Best Western Rewards becomes WorldHotels Rewards on 5 Jan 2027, with three membership tiers instead of five
BWH Hotels is folding Best Western Rewards and WorldHotels Rewards into one program, WorldHotels Rewards, from 5 January 2027. Points keep their value and still do not expire; the tier rules arrive on 16 November 2026.
In this article
Best Western's parent company, BWH Hotels, is renaming itself WorldHotels and merging its two loyalty programs into one. From 5 January 2027, Best Western Rewards and WorldHotels Rewards become a single program called WorldHotels Rewards, with about 70 million members between them. The company announced it on 27 October 2026; the details that matter most come on 16 November 2026.
What is confirmed
| Today | From 5 Jan 2027 | |
|---|---|---|
| Program name | Best Western Rewards and WorldHotels Rewards (two programs) | WorldHotels Rewards (one program) |
| Membership tiers | Five: an entry tier (Blue at Best Western, Red at WorldHotels), then Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Diamond Select | Three, names not yet announced |
| Points | Do not expire | Members keep their existing points value; points still do not expire |
The press release says the merged program protects "points that never expire", member rates and status matching. AwardWallet and The Points Guy both report the same 5 January launch, the move to three tiers and the 16 November detail date.
What is not known yet
- How the current tiers map to the new three. Today there are five levels (an entry tier plus four elite tiers), so at least two of them have to merge. Neither the company nor any outlet has said which ones, or what it will take to earn each new tier.
- Earn and redemption rates. Nothing has been announced on whether award prices or the earn rate change.
- What happens to the Best Western co-brand credit cards. No source we checked mentions them. If you hold one, watch for a notice from the issuer rather than assuming the card's earn rate carries over unchanged.
What to do now
- Do not rush to burn points. Your balance keeps its value and does not expire, so there is no deadline forcing a redemption before 5 January.
- Check back after 16 November. That is when the tier thresholds and benefits arrive. If you are close to the next Best Western tier, the new rules will tell you whether the last few stays of 2026 are worth it.
- Treat hotel points as one option, not the default. Best Western points are not a transfer partner of any card in our catalog, so they only make sense if you already stay with the brand.
Weighing where your card points go furthest instead? CardPolo's transfer partner explorer shows which airline and hotel programs your points move to and at what ratio, so you can compare before you commit.
Sources
Every claim on this page is backed by a primary or reputable source.
Card figures on CardPolo come from our catalog, each with an issuer source and a verified date where we have checked it. Spot something out of date? Tell us at [email protected].
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