Terms and Conditions - Best Western Rewards

Best Western Rewards® is owned and operated by BW GCCI, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Best Western International, Inc. ©2010 Best Western International. Members who join Best Western Rewards® will be transferred to membership of Best Western Rewards® in their country of residence, where conditions of membership and benefits may vary. These terms and conditions apply to members in Finland, the Baltic States and Finland.

Membership and membership card

1. Your signature on the membership card confirms that you accept the conditions of Best Western Rewards. If the signature does not appear on the card, the card is invalid.
2. The Best Western Rewards Card (in short: Card) remains the property of
3. Best Western and cannot be used as credit card.
4. The Card is not transferable and must be submitted at check-in and checkout.
5. Corporations and legal persons cannot be members.
6. If the Card is used as guarantee for a reservation and is not cancelled in time and the booking is not taken up, a cancellation fee amounting to the cost for the first night’s stay is due.
7. If the Card is improperly used, then Best Western retains the right to withdraw the Card immediately. All rights, in particular accumulated points or awards already issued, lapse.
8. Please inform Best Western immediately about changes in address.
9. On loss or theft please contact Best Western, so that a replacement Card can be issued to you; this Card obviously has the same membership number.
10. The member is responsible that the Card is used in accordance with the conditions of his/her company’s travel policy.
11. The advantages of the individual Cards (Gold Card, Platinum Card, Diamond Card) are only available to the card holder and are not transferable.
12. The private use of points, which are accumulated during a business stay, are subject to applicable tax law. The member is responsible for the correct tax payment.

13. Best Western reserves the right to change the conditions or to cancel the Best Western Rewards Programme at any time. Similarly, Best Western reserves the right to change the advantages, the point allocation, the point basis as well as any other programme conditions at any time.

14. Should Best Western cancel the Best Western Rewards Programme or if the

    membership expires, all collected points lapse.

Point Accumulation

1. Points are issued for accommodation at a rate of 10 points per US dollar spent. The conversion rate to other currencies is regularly fixed by Best Western.

2. Points are granted on almost all room rates, except for tours and groups, meetings and conferences, tour operator and wholesale rates, Best Western Rewards free nights, price line and other auction sites, hotel-contracted rates (e.g. extended stay), and crew, employee and travel industry discounts.

3. If the point calculation is not electronically conducted at the hotel, then the member receives a proof of points issued.

4. Points are issued on checkout. A subsequent point allocation is only possible within 6 months, if a copy of the hotel invoice is sent to your Best Western Rewards Service Centre.

5. Points are not issued, if the stay is paid for by Best Western Rewards Card points or a Free-Night Voucher.

6. No points are allocated for restaurant consumption, parking, or other services, unless stated otherwise.

7. Points are only credited to the member, regardless of who actually pays.

8. The points cannot be transferred to another account. Members cannot add their points together.

9. If the member is part of a group, then the points are only credited to the member personally. Points are not credited to other persons of the group.

10. A member attending a conference is only awarded points for the element of cost that is paid by the participant himself/herself. Points are not awarde for other participants.

11. If no points are collected within 12 months after the previous stay, all accumulated points will lapse.

Redeeming points

1. If the member elects a free night, the required points will be debited from his/her account by the hotel.
2. Travel Cards can be used for partial payment of hotel or restaurant accounts in all Best Western Hotels worldwide. At present, members receive $ 15/ 12 euro per 5,000 points, $ 25/20 euro per 6,500 points, $ 50/40 euro per 12,000 points.
3. Unless arranged otherwise, points cannot be utilized in combination with cash payments, special offers, coupons, or other special offers.
4. A free-night stay has to be reserved in advance and requested at the time of reservation.
5. Free nights can be taken up at all Best Western Hotels according to availability. These are valid for one to two persons in a single or double room (including breakfast in some countries), on any day of the week. Free nights cannot be combined with any other promotional offers.
6. Travel Cards and Free-Night Vouchers can be ordered via Internet at www.bestwesternrewards.com.
7. The validity of Travel Cards is unlimited. Free-Night Vouchers are valid for 6 months; this period of validity cannot be extended.
8. Travel Cards/Free-Night Vouchers which are not used cannot be paid out in cash.

Platinum and Diamond membership

1. As soon as a member has spent 15 nights within a calendar year in Best Western Hotels, the membership is automatically upgraded to Platinum, and after 30 nights within a calendar year automatically to Diamond.
2. In order to retain the Platinum or Diamond status beyond a calendar year, the member must spend 15 or 30 nights in Best Western Hotels respectively within the 12 months period.
3. Membership upgrades are confirmed by the issue of new Platinum or Diamond Cards by Best Western.
4. The advantages for Platinum or Diamond members can vary from hotel to hotel. The basic advantages are listed in the brochure accompanying the Cards. In order to make use of the advantages, a reservation reference has to be made to the particular status and the Card has to be displayed at check-in.
5. Best Western retains the right at all times to change the conditions for Platinum and Diamond members.
   

Data Protection and Privacy Policy

By signing the Card you give your consent that Best Western Hotels and

their business partners in the framework of the Best Western Rewards Programme may utilize and use your personal data to manage the programme’s activities and communications. You are free not to disclose this client data. However, in this case it may not be possible to deliver you the benefits of the Rewards Programme. The Rewards Programme is a worldwide programme, which allows you to obtain your advantages nearly all over the world. We must have the possibility to exchange or share our client information with Best Western International, Inc. and the corporations belonging thereto (BWI corporations) so that these advantages can be delivered in other countries with Best Western Hotels. We would also like to have the possibility to share customer information with particularly selected partner corporations (marketing partners) to offer you additional services or assist us in offering you additional services as a Best Western Rewards member. The headquarters of some BWI companies and marketing partners are located outside EU (Switzerland). Whenever we transfer your personal customer information to them or make it available to them, one of the following conditions is respected: (1) a company is located in a country committed to implementing regulations on data privacy protection in order to provide an appropriate level of protection (like e.g. Canada, EU) or (2) we have conducted appropriate examination to ensure that the company in question implements the necessary measures to guarantee the protection of your confidential information. You can check the customer information which we have stored for you on the Internet under www.bestwesternrewards.com. You can access and change the customer data we have stored for you by logging onto your personal account on www.bestwesternrewards.com or by calling your Best Western Rewards Service Centre. However, please remember that we or our marketing partners may then be unable to provide you with certain services. Should we wish to change the manner we treat confidential information, we shall contact you via the data given by you prior to this to obtain your consent.

Liability exclusion

If the use of the Card is restricted by occurrences which are subject to an act of God, such as strikes, fire, war, and the like, Best Western cannot be held liable. All information was valid on printing in January 2010. Best Western cannot be held liable for changes after printing or for printing errors.