In late August FNBO stopped accepting applications for the Best Western credit cards. Best Western has now launched two new credit cards that are issued by First Bank & Trust and managed by Mercury Financial.
Contents
Best Western Rewards Visa Signature Card
- Earn up to 40,000 bonus points
- Card earns at the following rates:
- 4X points on Best Western stays and purchases
- 2X points on all other purchases
- 10,000 Anniversary Bonus Points
- Automatic Gold Elite Status
Best Western Rewards Premium Visa Signature Card
- Earn up to 80,000 bonus points
- $89 annual fee
- Card earns at the following rates:
- 10X points on Best Western stays and purchases
- 4X points on gas station and grocery store purchases
- 2X points on all other purchases
- Up to Two Free Night Awards Each Anniversary
- One free night on anniversary
- Second free night when you spend $10,000+
- Automatic Platinum Elite Status
Our Verdict
Sign up bonuses are a bit strange as it’s 10k to 40k and 20k to 80k points and you’ll see the bonus and minimum spend requirement before applying according to the fine print. According to the terms the free night can only be used in US, Canada and the Caribbean but is otherwise unrestricted. We did see higher bonuses on the previous FNBO versions of these cards, but the anniversary bonuses weren’t nearly as generous. I can see a play for keeping the Premium card long term for the free night certificate for $89 annually but that depends if there are any expensive properties where you like to travel and single night stays not affecting you as much.
Mercury is more of a sub prime lender from what I know, so getting approved shouldn’t be too difficult but share your experiences in the comments below if you decide to go for it.
I just went for the no-AF card, looks like I’m one of the first data points. The prequalification was reliable and they hard-pulled TU upon acceptance, consistently with recent data on First Bank & Trust.
My SL was confirmed at $5k, as in the prequal offer (probably due to the several $100k I added recently with other cards). Not that I’m likely to ever stay at a BW Hotel, but that’s a different story! 🙂
Credit card #13 for me in the last year, #21 in the last two, and #39 since I began “collecting” for fun a few years ago (39/39 with no annual fee, and 25/39 with no FTFs).
Wonder what will happen to existing FNBO cardholders. I actually preferred the previous version of the card – 40,000 points for a measly 5k spend was roughly 2.5 nights when you just needed a halfway decent hotel in a suburban area with free breakfast. 1 night with the new version is super meh.
Almost certainly the account will be transferred to the new bank. This happened before, when Best Western moved from Barclays to FNBO about a decade ago. And back then, Barclays had only one card (no AF), but FNBO split it into two (AF and no AF).
The only thing that’s unclear is when it might happen.
But in case you haven’t noticed, BW now had more dynamic pricing than a few years ago, so a “free night award” may be uncapped, while points were capped. So if you had to stay at hotel that charged 72000 points (as the BW near Bryce Canyon sometimes has), a free night award might handle it but 40000 points wouldn’t get close.
So it can be viewed as a benefit by some even if you view it as “meh”.
But we have to wait for confirmation as to exactly what they meant by “free night award”.
Good points to consider. I generally use Marriott or Hilton points when I’m after nicer hotels in urban areas, and save my Best Western points for when I just need a cheaper halfway decent place to sleep while driving somewhere a few times a year.
That’s a total 6.5% return if you have diamond status. Not hard to do through an OTA and cash back portal.
That said, glad to see the offering. People should pay more attention to BW, particularly their boutique collections and properties in Europe. Some great values and solid experiences.
The $89 cert is the only play for this card, unless you have a lot of BW spend that wouldn’t make sense on something with a travel bonus category like a Sapphire card. BW points are otherwise kind of useless.
Platinum status is also kind of useless. I ended up status matching to it several years ago from Hyatt Globalist and they’ve never revoked the status – I’ve had it perpetually. We get a couple bottles of water, a small point bonus, and that’s it.
In general, BW runs the gamut in terms of quality. In my experience, most are decent and comparable to a Hampton or Fairfield. Some are stinkers but you can suss that out on Tripadvisor. There are a handful that are amazing, especially in Europe. I stayed a couple times at the Hotel Harmonie in Vienna and that place is more comparable to a boutique hotel than a Best Western.
Will these cards affect 5/24 status with Chase? I’m not at all familiar with First Bank & Trust managed by Mercury Financial… TYIA!
Yes, 5/24 is agnostic of issuer.
Chase does 5/24 based on new card openings that appear on your personal credit reports.
So the only thing that may not count for 5/24 are business cards, which at most banks (but not all banks) don’t appear on personal credit reports as opened cards (the hard pulls from the application may appear, but 5/24 is not based on pulls, it’s based on actually-opened cards).
But all banks that operate in the USA and issue credit cards nationally report personal credit cards to your personal credit reports.
It’s nice that this new BW no-AF card brings the BW earnings back up at least halfway. The Barclays Best Western no-AF card earned 5x, the FNBO Best Western no-AF card dropped that to 3x, and at least this new BW no-AF card is raising it up to 4x.
There is a decent Best Western in Carmel, CA that is a few blocks from Carmel by the Sea and Ocean Beach. Stayed there a few years ago and enjoyed it.
Another expensive Best Western property that is quite nice is the one off Upper State in Santa Barbara – $225-350 for a night depending on the time of year (almost the same rate as the one you reference in Carmel).
Another one is BWP Del Mar a block from the beach with ocean view as well. AM flight from Central US to San Diego, train to Solana, quick bus down PCH/CDM to hotel, they let me check in as breakfast was cleaning up at 10:30, was on the beach at 11. Would do it again 100x.
Imagine being so successful at churning that you apply for Best Western cards.
First, lol.
Second, this actually could be good for someone looking to stay at remote places that might only have a best Western. The grand canyon approaching from Phoenix comes to mind.
At least I’ve gotten superb redemptions with nat parks in summertime with Choice. I’ve yet to see any good BW redemption (that their points are worth it).
It depends on the national park. While lower-end hotels are much more likely in small towns near national parks, it’s not guaranteed whether it will be Choice, Best Western, or Wyndham most likely, if there’s only or two. While Choice may be more common near national parks, it’s not always there at every national park.
I actualy churned this card like 20 times with Fnbo. Never paid annual fee
Bro, best western is perfect road trip hotels to stop along the way.
Best Western and Choice properties (mid/high end) are perfect for road trips, especially if you are National Parks geek!
I have churned this card many times but now it appears I don’t qualify for the offer. I guess I have churned too much even for this card haha
I have never churned this card, admittedly I do have quite a few biz/personal cards but very low debt ratio and 800+ score and they said they don’t have an offer for me??? weird. I mainly wanted this bc they are often in places in the US where there are no other choices and we’ve stayed in some pretty nice ones in Europe and the UK on points in years past. SMH… might try husbands bc he has fewer cards open atm.
LOL
funny comment.
A lot of small towns in Europe usually have Best Western hotels but probably not worth using the points for already affordable rooms.
What’s a typical BW point value for you? There’s a 70k in Paris Trocadero that’s 250 EUR. (On a night the Hilton Canopy on the next block is almost 500)