One free night at a Best Western after three stays is a promotion to keep in mind over the next two months. This promotion is available for hotels in the USA, Canada and Caribbean and the free night voucher is valid for any hotel in these same regions. There is a limit of one free night per Best Western Rewards member.

Best Western Rewards Spring Promotion 2013 registration is required. Members can earn 10 points/$1 for paid hotel stays points or choose to earn double miles with either Aeroplan or Air Miles.

The primary drawback to this offer is the short validity of the free night voucher. The free night voucher must be redeemed by June 30, 2013.

Best Western Spring Promotion FAQ.

Free night voucher T&C.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis

I see this promotion as an opportunity to pick up three cheap stays in places for about $250 or even less. There are many Best Western hotels where the free night voucher will have a $250+ value. Getting four hotel nights for $250 is a good promotional value.

Best Western Premier hotels are the obvious places to redeem a free night. These are the top tier hotels in the Best Western brand.

Two properties that came to my mind for redeeming an award are the Best Western Premier Ivy Hotel Napa and the San Francisco Best Western Premier Tuscan Inn at Fisherman’s Wharf (a hotel managed by Kimpton Hotels).

Sample date rate checks for Friday night, June 14, 2013:

• Ivy Hotel Napa = $269
• Tuscan Inn at Fisherman’s Wharf = $359

The main point I am trying to emphasize is earning the free night voucher can be an opportunity for booking three cheap hotel nights on three separate stays before April 14 and earning a high value certificate.

Here are some sample midweek rates for Best Western hotels around Monterey Bay, California for next week on Tuesday, February 26. These are winter weekend destinations with higher rates on Friday and Saturday nights.

• Best Western Beach Dunes Inn, Marina, California = $59.99
• Best Western Park Crest Inn, Monterey = $58.49 (AAA)
• Best Western Plus Carmel Bay View Inn, Carmel = $89.10 (AAA)
• Best Western Carmel’s Town House Lodge, Carmel = $89.10 (AAA)
• Best Western Plus Capitola-by-the-Sea Inn & Suites = $89.99 (AAA)
• Best Western Plus Seacliff Inn, Aptos = $89.99 (AAA)
• Best Western Plus All Suites Inn, Santa Cruz = $90 (AAA).

Most of these hotels will be more than double these rates by June.

These hotels are all located in beach towns and the rates are low season for winter weekday nights. These midweek off-season rates are lower than hotels in many less popular destinations around the USA.

I thought I might use the Best Western promotion in Denver this week to earn a free night voucher since there were Best Western hotels in the $65 to $75 range when properties like Hilton Garden Inn and Marriott Courtyard were around $150. Then I ended up finding Best Rate Guarantee claims with Marriott and InterContinental Hotels Group and went that direction instead.

This free night promotion is a good incentive to compare Best Western rates for places you might be visiting.

And earn a free night for a hotel in some other place you might be visiting.

Best Western Plus Hospitality House, Manhattan NYC

Ric Garrido, writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. You can follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed.

Best Western Rewards launched its 65-days of giveaways promotion this week. “Stay 3 times and earn a Free Night” spring promotion runs Sunday, February 6 through Monday, April 11, 2011. This 2011 calendar year marks the 65^th birthday of Best Western Hotels in 1946. The birthday accounts for a variety of promotion offers awarding bonus points in multiples of 65.

Best Western launches 3 Hotel Brand Types (we call them adjectives in elementary school)

• Best Western,
• Best Western Plus  
• Best Western Premier

You earn 6,500 bonus points, in addition to the free night offer, by staying in two of the three types of Best Western Hotels. The free night and the 6,500 bonus points can be earned only once during the 65-day promotion period.

650,000 Points for 10 members

An even more impressive offer is a bonus of 650,000 points to the first ten members to stay in all three types of Best Western Hotels. The catch is this promotion is only open to members in U.S., Canada, U.S. Virgin islands and the Bahamas and only hotel stays in U.S. Canada or Caribbean qualify.  The limiting factor is there are only four Premier hotels in North America.

You must include a stay in one of the following hotels as your Premier entry into this big bonus offer:

• Napa, California wine country, Best Western Premier Ivy Hotel
• or the Dallas suburb of Denton, Texas, Best Western Premier Crown Chase Inn & Suites
• or a fly-by at the Miami Airport, Best Western Premier Miami International Airport
• or go Dutch in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Best Western Premier Eden Resort  

Europe has dozens of Best Western Premier hotels, but they aren’t playing this game.

Loyalty Traveler in Napa, California  - Hit Me with your Best Shot Wine Cowboy

I gave Best Western my loyalty traveler best try as I arrived in Napa, California on Superbowl Sunday for my attempt to be one of the first ten people in the U.S. to stay in all three Best Western brands.  Napa, California is a 150 miles from Monterey. Napa had February summer weather with record temperatures over much of central coast California on Sunday, February 6. Downtown Napa was over 80 on Sunday Superbowl afternoon and in the mid-70s on Monday. Between overdoses of sunshine, I squirreled away in Best Western hotel rooms for the evenings and typed away with HBO movies playing in the background. 

I stayed at the Best Western Plus ‘Inn at the Vines’ in a good-size comfortably furnished room on Sunday night, February 6.

Best Western Plus, Inn at the Vines - Napa, California

Best Western Inn at the Vines outdoor pool

On Monday, February 7, I kicked back in a nicely decorated room at Best Western Premier ‘Ivy Hotel’ and the stay included breakfast.

Best Western Premier Ivy Hotel - Napa, California

Best Western Premier Ivy Hotel outdoor pool area, Napa, California

My third stay on Tuesday night Feb 8 was at Best Western Park Crest Inn, Monterey, California. I had a second floor ocean view. Looked like my room had one of the best views on the property. I call that a complimentary upgrade.

