U.S. News & World Report Ranks Best Western Rewards as One of the Top Five Hotel Loyalty Programs

Best Western Hotels & Resorts announced that its loyalty program – Best Western Rewards (BWR) – was ranked as one of the top five hotel loyalty programs by U.S. News & World Report’s 2017 list of Best Hotel Rewards Programs. For the fifth consecutive year, BWR received this coveted recognition for the tremendous value it brings to the program’s members.

“We are honored to have BWR recognized as a top loyalty program by U.S. News & World Report for the fifth consecutive year,” said Dorothy Dowling, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Best Western Hotels & Resorts. “Best Western takes tremendous pride in offering one of the richest rewards programs in the industry, and this award reflects the exceptional value and benefits we are committed to providing our BWR members. We look forward to continuing to blaze the trail on loyalty in the hospitality space, with some fun and unique surprises planned for our members in the coming months.”

Guest loyalty remains a major focus in the travel sector and a top priority for Best Western. Listening to the voice of its members, Best Western launched a complete revamp of the BWR program earlier this year to deliver easily redeemable rewards, a new digital membership card for ease and convenience, and unrivalled exceptional discounts, perks and promotions.

Coupled with this effort, Best Western Hotels & Resorts also recently partnered with U.S. News and World Report to launch a co-branded hotel loyalty program study designed to gather insight into how today’s travelers make their loyalty program decisions. The results, acquired from more than 1,000 respondents, found that the expiration of points, ease of point redemption, guaranteed room availability and brand trust are important factors shaping the current hotel loyalty landscape. Respondents indicated that Best Western performed exceptionally well in a number of critical areas.

In addition, the co-branded study indicated that the ability to earn points that never expire is a key benefit of loyalty programs, with one-third of respondents stating that expiring points is their biggest pet peeve. Best Western is the only program surveyed that offers points that never expire. Of the respondents who were members of several loyalty programs, 74% found it easier to redeem BWR points compared to 68% for Marriott Rewards® and 67% for Hilton Honors.

BWR has emerged as an award-winning powerhouse in recent years, and this fifth consecutive recognition by U.S. News & World Report is a welcomed addition to the brand’s award winning track record. When compared with competing loyalty programs, BWR has earned industry recognition that reflect the program’s quality and value, including accolades from Loyalty 360 and WalletHub.

To identify the top hotel rewards programs, U.S. News & World Report used a methodology that considers five components: ease of earning a free night, geographic coverage, number of hotels, property diversity and additional benefits. In total, 17 of the most prominent hotel loyalty programs were evaluated using the aforementioned weighted measurements.