Greatest Western Rewards: Learn how to earn and redeem factors, elite standing and extra

Best Western Rewards remains relatively unknown in the world of points and miles. The program doesn’t have any major credit card transfer partners, and its cobranded credit cards aren’t on most travelers’ radar. But if you find yourself staying at Best Western properties frequently for work or pleasure, there’s plenty of value to be had in the program.

Best Western Rewards points are surprisingly valuable if you travel to Europe, Asia and specific parts of the U.S. and Canada. While Best Western isn’t known for luxury hotels, it does have a suite of higher-end, boutique-focused brands like the BW Signature Collection, the BW Premier Collection and the millennial-focused Vib.

You can earn and redeem Best Western Rewards points at these and other brands in Best Western’s broad portfolio. Here, we’ll cover earning and redeeming points, travel partners, elite status and everything else you need to know about the Best Western Rewards loyalty program.

Related: Best hotel rewards programs in the world: Which one is right for you?

Related: Earn bonus points by registering for hotel promotions

How to earn Best Western Rewards points

There aren’t as many ways to earn Best Western Rewards points as there are to earn World of Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy or Hilton Honors points. However, you can still earn points by staying at Best Western hotels and using cobranded credit cards, as well as through select retail partners.

Here’s a look at all of the ways you can earn Best Western Rewards points.

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Stay at Best Western properties

As with most hotel loyalty programs, you’ll earn Best Western Rewards points based on your elite status and how much you spend on a hotel room. Most Best Western hotels award 10 points per dollar spent (before taxes and fees) to basic Blue members; at an Executive Residency, SureStay Studio or @Home by Best Western property, you will earn 5 points per dollar spent.

So, if you stay at a Best Western property for three nights with a pretax nightly rate of $100, you’ll earn 3,000 points on your stay if you’re a Blue member.

If you have Best Western Rewards elite status, you’ll earn a percentage bonus on paid Best Western stays. The higher your status, the more points you’ll earn. Here’s how many bonus points each status tier earns:

• Gold: 10%
• Platinum: 15%
• Diamond: 30%
• Diamond Select: 50%

For the same three-night stay mentioned above, a top-tier Diamond Select member would earn a total of 4,500 Best Western Rewards points.

One thing to note: You can only earn Best Western Rewards points and use your elite benefits on Best Western stays you book directly with Best Western; stays booked through Expedia, Orbitz, Chase Travel℠ and other online travel agencies are not eligible. So, make sure that you book all your Best Western stays directly if you want to earn points and elite status. Oftentimes, you’ll get the same rate (or better) as if you booked through an OTA.

Related: Reasons to avoid booking through an online travel agency

Spend on Best Western cobranded credit cards

Best Western has two U.S. cobranded credit cards issued by First Bank & Trust and managed by Mercury Financial. Both of these cards have a welcome bonus, earn bonus points on Best Western purchases and include free Best Western status. Here’s a look at both cards and what they offer:

• Best Western Rewards® Visa Signature® Card (no annual fee): Welcome offer of up to 40,000 bonus points with qualifying spending; plus, you’ll receive an additional 10,000 bonus points each anniversary after spending $5,000 each cardmember year. You’ll get automatic Gold status and earn an additional 4 points per dollar spent on Best Western purchases with your card, netting you a total of up to 15 points per dollar spent on Best Western stays when you pay with your card.
• Best Western Rewards® Premium Visa Signature® Card ($89 annual fee): Welcome offer of up to 80,000 bonus points with qualifying spending. You’ll also receive one free night award each account anniversary and an additional free night award when you spend $10,000 that cardmember year. In addition to these bonus points and free night awards, you’ll enjoy automatic Platinum status and earn an extra 10 points per dollar spent on Best Western purchases, so you’ll effectively earn up to 23 points per dollar spent for stays you pay for with the card.

