Earn a $25 Gift Card for Your Next Best Western Stay

When it comes to hotel promotions, Best Western has consistently proven itself to be among the least generous. The hotel’s marketing team apparently trusts that the chain’s core value proposition is sufficiently compelling that loyalty-program bonuses are all but redundant.

The company’s latest promotion is further confirmation of that.

Offer Details

Between August 1 and September 30, Best Western Rewards members who a) complete an eligible hotel stay, and b) check a bag with a commercial airline can earn a $25 Best Western Travel Card.

To complete the qualification process, images of the Best Western hotel bill and the bag-fee receipt must be emailed to baggagebucks@bestwestern.com by October 4.

There’s a limit of two hotel cards per program member during the promotion period.

Deal or No Deal

Best Western often uses its own gift cards as promotional incentives, likely hoping that prospective customers will focus on the face value of the card. That would be a mistake.

For a hypothetical $100 one-night stay, the $25 gift card represents a solid 25 percent discount on a future stay at the same rate. That’s better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, to be sure. But it’s not to be confused with a cash rebate.

Gift cards in general are less valuable than cash, because they’re less convenient to use. And a gift card that can only be used for a future Best Western stay, and must be redeemed by January 31, 2018, is even less likely to be utilized than a generic gift card.

So, if you’re a) going to be staying at a Best Western during the promotion period, b) will be checking a bag, and c) will be making a second stay before the gift card expires, then this offer may be worth pursuing. Otherwise, not.

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After 20 years working in the travel industry, and 15 years writing about it, Tim Winship knows a thing or two about travel. Follow him on Twitter @twinship.