Best Western announces new hotel points matching program

by Melanie Nayer on

If you have hotel points from other hotels, Best Western will match them. Of course, there’s a catch: you have to be a member of the Best Western Rewards loyalty program and have elite status with another hotel group.

Best Western’s new “Status Match, No Catch” program rewards members of its free loyalty points program with matching elite status of any other hotel loyalty program-free of charge.

Here’s how it works:

Starting now, new and existing Best Western Rewards members can upgrade their Rewards status by contacting Best Western and providing proof of elite status with another hotel loyalty program. Best Western Rewards points will be earned at the equivalent elite status immediately.

According to the hotel’s website, members of the elite status loyalty program with Best Western enjoy:

  • Gold Elite (awarded after 10 qualified nights in one calendar year), which earns a 10 percent Rewards bonus
  • Platinum Elite (awarded after 15 qualified nights in one calendar year), which earns a 15 percent Rewards bonus
  • Diamond Elite (awarded after 30 qualified nights in one calendar year), which earns a 30 percent Rewards bonus.

Time to start digging through your old accounts for those extra hotel points.

Get free Hyatt Platinum Status ( = free stuff!)

by Grant Martin on

We’ve touted the value of elite status here at Gadling numerous times, whether it’s as part of an airline, hotel or car rental program. It’s one of the few ways to make travel worth your while and a bit less expensive in the process — hold a bit of loyalty direct a few dollars in the right direction and the corporate monster reciprocates, right?

Needless to say, there’s usually there’s some sort of legwork involved — some volume of minimum miles flown, minimum nights slept or money invested. And that’s not fun.

But this time, Hyatt is offering it up for free. The Chicago-based luxury hotel brand recently announced that new members of their Gold Passport program can trial Platinum status for free for 180 days. Included with the status? Free wireless, best room guarantees and a nifty plastic membership card to name a few.

You can keep your status with five separate stays prior to the 180 day expiry, or upgrade to Diamond (where the perks are boundless!) with 15 stays.

Platinum Passport membership is good at any of the Hyatt brands, including Andaz and Summerfield Suites.

Check into a suite – Hotel tip

by Gadling Staff on

When booking accommodations, travelers should compare the price of a suite to the price of adjoining rooms. Suites are larger than standard rooms, often accommodate six or more people, and are frequently the same price — if not less than — two side-by-side rooms.

Larger families and small groups often find suites more spacious, more comfortable, and easier on the budget.

Cook with the coffee pot – Hotel tip

by Gadling Staff on

The hardest part about hotel life, isn’t the bed, or bathroom, it’s food. What a lot of people don’t know is that you can do some quick home-styled cooking with the appliances you have available. The most important of these is the coffee pot!

The coffee pot’s heat comes from a warming plate, which is what the pot rests on. If you fill the pot with water and let it heat up, you can make anything from ramen to spaghetti.

Pro tip: just using the plate you can cook bacon, and even heat up some pop tarts in the morning for the kids.

Courtyard by Marriott Celebrates its 100th Hotel with an upgraded lobby

by Scott Carmichael on

Last month, Gadling took you on a quick tour of a recently upgraded Courtyard by Marriott. In that review, I mentioned how impressed I was with the upgrades in the lobby. Marriott is obviously pretty impressed with their own progress, because they are currently celebrating the 100th hotel to be part of this exciting program.

As a reminder – the lobby upgrades include features like the innovative GoBoard® touch screen LCD TV with local information, news and weather as well as a brand new restaurant and bar dubbed The Bistro.

Marriott operates 860 Courtyard properties around the world, and the brand is doing so well, that an additional 200 will be opening within the next three years.

More information about the upgrades. as well as which hotels have been upgraded, can be found at GoCourtyard.com