The information for the Best Western Rewards Visa Signature and Best Western Rewards Premium Visa Signature cards has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

These cards could be good options for someone who frequently stays at Best Western hotels and really values having instant status perks and elevated earnings on Best Western purchases. However, travelers who switch hotel chains frequently may have better luck with a card that earns transferable points, like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. While they don’t come with elite status, these cards earn bonus points on all hotel brands and other travel, and you can transfer your points to a number of hotel and airline partners for exceptional redemptions. That’s why TPG values Chase Ultimate Rewards points at 2.05 cents each as of December 2024, compared to 0.6 cents each for Best Western Rewards points.

Related: The best hotel credit cards

Order flowers for more bonus points

While Best Western doesn’t have a shopping portal or a dining program, it partners with Teleflora to award points when you order flowers online. You can earn 1,250 Best Western Rewards points on each Teleflora flower delivery order (see Best Western’s website for details). Be sure to do your research and determine if this is worth the money. Likewise, compare earnings with other hotel and airline loyalty programs to see if you can earn more points elsewhere.

Rent cars through Best Western

Best Western has partnerships with several major rental car companies like Budget and National to give members discounts on car rentals. These partnerships also allow you to earn Best Western Rewards points on car rentals; some earn on a per-dollar basis, while others award a flat number of points per rental. You can view all of Best Western’s partnerships on its website and see if renting a car through Best Western makes sense for your travel plans.

Just note that you can’t use corporate codes and, in many cases, you won’t earn rental car rewards when you book through Best Western. Before you book, make sure that the Best Western Rewards points you’d earn offset any other points or discounts you’re eligible for.

Related: Credit cards that offer rental car insurance

The most valuable way to redeem your points is by booking free nights at Best Western properties worldwide. There are other redemption options available, like gift cards and merchandise, but you’ll generally get a much lower value for your points when you redeem for these.

For example, a $10 Best Western gift card will set you back 2,000 Best Western Rewards points, giving you a value of 0.5 cents per point — lower than TPG’s December 2024 valuation of 0.6 cents per point. We recommend avoiding these redemptions and using your points for Best Western award stays instead.

Book award stays with Best Western Rewards points

Best Western doesn’t publish an award chart; award pricing varies by hotel and when you book. According to Best Western, free nights range from 5,000 to 70,000 points per night, and we’ve found that hotels with higher cash rates generally cost more points.

Viewing award-night pricing is simple. Just head to the Best Western website, enter your search criteria and check the “Use Rewards Points” box.

When your search results load, you will see all Best Western hotels near your destination along with their points cost. When you find a hotel you like, click the yellow “View Rooms” button to see all available rooms and rates.

You can use Best Western Rewards points to book standard and premium rooms. Premium rooms will generally cost more points, but sometimes they’re only a little more expensive than standard rooms — or even the same price.

For instance, at the Best Western Firestone Inn & Suites, you can book a standard room for 24,000 points per night or a mountain-view suite for 28,000 points. At the Best Western Plus Boulder Louisville, a suite costs 40,000 points per night, the same number you’d pay for a standard room. In these cases, you may be able to get more value from your points by booking upgraded rooms for the same or slightly higher prices.

One word of caution, though: Always check the cash rate before you book an award night. Many of Best Western’s hotels are meant to be budget-friendly and have low cash rates. Instead of using your Best Western Rewards points to book cheap nights, you may be better off paying cash and saving your points to cover a more expensive stay in the future. Best Western points never expire, so you can save your points for a time when they’ll give you the most value. Just remember not to hoard your points too long, as they can lose value over time.

The best hotels to book with Best Western Rewards points

Best Western has thousands of properties worldwide, but some of them offer better value for points redemptions than others. As a general rule of thumb, you’ll usually get the best value for your points when you redeem them at high-end properties during peak seasons, special events or holidays.

If you need a bit of inspiration on how to use your points, look no further. Here are some of our favorite Best Western Rewards redemptions:

The Cartwright Hotel — Union Square in San Francisco

Planning a trip to San Francisco and want to stay in the heart of the action? The Cartwright Hotel is a BW Premier Collection property in Union Square, putting you within walking distance of all of San Francisco’s main attractions. And since you’re close to the Powell Street BART stop, the rest of the Bay Area — including the airports — is easily accessible.

