Best Western’s promotional offers tend to be underwhelming. This one is no exception.

Offer Details

Through January 29, 2017, Best Western Rewards members can earn a $10 Best Western gift card after every qualifying stay. Stays booked through an online travel agency or tour operator are not eligible.

Registration is required.

Deal or No Deal

There are two conspicuous negatives with this offer.

First is the $10 rebate. Even given Best Western’s generally low rates, that’s not a particularly compelling value proposition. Assuming nightly rates between $50 and $100, the rebate for a one-night stay amounts to a 10 to 20 percent discount on a future stay. Those percentages drop quickly for multiple-night stays.

Making a weak offer even weaker is the fact that the rebate is in the form of Best Western gift card. Gift cards in general are less valuable than cash, because they’re less convenient to use. And a gift card that can only be used for a future Best Western stay, and must be redeemed within 120 days of issue, is even less likely to be utilized than a generic gift card.

By all means, register for this promotion if you already have an upcoming Best Western stay. There’s no reason not to. But if you haven’t already committed to Best Western, a $10 gift card is too paltry an incentive to be a difference-maker.

After 20 years working in the travel industry, and almost that long writing about it, Tim Winship knows a thing or two about travel. Follow him on Twitter @twinship.

This article first appeared on SmarterTravel.com, where Tim is Editor-at-Large.