Wyndham plans to introduce a wide-array of new features this April, from free nights at thousands of hotels starting at just 7,500 points (half their original redemption cost), to the addition of more than 900 La Quinta® hotels, to the ability to earn and redeem points with a host of new and expanded partners.
Faster Way to Free and Discounted Nights
Wyndham Rewards will begin offering three tiers for both free night redemptions (go free) and points + cash redemptions (go fast). Members will also start earning points on the cash portion of points+ cashredemptions.
- Free Nights Starting at Just 7,500 Points. Free night redemptions will be available at 7,500 points, 15,000 points, and 30,000 points, while points + cash redemptions will be available at 1,500 points + cash, 3,000 points + cash, and 6,000 points + cash, respectively.
- All redemptions will be per bedroom, per night.
- Approximately one-third of the program’s hotel portfolio—nearly 3,000 hotels—is expected to move to the more affordable 7,500 point tier while approximately 200 properties will move into the new 30,000 point tier.
Over 30,000 Hotels, Club Resorts, Vacation Rentals and Counting
Wyndham Rewards already offers one of the largest, most diverse redemption portfolios in the world and now it’s getting even bigger, from thousands of club resorts and vacation rentals to more than 900 La Quinta hotels.
Wyndham Rewards Welcomes La Quinta
La Quinta hotels will officially become a part of Wyndham Rewards on April 3. Free night redemptions will start as low as 7,500 points and with every qualified stay, members will earn 10 points per dollar spent or a minimum of 1,000 points, whichever is more.
More Ways to Earn, More Ways to Redeem
Wyndham Rewards will debut a host of new and expanded partnerships this April. Members can look forward to earning points for food delivery through DoorDash, earning and redeeming points at Marathon gas stations, and earning and redeeming points when booking tours and activities around the globe with Viator. The program will also unveil a new shopping portal, enabling members to earn points on purchases with thousands of online retailers.
Extra Points on Stays
In addition to new earn and redeem partners, Gold, Platinum and Diamond Wyndham Rewards members will be able to earn extra points on their qualified stays with the introduction of accelerated earn. Gold members will earn 10% more in base points, Platinum members will earn 15% more and Diamond members will earn 20% more. Accelerated earn replaces point bonuses, which were previously awarded annually for Platinum and Diamond members.
Most of the changes will kick in on April 3, 2019. La Quinta Returns® will officially end at 11:59 p.m. ET on April 2, 2019.
Guru’s Wrap-up
There’s some good news with the revamp of Wyndham Rewards, such as the ability to book cheaper hotels for half the price and being able to earn more points with partners. But on the other end of the spectrum, their best hotels will get twice as expensive. And that’s probably the most desirable Wyndham properties, so this is definitely a devaluation of the program. If you had plans to stay at any Wyndham properties, then you should probably book before the changes kick in.
Let me know what you think, or how this affects you.
