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Wyndham Rewards points are popular with some award travelers as you can unlock free hotel nights starting at 7,500 points. However, if you’re not careful, you could lose them. Wyndham points expire if you don’t have regular account activity. Worse yet, they also have a hard expiration date based on when you earn them — even if you stay active!
Here’s how Wyndham Rewards’ expiration rules work, how to keep your points safe, and why it’s smart to plan ahead if you’re sitting on a large balance.
Do Wyndham Points Expire?
Wyndham Rewards points expire if you have no activity on your account for 18 months. Per the Wyndham Rewards terms and conditions page, section I.14:
“All accrued points in a Member's Wyndham Rewards account may be cancelled or forfeited if the Member has no Account Activity (as defined below) for a period of approximately, but never less than, eighteen (18) consecutive months.”
However, that is not the whole story. Wyndham points also have a finite lifespan, regardless of account activity. Wyndham points expire four years after the checkout date of the stay for which the points were earned. Again, per the Wyndham Rewards terms in section I.14:
“Except as may otherwise be required under applicable law, Wyndham Rewards points expire four (4) years after the checkout date of the stay for which the applicable points are posted to the Member's account (the “Four Year Rule”), unless the points are forfeited or cancelled earlier due to membership inactivity (as more particularly described below), or otherwise in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.”
So, your Wyndham points will expire if you don't have any qualifying account activity for 18 months. But even if you keep your account active, your points will still expire four years after you checked out of the stay during which you earned the points.
Track your points and miles expiration for 630+ loyalty programs and get email alerts before your miles expire by signing up for a free AwardWallet account.
How to Keep Your Wyndham Account Active
Per the Wyndham Rewards terms and conditions, “account activity” means any point earning, redemption, or transfer activity involving a change in your Wyndham Rewards point balance. Activity even includes a stay posting to your account, even if it doesn't earn points.
With such a wide range of options, it is effortless to prevent your Wyndham points from expiring. Let's show you how.
Earning Wyndham points
You have multiple options to earn Wyndham Rewards points, and not all involve stays at a property. You can earn points in all of the following ways and keep your points balance alive:
- Stay at Wyndham properties.
- Spend on one of the following credit cards:
- Buy Wyndham Rewards points. You can purchase a maximum of 100,000 points per year.
- Rent cars with Avis.
- Shop online through the Wyndham Rewards shopping portal.
- Book Viator tours and activities, earning up to 10 points per $1 spent.
- Purchase food with Home Chef.
- Take surveys through the Opinion Rewards Panel.
Any of these activities should prevent your Wyndham points from expiring due to the 18-month activity rule. However, you'll still need to redeem your Wyndham points before they expire four years after you earned them.
Redeeming Wyndham points
There are multiple options to redeem Wyndham Rewards points. You can redeem your Wyndham points for any of the following activities:
- Stays at Wyndham properties, including Wyndham Vacation Club properties
- Stays at Vacasa vacation rental properties.
- Transfer points to Caesars Rewards to redeem for stays, free play, or more.
- Join AARP or renew your membership.
- Viator tours and activities.
- Transfer points to a host of airline partners, including American Airlines, United, Turkish, and Air Canada.
- Gift cards.
- Merchandise through the Wyndham Shop and Earn portal.
- Donate to a good cause.
By actively using your Wyndham account and redeeming points when it makes sense to do so, you will hopefully avoid any of your Wyndham points expiring four years after you earned them.
Transferring credit card points to Wyndham Rewards
You can also transfer two major credit card point currencies to Wyndham Rewards: Capital One miles and Citi ThankYou Points.
Transferring points to Wyndham will generate account activity and prevent your points from expiring due to 18 months of inactivity. Transferring credit card points to Wyndham Rewards is an excellent option if you need just a few thousand more points for a great redemption. But we generally avoid transferring points to Wyndham since you lose substantial value when doing so.
Can You Reinstate Expired Wyndham Points?
Wyndham Rewards doesn't publicly say whether you can reinstate your points once they expire. But most indicators are that reinstating expired Wyndham points isn't permitted — at least officially.
However, there are multiple data points online that if some of your points expire, a contrite call to Wyndham Rewards may result in getting your points reinstated as a gesture of goodwill.
Track Your Wyndham Points With AwardWallet
With such a complex expiration policy, having AwardWallet keep track of your Wyndham Rewards Points expiration deadlines makes life easier. That way, whether it is 18 months or four years, you will receive a timely notification, enabling you to take action and not waste your points.
All you need to do is add your Wyndham account to your AwardWallet account, and you'll start getting notifications when you have Wyndham points at risk of expiration.
Related: How to Track Your Rewards Using AwardWallet
Our Take
Keeping your Wyndham Rewards account active to avoid points expiration after 18 months of inactivity is simple, thanks to the large number of earning and redeeming options available. While Wyndham points expire four years after being earned, you have plenty of options to use them before they expire.
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