Best Western Park Crest Inn - Monterey, California

250 Points for Guest Feedback

Best Western Rewards currently offers 250 bonus points for sharing comments about your hotel stay at www.bwfeedback.com.

660,000 Best Western Rewards points is what I call a 5-key loyalty traveler promotion incentive.

The 650,000 points question?

Now I have to wait 10 weeks for the end of April to learn if I was one of the first 10 loyalty program members to stay in all three Best Western brands during the current promotion.

Regardless of the April outcome, I have earned one free night at any Best Western in U.S., Canada or Caribbean to be used by June 30, 2011. And I earned the 6,500 bonus points for staying in two brands. And I earned about 2,500 points for hotel stays, 30% bonus as Diamond member (750 points), and Diamond amenity bonuses (750 points) and hotel stay feedback bonus points (750 points).

Best  Western offers a status match from your current elite level in another program. 

Free nights at Best Western start at 8,000 points and rise in 4,000 points increments, up to 36,000 points for top tier hotel rewards.

Best Western Rewards 65^th Birthday Celebration

In 2006 Best Western members who spent 60 nights in Best Western hotels earned Diamond elite membership for life. I did a cost-benefit analysis and it came out favorable, but I couldn’t afford the cost at the time as I was launching Loyalty Traveler as my new business.

In 2011 Best Western is offering daily prizes for 65 days of the Best Western Birthday promotion:

• Days 1-32: 6,500 Best Western Rewards points (eligible to redeem for a $25 gift card)
• Days 33-48: 13,000 Best Western Rewards points (eligible to redeem for a $50 gift card)
• Days 49- 60: 26,000 Best Western Rewards points (eligible to redeem for a $100 gift card)
• Days 61-62: Lifetime Diamond Elite Status (normally requires 30 hotel nights in a calendar year) 
• Days 63-65: 260,000 Best Western Rewards points (eligible to redeem for a $1000 gift card)

Here is my quick assessment of Best Western Rewards as a loyalty program:

• Points are earned at an average rate with 10 points/$1 for hotel spend and up to 30% bonus points as a Best Western Diamond elite (30 nights in calendar year).
• The current loyalty promotion for a free night at any Best Western after three stays is a good value promotion. I rated it 4-keys of 5 in my Loyalty Traveler review on January 9, 2011. In general, my observation has been promotions in Best Western Rewards are slightly below average, primarily due to earning limits imposed on points bonuses and free nights.
• Best Western has a competitive advantage for a U.S. based hotel loyalty program with the number of hotels located outside the U.S. at nearly 2,000 properties. Only French-based Accor hotels has a comparable number of hotels globally outside the U.S.
• Best Western with about 2,200 hotels in the USA is slightly smaller in size to Hilton Hotels, Marriott, and IHG hotels with its many brands including Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza .

Hotel Reviews and photos of Napa, California Best Western hotels will come in a later post.

Related Links: Best Western Spring 2011 Promotion Terms and Conditions

Best Western Rewards Free Night With Three Separate Stays Feb 6 – April 11, 2011

Loyalty Traveler January 9, 2011 – http://boardingarea.com/blogs/loyaltytraveler/2011/01/09/best-western-rewards-free-night-after-3-stays-feb-6-%e2%80%93-april-11-2011/

Best Western Rewards members in the U.S., Canada and Caribbean earn one free night after three stays between February 6 and April 11, 2011. There is an earning limit of one free night during the promotion. The free night certificate is valid at any Best Western property in the U.S., Canada or Caribbean and must be redeemed for a stay completed by June 30, 2011.

Promotion registration is required before first stay.

• Log in to ‘My Account” on Best Western Rewards.
• Select Tab ‘Special Offers Sign-Up’ located under current point balance.
• Stay three times and earn one free night promotion is listed in four types depending on your membership type of general member (promo code Spring11), AAA, CAA.

There are two additional bonus points to earn with this offer.

Stay in two of three Best Western branded hotels and receive 6,500 bonus points:

• Best Western
• Best Western Plus
• Best Western Premier

Only one bonus for 6,500 points may be earned during promotion period.

10 members will receive 650,000 Best Western Rewards bonus points

In addition to the above bonus opportunities, the first ten Best Western Rewards members to stay once in all three Best Western branded hotels BW, BW Plus and BW Premier will earn 650,000 bonus points.

Loyalty Traveler promotion analysis:

A free night voucher for any Best Western hotel in U.S. has some leverage potential for redeeming a free night voucher for a hotel equivalent to the cost of earning the free night after three stays.

6,500 points + base points earned for three qualifying stays may be sufficient for a second low category 12,000 points reward night for many travelers qualifying for this additional promotion bonus.

650,000 points bonus for staying at three Best Western brand types is a high value return for members who are in select locations of the U.S.

The limiting factor for the 650,000 promotion bonus is there are only four Premier Hotels in the United States and none in Canada or Caribbean. A stay in one of these four hotels is necessary to qualify for the 650,000 points bonus.

Premier United States Hotels

California Hotels

Napa Hotels

BEST WESTERN PREMIER Ivy Hotel Napa

Florida Hotels

Miami Hotels

BEST WESTERN PREMIER Miami International Airport Hotel & Suites

Pennsylvania Hotels

Lancaster Hotels

BEST WESTERN PREMIER Eden Resort & Suites

Texas Hotels

Denton Hotels

BEST WESTERN PREMIER Crown Chase Inn & Suites

650,000 points is sufficient for 18 free nights at the highest level hotel reward of 36,000 points per night.

This Best Western Rewards offer is a 4-key offer (out of 5 keys).