Best Western Rewards Travel Partners

Best Western Rewards has tons of partnerships, including most major airlines. However, you can’t earn Best Western Rewards points directly by flying on these airlines. So, let’s talk about its most useful set of partners for earning Best Western points: car rental partners.

7. Car Rental Partners

Person driving an Audi
Earn Best Western Rewards points from car rentals! Image credit: Andraz Lazic via Unsplash

If you’re going to be doing any sort of travel, be it domestic or international, you might have car rentals as a part of your travel plan. If you intend on renting a car and you’d like to earn Best Western Rewards points, check out the following table to see where you can earn.

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Car Rental Partner

Points Earning Structure

Car Rental Partner

Points Earning Structure

Alamo

3 points per $1

National

3 points per $1 + up to 25% off

Avis

1,000 points per rental + up to 25% off

Sixt

1,000 points per rental + up to 15% off

Budget

1,000 points per rental + up to 25% off

Sixt Limousine Service

2,000 points per rental

Enterprise

not disclosed

 

 

You’ll want to double-check the exact steps you need to take to qualify for the bonus points, whether it’s booking with a specific rate code or booking through a specific website.

Earn Points With Special Offers

Best Western Rewards has a couple of useful shopping partners that can help earn more points.

8. Order a Bouquet With Teleflora

Teleflora is a floral wire service company, which acts as a broker for local florists and delivery. Capable of performing same-day delivery, this service might be useful for those who need flower deliveries ASAP.

You’ll earn 1,250 Best Western Rewards points on every order $29.99 or more by ordering online and making qualifying purchases.

9. Enroll in Vinesse Wines

Vinesse Wines is a subscription-based wine delivery service that prides itself on bringing the winery to the customer. Its wine experts hand-select hidden vineyards in search of hard-to-find wines with limited production.

When you subscribe to Vinesse Wines with Best Western, you will earn a one-time sign-up bonus of 5,000 Best Western Rewards points with your first shipment priced at $41.94 + 1¢ in shipping. After that, you’ll earn 20 points per dollar with every shipment thereafter.

Other Methods

10. Buy Best Western Rewards Points

The last way to earn Best Western Rewards points is to buy them. You can purchase up to 20,000 points per transaction if you’re a U.S. or Canadian resident at a rate of $10 per 1,000 points.

In practice, you’re not limited in the number of transactions you can have, though the purchase price is 1 cent per point, which is generally not a good deal.

Final Thoughts

There are plenty of solid ways to earn Best Western Rewards points. Although Best Western doesn’t get as much press as, say, Hilton Honors, World of Hyatt, or Marriott Bonvoy, there’s still good value to be had, particularly for the value-oriented traveler.

If you follow the tips outlined in this guide, you’ll find yourself with a healthy balance of Best Western Rewards points that you can use at its properties for free nights.

The information regarding the Best Western Rewards® Premium Mastercard® was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Best Western Rewards® Mastercard® was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many points does it take for a free night at Best Western?

Best Western Rewards award nights start at 8,000 points per night and can go as high as 36,000 points per night.

How many Best Western points do you get per stay?

There are 3 components for calculating the number of Best Western Rewards points per stay:

  1. Base and elite status earning — you’ll earn a minimum of 10 points per $1 plus any elite status bonuses up to 50% if you’re a Diamond Select member
  2. Promotions — depending on whether or not you’re participating in a special offer, you can earn up to quadruple points
  3. Credit card earning — if you put your Best Western spending on a credit card, you’ll earn up to 10 points per $1

Can I buy Best Western points?

Yes, you can purchase Best Western Rewards points at a rate of $10 per 1,000 points, up to 20,000 points per transaction. There’s no maximum for the number of transactions.

How much is a Best Western point worth?

Each Best Western Rewards point is usually worth around 0.5 to 0.6 cents. Of course, the value can vary depending on the exact property you’re redeeming points at.

How does the Best Western Rewards program work?

The Best Western Rewards program works similarly to other hotel loyalty programs. You enroll, stay at its properties, earn points based on how much you spend at these properties, and then redeem points for free nights (among other things).

What hotel chain is Best Western affiliated with?

Best Western is owned by Best Western International, Inc. The Best Western Hotels & Resorts brand licenses over 4,500 hotels worldwide.

What are the Best Western Rewards levels?

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Best Western Rewards Status LevelAccrual RateQualification Criteria*
Blue10 points per $1 (0% bonus)
Gold11 points per $1 (10% bonus)5 nights
Platinum11.5 points per $1 (15% bonus)7 nights
Diamond13 points per $1 (30% bonus)15 nights
Diamond Select15 points per $1 (50% bonus)25 nights

Here are the benefits for each elite tier:

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BenefitBlueGoldPlatinumDiamondDiamond Select
Bonus Points10 points per dollar11 points per $1 (10% bonus)11.5 points per $1 (15% bonus)13 points per $1 (30% bonus)15 points per $1 (50% bonus)
Points Never Expire
No Blackout Dates
Exclusive Reservation Line
Free Night Redemptions Count Towards Elite Status
Early Check-In/Late Check-Out
Choice of Thank You Gift or Points Upon Arrival
Room Upgrade

What loyalty program is Best Western?

Best Western has its own loyalty program called Best Western Rewards.

Do Best Western points expire?

No, Best Western Rewards points never expire.

What is my Best Western Rewards number?

You can find out your Best Western Rewards number by logging into your online account and viewing your profile.

What is the Best Western Rewards customer service number?

The best customer service phone number in the U.S. is 800-237-8483.

Is there a Best Western credit card that earns points?

Yes!

There are 2 U.S. credit cards (issued by First National Bank of Omaha) that can enable you to earn lots of Best Western Rewards points: Best Western Rewards Premium card and Best Western Rewards card. See our article for more details on the benefits of each card.

Stephen Au's image

About Stephen Au

Stephen is an established voice in the credit card space, with over 70 to his name. His work has been in publications like The Washington Post, and his Au Points and Awards Consulting Services is used by hundreds of clients.

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