14 Best Ways to Earn Lots of Best Western Rewards Points

BY 

Stephen Au

- UPDATED: July 22, 2020

1. Earn Points  / 
2. Earn Hotel Points

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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. Their 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!

Earning Points With Best Western Rewards Credit Cards

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.

Start by Joining Best Western Rewards

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.

Best Western Rewards Card Welcome Bonus Points

While the Amex Hilton Honors credit cards and Chase 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 up to 50,000 Best Western Rewards points
   • Automatic Best Western Rewards Platinum elite status
   • Earn 20,000 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
   • 10% discount when selecting the Best Western Rewards Rate at bwrcarddiscount.com
   • $59 annual fee
   • No foreign transaction fees
2. Best Western Rewards^® Mastercard^®
   • A welcome bonus of 16,000 points after your first purchase
   • An additional bonus of 16,000 points on your first stay
   • 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
   • 10% discount when selecting the Best Western Rewards Rate at bwrcarddiscount.com
   • $0 annual fee
   • No foreign transaction fees

The key difference is the welcome bonus. With the $59 annual fee version, you’ll earn up to 50,000 Best Western Rewards points, compared to the maximum of 32,000 points from the no annual fee card.

Category Bonus Points

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. Here’s the structure of your earnings with Best Western Rewards credit cards:

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

Best Western Hotel Stays

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

Best Western Rewards Elite Status Bonuses

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, along with how you can qualify for each tier.

*Only points earned on eligible stays will count towards elite qualification.

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 12.5-15% 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!

Best Western “Earn Bonus Points”

Best Western has a separate section of their 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 frequently 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%-42% return on spend.

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 check out.

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.”

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:

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.

Earning Points With Other Credit Cards

Best Western Rewards Mastercard (Canada)

Canadian residents can earn Best Western Rewards points easily with the Best Western Rewards® Mastercard® issued by MBNA, a division of Toronto-Dominion Bank.

The main perks are:

• A welcome bonus of 20,000 Best Western Rewards points after your first purchase
• Earn 5 points per $1 for every dollar spent on eligible purchases at a Best Western property (in addition to base earnings)
• 1 point per $1 everywhere else
• Automatic Best Western Rewards Gold elite status after your first purchase
• Best Western Rewards Diamond elite status after spending CA$10,000 in 1 calendar year
• $0 annual fee

Bottom Line: This card has lots of utility, as it is a solid no annual fee card with guaranteed elite status and a decent welcome bonus.

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 their most useful set of partners for earning Best Western points: car rental partners.

Car Rental Partners

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.

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.

Convert to Best Western Rewards Points

Diners Club International

Currently, the only way to earn Best Western Rewards points indirectly is to transfer them from Diners Club International. If you’re a member of Club Rewards, which is Diners Club International’s points program, you can transfer points to Best Western Rewards.

You can convert increments of 7,576 Club Rewards points to 20,000 Best Western Rewards points at a ratio of 1:2.64.

To transfer your Diners Club Rewards points, you can call 800-234-4034 or visit clubrewardsus.com. Transfers may take up to 3 weeks to complete.

Earn Points With Special Offers

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

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 visiting this link and making qualifying purchases.

Enroll in Vinesse Wines

Vinesse Wines is a subscription-based wine delivery service that prides itself on bringing the winery to the customer. Their 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. You can get started by visiting this link and making qualifying purchases.

Other Methods

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 Canada 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, Hyatt, or Marriott, 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 their properties for free nights.