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Deal or No Deal? Best Western Points at $60 per 10,000.

Today’s Daily Getaways is 835 sets of 10,000 points from Best Western at $67 per set or $60.30 with American Express payment.

Is this a deal or not?

Here is my quick analysis of the value of points for hotel reward nights.

Best Western hotel reward nights range from 8,000 points to 36,000 points. Buying points you will pay $48 for an 8,000 points room. You will spend $217 to get a 36,000 points reward night. That is one expensive room.  But, you will only know the value of points by comparing the reward night cost to the published rate. There are many Best Western hotels with rates over $200 per night. I know. $200+ room rates are all around my  California beach town.

Best Western Reward Night Cost Buying Daily Getaway points

  • 8,000 points = $53.60 or $48.24 (AmEx)
  • 12,000 points = $80.40 or $72.36 (AmEx)
  • 16,000 points = $107.20 or $96.48 (AmEx)
  • 20,000 points = $134.00 or $120.60 (AmEx)
  • 24,000 points = $160.80 or $144.72 (AmEx)
  • 28,000 points = $187.60 or $168.84 (AmEx)
  • 32,000 points = $214.40 or $192.96 (AmEx)
  • 36,000 points = $241.20 or $217.08 (AmEx)

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Daily Getaways, June 26

So, what does a typical Best Western hotel room reward night cost?

Best Western does not have a published set of hotels in each category level. Finding the cost of a hotel means checking a specific location.

A search of Monterey, California pulls up 19 hotels within 50 miles. Most of the properties are near the ocean of Monterey Bay. Reward nights range from 16,000 points for two hotels in Salinas (not near the beach) to 32,000 points for Best Western Plus Beach Resort Monterey and 36,000 points for the Cannery Row Victorian Inn.

Beach Resort Monterey hotel is directly on the beach. I picked up some ice there the other day while sitting in the beach sand with friends last weekend drinking wine and eating cheese. My friends asked my opinion of the hotel. A plain room, right on the beach, in an old hotel with a nice lobby and outdoor pool. I said rates are over $200 per night on weekends which kind of blew their minds. It is a 40-year old hotel that was recently remodeled.

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Sat June 29 BAR=$239; AAA = $215.10; Reward Night = 32,000 points.

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$240.12 after tax or 32,000 points through Daily Getaways = $193.

Daily Getaways is cheaper, but Best Western currently has a three stays earns one free night promotion that a paid stay will help earn.

Best Western has several hotels right on the beaches and cliffs of California in places like Monterey and Pismo Beach. Most of these hotels are in the 28,000 to 36,000 points range.

So where are the 8,000 and 12,000 points hotels?

I located a few 12,000 points hotels. I did not find an 8,000 points reward night in my random city searches.

Here is a rate comparison for an Orlando, Florida hotel at 12,000 points.

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4 nights on an August weekend = $425 after tax (AAA rate).

48,000 points = $301.50 to buy 50,000 points in Daily Getaways with AmEx. (Assume the other 2,000 points might go unused.)

Savings = $123.50 buying points.

 

Go International with Best Western

Paris is mostly 36,000 points for Best Western reward nights. There are dozens of Best Western hotels around Paris. One of my best Paris trips was staying in a funky, boutique Best Western hotel in the Latin Quarter.

Cannes/Nice, France has nearly 20 Best Western hotels along the Mediterranean coast. There are certainly some hotels where you can save $30 to $50 per night at places with high room rates.

Best Western has nearly 2,000 hotels around the globe outside of the USA. This is one of the program’s best features.

Bottom Line: I could keep checking rates looking for a great deal, but this is an offer you should check yourself. Compare room rates to the price of points using the table in this post to see if this is a deal for your travel plans.

Best Western Rewards points go on sale at 1pm ET today, 10am PT. There are 835 sets of points. Members can purchase up to 5 sets, up to 50,000 points.

 

Ric Garrido, writer and content owner of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests.

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5 Comments

  • Jenny June 26, 2013

    Great analysis, thanks!

  • Ric Garrido June 26, 2013

    I see these points sets have not sold out after 30 minutes. As Stephen Colbert is fond of saying, “The market has spoken.”

  • Charles Clarke June 26, 2013

    http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/best-western-rewards/1347457-list-8000-rewards-points-night-bw-hotels.html has some 8000 point hotels (or they were at the time)…

    Also a method to search for them.

    We’ve used free nights at hotels that were 32K or 36K points. Prices for those nights ranged from $240-$360. Cheap stays for free nights are definitely nice.

  • andreas June 26, 2013

    I think you can certainly get good value out of BWR but the opportunities to do so are fairly limited. I stayed at Hacienda Inn San diego and it was good. I have stayed at many best westerns on all ends of the spectrum and have to say that it’s not a very rewarding program. I chose to pass this deal..

  • oberon June 26, 2013

    I am thrilled to see that there has not been a single person stupid enough to buy any of these points

Comments are closed.

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