Pay with points on Best Western

The Brief

Enhance the customer experience

The goal was to enhance the customer experience by allowing Best Western's loyal customers to conveniently pay for their stay using rewards points, either partially or in full. Our task was to design and develop a user-friendly landing page that was accessible only to logged-in rewards members, enabling them to search for their desired stay and proceed to checkout using their accrued rewards points.

Solution

A new API

We implemented a solution that integrated directly with Best Western’s availability database through a newly developed API. This API allowed us to create a restricted landing page that was exclusive to rewards members. The page was designed to facilitate seamless searches across all Best Western hotels, highlighting stays eligible for payment with points at variable rates. This functionality was supported by two new Azure functions.

Further, we enhanced the user experience on the landing page using three additional helper functions. These functions dynamically displayed relevant rates based on multiple factors such as hotel availability, room type, board type, and the user’s rewards points balance. As users proceeded to checkout, our system logic determined which of three checkout variants to display, ensuring that the reservation details were accurately presented based on how much the user paid with points versus cash.

Results

An innovative landing page

The introduction of a dedicated, gated landing page provided Best Western with a versatile platform to display tailored content, images, FAQs, and promotional material. The integrated search function allowed users to effortlessly explore and select from available options at their chosen hotel. A rates table was introduced to show costs in either points alone or a combination of points and currency, depending on the user’s accumulated points.

This streamlined booking process, while technically allowing bookings at two different rates within a single transaction, appeared to users as a seamless single booking experience. To enhance user interaction, we added a slider that let customers choose how many points to use, automatically updating their checkout summary and the remaining cash payment required. All transaction data was meticulously collated and passed back to Best Western’s database, ensuring all details of the stay were accurately recorded and utilised for ongoing customer relationship management.