Best Western Rewards 2016 Program Updates

Best Western Rewards is one of my favourite rewards programs. The 2 main reasons are because the hotels are very affordable if you were to pay for a stay. Secondly, their points never expire as a North American member. The 2 honourable mentions (reasons) goes to: MBNA for having a co-branded credit card to help Canadians jump-start their points account, and the hotel chain is very accessible having 4,000 locations worldwide.

As of January 1, 2016, Best Western is implementing some exciting new changes making the program even more attractive.

The first one that I would like to indicate, though it doesn’t make a difference for Canadians, is that Best Western Rewards points will no longer expire for any members. I the past, only members from North, Central and South America, Asia and South Africa benefited from the no expiry policy. Now the policy will extend worldwide. What is significant about this is that Best Western Rewards is showing commitment to improving their rewards program by making such a move.

The second big change is to its elite statuses. Currently, this is how the elite chart looks:

As of January 1, 2016, below are the new changes:

The most obviously change is the addition of a new elite status called Diamond Select, where you can earn 50% more bonus points per stay. I always believe that it is better to have more elite statuses that are more difficult to attain but better perks.

The rest of the changes that will come into effect is that nearly all rates will be eligible for earning points and more redemptions options in the works.

After reading about so much devaluations and discontinuations, it is very refreshing to see improvements to loyalty programs.

Kudos to Best Western Rewards!!