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If you're a Best Western Rewards member, we have some good news. Best Western is making it easier than ever to move up in status by halving their elite status requirements for 2021. This means you can move up to Diamond Select status after only 25 nights — or 20 stays.
Best Western Slashes 2021 Elite Requirements
Most hotel loyalty programs are making it easier to earn elite status in 2021. There are two main ways programs are doing so: earning double elite credits or slashing the requirements. Best Western Rewards went with the latter, halving the tier status requirements. Here's a summary of the new qualifications:
- Gold: 5 nights or 3 stays or 5,000 points
- Platinum: 7 nights or 5 stays or 7,500 points
- Diamond: 15 nights or 10 stays or 15,000 points
- Diamond Select: 25 nights or 20 stays or 25,000 points
Best Western Rewards Elite Benefits (They Aren't Great)
It might be easier than ever to move up the statuses with Best Western Rewards, but Best Western elite status isn't worth chasing. I mean, it's nice to move up the statuses, but the benefits are lame. The only real benefit is to earn more points, which breaks down as follows:
- Gold: 10% bonus points
- Platinum: 15% bonus points
- Diamond: 30% bonus points
- Diamond Select: 50% bonus points
In addition to the bonus points, you get a complimentary bottle of water and perhaps a granola bar upon check-in. However, Best Western points out on their website that, due to recent changes, the bottled water is not available at check-in at all locations. So much for those extra few cents you could have saved.
I should also mention that Best Western Rewards points never expire, which is a plus to the program. For what it's worth, any status you achieve in 2021 will be valid until March 31, 2023.
Using Best Western Elite Status to Get Other Elite Statuses
There's one potential benefit to moving up the Best Western Rewards statuses, and that's status matching with other programs. Considering how easy it is to get higher statuses with the halved qualifications, it might be worth using this route to match to Hilton Honors Diamond status or another hotel program.
Of course, by staying with Best Western enough to earn elite status, you're be missing out on collecting your points in the other programs. But, depending on your upcoming stays, this might be a good option for you.
For an idea of where you might be able to match, check out the “Reports for leveraging status with Best Western Rewards” section on Status Matcher.
Related: How to Get Hotel Elite Status for Free (or Almost Free)
Final Thoughts
As you can tell, we don't think that Best Western Rewards is the best program. However, if you are a member and are looking to move up in the status ranks, definitely take advantage of the lower requirements this year. And if you haven't tried out the status matching yet, give it a go and let us know if you're successful.
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
About 4-5 years ago my wife and I participated in an offer for Diamond Elite status. We both received it but I can’t remember if it was a status match ( we were both diamonds) or if was because of owning a business (currently offering Diamond status for the owner and Gold for employees). Our status has stayed the same ever since, never expiring. We have stayed at a few properties over the years and have never had a bad experience. A couple of properties have given us room upgrades which was appreciated.
I wish I could remember exactly why we were upgraded to Diamond Select but I’m getting old and don’t remember things like I used to. 🙂
Best Western Gold status isn’t much compared to Hilton Gold, but as an FYI, veterans can get it for free. I’m an Army combat veteran, so I simply called up BW’s customer service, told them about my veteran status, and they enrolled me in Best Western Service Rewards. You get automatically upgraded to Gold, and only have to show proof of current/prior military service at check-in. Some status is better than none at all, especially when so little effort is required to obtain it.
The BW Service Rewards page is somewhat buried, and I’d found it using search engine shortkeys. https://www.bestwestern.com/en_US/offers/hotel-discounts/military-discounts.html
I never knew about that. Thanks for sharing!
Thought not very significant benefits as BW elite status holder, still good to see that they are making an effort. Either way, Best Western is still one of my favourite hotel chains!
Best Western Rewards is not very good like other programs. But the possibility of using it as a springboard for status matches in other programs is extraordinary.
I have had Best Western diamond status for many years. I once used it to get a match from Hilton for their diamond status. Wait until April if you want to get a status match from Hilton as their year goes from April 1 to March 31.
Great tip!
I used my other hotel statuses to match the best western diamond. As the article points out, there’s no particular benefit but you may as well earn more points. In some of the places I work, best Western is the only hotel chain and they are often very cute and comfortable hotels. The idea that you cannot receive bottled water due to Covid isCounterintuitive and ridiculous. But many places are using Covid as an excuse to lower offerings.
I agree that best western really is not something that I aspire to for their elite programs.
I recall Best Western status being given away pretty easily through a status match. (but worthless at the hotel level)
But always potentially useful for status matches back to a decent chain. Hilton comes to mind, since you can’t challenge if you are already Gold or better.
So match to BW, let your Hilton status drop, then challenge later on using that BW status…
Several comments here offer up valuable advice, yours included. Hope to execute this move at some point in the future when travel picks back up. Thanks!
A small programme that gets little attention, I personally have always been a big fan of BW rewards
Always great when companies are rewarding loyalty and making it easier to earn status during the pandemic. Good move by best western!
Capitalizing on the Best Western status for status match in other programs is sure a fascinating idea.
Too bad that there is still not alot of value in even the top BW tier. Program has always been a underdog.