Weekend nights hover around $170 or 28,000 Best Western Rewards points, for a value of 0.6 cents per point, right on par with TPG’s December 2024 valuations.

Best Western Grant Park Hotel in Chicago

The Grant Park Hotel gives you access to everything Chicago has to offer. It’s just steps away from Grant Park and the Art Institute of Chicago and a quick L ride from the Magnificent Mile shopping district. Because of this central location, the Grant Park Hotel is a wonderful choice for Windy City first-timers.

Weekend nights in the summer start at $200 or 36,000 points, providing a solid value of 0.56 cents per point.

Best Western Plus Hotel Sydney Opera in Paris

The City of Light is home to many Best Western properties, including the conveniently located Best Western Plus Sydney Opera. This hotel is within walking distance of the Place de la Concorde and Opera Garnier, and the Louvre and other major Parisian attractions are just a quick metro or taxi ride away.

Basic rooms start around $237 per night over Valentine’s Day weekend — or you can use 40,000 Best Western Rewards points for a value of about 0.59 cents per point.

Transfer Best Western Rewards points to airlines

You can also transfer your Best Western Rewards points to nine airline programs, including programs with hard-to-earn miles like Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Asiana Club. This won’t give you as much value as booking award nights, but it can be a good way to top up your airline account balance if you’re going for a specific award ticket.

Here are Best Western’s transfer ratios for each airline partner:

Again, these transfers are not the best use of Best Western Rewards points, but they may be helpful if you find yourself a few miles short of a specific award ticket. To convert your points into miles, head to Best Western’s Redemption Mall.

It’s also worth noting that you can choose to earn airline miles instead of Best Western Rewards points on Best Western stays. Best Western provides more options for earning miles than transferring them; you can earn miles at the above airlines and several others, including United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Turkish Airlines. See Best Western’s travel partner page for the number of miles you can earn with each airline. To earn miles this way, go to the “Profile & Preferences” section of your account, scroll down to “Earning Preference,” choose your preferred airline partner and enter your frequent flyer number.

Related: Should you transfer hotel points to airline partners?

Best Western Rewards elite status

The Best Western Rewards program has five membership levels: Blue, Gold, Platinum, Diamond and Diamond Select. Points never expire, and all members have access to a dedicated reservations line and can redeem points on Best Western stays with no blackout dates.

You’ll earn elite status based on the number of qualifying nights you stay in a calendar year. These are the qualification requirements for each status tier:

• Blue: Entry level
• Gold: Five nights
• Platinum: Seven nights
• Diamond: 15 nights
• Diamond Select: 25 nights

Award night redemptions count toward elite status, so if you use your points for a free stay, those nights will help you work toward the next membership tier.

Elite members also earn bonus points on all Best Western stays, calculated as a percentage of the points you would normally earn as a Blue member:

• Gold: 10%
• Platinum: 15%
• Diamond: 30%
• Diamond Select: 50%

Besides earning points faster, there are some perks to Best Western elite status. Members with Gold or higher status receive a complimentary bottle of water and 500 bonus points (where available) upon arrival for each stay. Those with Platinum status or above can enjoy early check-in and late checkout upon request.

Status match from another hotel program

Have status with another hotel chain? You can take advantage of Best Western’s Status Match…No Catch program to match your existing hotel status to Best Western for free. We recommend taking advantage of this match just in case you end up staying at a Best Western property during your travels.

To request a status match, fill out this form on the Best Western website. Members who reach a new tier through status matching in 2024 will maintain that tier through March 31, 2026.

Related: Current hotel elite status match and challenge offers

While Best Western’s properties won’t make for the most aspirational award bookings, your Best Western Rewards points can come in handy on road trips, for stays in small cities and other times when you need a place to sleep for the night. And since Best Western Rewards points never expire, you can accrue them without worrying about earning more points or redeeming them at a specific time. We highly recommend enrolling in the program even if you don’t stay at Best Western properties often.