Ah, Best Western.

Does it get more American than that?

They aren’t known for luxury, but they do have some nice hotels all over the world.

Today they sent me an email offer that I haven’t seen before for their credit card:

This is better than the current public offer, which is the same but without the $40 statement credit.

Pros?

It’s nice that there is no minimum spend to get that initial 16k points.

Not many cards give you a bonus for making just one purchase (here’s a list of them).

The automatic Gold status is nice, and this card doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee.

Cons?

Outside the 40 bucks, the 16k bonus points will only get you one night at a category 3 property, which Doctor of Credit notes is worth probably around $100.

Free nights start at 8k points for category 1 and go up to 36k for category 8.

At best you might get ~$350 in sign-up bonus value out of this card, which I would consider a mediocre bonus.

One important con? You might not get approved for this card if you have many new accounts on your credit report, according to Doctor of Credit.

I hate wasting hard credit pulls, so I’m not going to apply for this card.

Worth considering?

If you stay at Best Westerns somewhat frequently, this card would be nice to have for the free Gold status alone, and the bonus of up to 32k points could be four free nights at a category 1 property.

With that said, here are 15 cards I think are more valuable.

This card is issued by First National Bank of Omaha, and they do have a higher level Best Western credit card that has an annual fee and an opportunity for a bigger bonus.

If you’ve applied for a card from FNBO, I’d love to hear your results.