How to earn Virgin Points at Best Western hotels – and get a status match

Back in May 2023, Best Western abruptly dropped Avios as a partner.

This was a shame, partly because it was a relatively new partnership in the first place and partly because – based on a reader survey we did pre-covid – Best Western was surprisingly popular with readers.

You can still earn Virgin Points with them so I thought I would run through Best Western Rewards, especially as it has a generous status match scheme.

You will earn 500 Virgin Points per stay.

How big is Best Western?

The Best Western brand covers over 4,500 hotels worldwide in 100 countries.  What differentiates the group from chains such as Hilton is that every hotel is independently owned and managed and they are given far more leeway in terms of how they operate.

The hotels are generally smaller in terms of room numbers than you would find from the bigger chains and the average rating is probably around a three star.

In 2019, Best Western bought WorldHotels, a marketing group representing 300 luxury hotels across the world – see our article here.

SureStay is a growing economy brand, positioned below the main Best Western brand. There are also multiple sub-brands such as BW Premier Collection.

Today there are 260 Best Western hotels in the UK, a number which has been falling in recent years. The majority are branded as Best Western with a decent chunk of Best Western Plus, BW Premier and BW Signature, as well as some of the cheaper ‘SureStay’ hotels.

Best Western Rewards

The Best Western Rewards scheme is free to join via this page.  You start off at Blue.  There is also a status match deal I will outline below.  The tier levels are outlined here and are:

• Gold – requires 5 nights – 10% points bonus plus a room upgrade and recognition gift

• Platinum – requires 7 nights – Gold benefits plus a 15% points bonus

• Diamond – requires 15 nights – Gold benefits plus a 30% points bonus

• Diamond Select – requires 25 nights – Gold benefits plus a 50% points bonus

Best Western recently made it easier to earn status. The ‘nights’ figures above used to be double what they are now, albeit you could also qualify via ‘stays’ at a lower threshold or via base points earned. The only way to earn status now is via ‘nights’.

Status runs on a calendar year basis.  Once you hit the target for the next tier, you are promoted immediately and retain it for the rest of the current calendar year and all of the following year.

Earning Best Western Rewards points

You can retro-claim points for stays from up to 30 days before you joined, so you haven’t necessarily missed out if you had a recent stay and were not a member at the time.

You will earn 10 points per $1 spent on your room bill (before taxes) when paying eligible rates.  You do NOT earn points on restaurant charges or anything else charged to your bill apart from the room rate.

You can earn points on up to three rooms per night as long as they are all booked in your name and you occupy one of them.

Alternatively, you can take airline miles.  Virgin Atlantic offers 500 miles per stay.  There are 19 airline partners in total including Miles & More and Flying Blue although the majority only offer 250 miles per stay.

You cannot transfer points from American Express in the UK (you can in some other countries) and there is no UK credit card.

Points can be transferred free of charge between members who share the same address.

How can I spend Best Western points?

There are a variety of hotel and non-hotel rewards options as you can see here (log-in required).  Best Western Rewards points do not expire so you don’t need to hurry to use them.

Free room nights in the UK cost between 8,000 and 36,000 points.  Some hotels make ‘better’ rooms available for a premium.  As a Blue member you are looking at spending, before VAT, £650 to £3,000 to earn a free night worth, say, £75 – £200.  This is not a bad return if we assume you are getting 7%-12% back on average.  Free nights in overseas hotels start at 4,000 points.  These must be booked via telephone.

You can also do ‘pay with points’. You receive a $5 discount as part-payment for a room for every 1,000 points redeemed, with a minimum redemption of 5,000 points.

Digital Select gift cards are priced at 20,000 points for £50.  These can be spent at many online retailers including Amazon.  Given that this would require $2,000 (£1,550) of ex-VAT spend, you are looking at a 3.2% return.  This is not great, although it improves if you have status.  Remember that you only earn on your room rate and not incidental spend.

Best Western gift cards offer far better value.  These start at 1,300 points for a £5 voucher.  A £50 voucher only requires 13,000 points, compared to 20,000 points for a £50 Digital Select gift card.  1,300 points only requires $130 (£100) of ex-VAT spend, which is an improved 5.0% return.

Also worth noting ….

Best Western GB is a Tesco Clubcard partner.  You can find out more on this page of the Best Western website. You receive 2x the face value of your Clubcard vouchers.

Best Western Rewards will match your existing hotel or Virgin Atlantic status

Best Western has a generous status match policy.  If you have status with any other hotel chain, it will be matched.

You can see details on this page of the Best Western US website. Be careful to send it to the correct email address.

You can also match Virgin Flying Club status.  A Virgin Flying Club Silver member will receive Best Western Platinum whilst a Virgin Flying Club Gold member receives Best Western Diamond.  Full details are on the Virgin Atlantic website here.

Conclusion

Best Western Rewards is a decent scheme but not a hugely exciting one.  It is hampered by the very loose relationships between the group and its properties and the very varied nature of the hotels, which makes standardised benefits impossible.

If your travels take you to occasional Best Western properties, my suggestion is to get a status match via any other hotel or Virgin Atlantic status you have – the benefits are modest but you will be front of the queue for upgrades.

You should take the flat 500 Virgin Points per stay as your reward unless you are running up large room bills or are confident of eventually earning enough points for a free night.

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Hotel offers update – April 2025:

Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Want to buy hotel points?

• Hilton Honors is offering a 100% bonus when you buy points by 29th May 2025. The annual purchase limit is also increased to 240,000 points pre-bonus. Click here to buy.