According to The Gate, Doctor of Credit and Flyertalk, it looks like Best Western has sneakily devalued their loyalty program. Whereas the maximum for hotels used to be 36,000 points per night, now it appears that some hotels are at 40,000, 56,000 or even 70,000 points / night (!). Here’s one from London
and 2 from New York
They might need to adjust their FAQ, which still says 36,000!
It appeared from my searching that the number of points depends on the season as I was seeing the same hotel cost different amounts for different dates.
No notice devaluations are the worst
While we all know that miles and points are a deflationary currency and that you shouldn’t “hold on” to your miles (earn em and burn em!), a no-notice devaluation is really craven and a horrible message to anyone who would think about participating in an airline or hotel’s loyalty program.
I’m not sure anything tops the no-notice Hertz devaluation back while they were ACTIVELY MARKETING THE PRE-DEVALUATION PRICES THROUGH DAILY GETAWAYS (though thankfully they adjusted their Daily Getaways promo after tons of feedback).
I understand that it is necessary (or at least customary) to adjust the prices and categories of award redemption as hotels become more or less popular, and I don’t have (too much of) a problem with it as long as it is done in a timely fashion with appropriate notice given to loyalty members. Doing it without notice is sneaky to the extreme!
The lesson as always – make sure and use your miles and points in a timely fashion!
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
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