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Wyndham Rewards is the loyalty program for the Wyndham Hotel Group. Covering 24 brands and encompassing over 9,000 hotels across 95 countries, Wyndham Rewards is one of the largest hotel loyalty programs in the world. That's despite not getting the attention of peers like Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors — or even World of Hyatt with a much smaller global footprint — in the rewards world.
Does Wyndham Rewards merit your attention? Why is it seemingly overlooked? Here's everything you should know about this loyalty program.
Page Contents
Wyndham Rewards Overview
The rapid growth of Wyndham Rewards can be attributed to its unique approach to earning and redeeming rewards points:
- go free: When you use Wyndham Rewards points for a free night stay. Free nights cost 7,500, 15,000, or 30,000 points.
- go fast: You can use 3,000 Wyndham Rewards points as partial payment to pay for a room at participating hotels.
- go get ‘em: Members will earn 10 points per dollar or a minimum of 1,000 points, whichever is more.
Wyndham Rewards has had four elite tiers since 2016: Blue, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. And while you can always redeem your Wyndham Rewards points at the many Wyndham hotels, you also can redeem your points for Vacasa vacation rentals and condos.
Wyndham Brands
Wyndham Rewards has 24 brands under its umbrella at which members can redeem points.
- AmericInn
- Baymont Inn & Suites
- Days Inn
- Dazzler by Wyndham
- Dolce
- EchoSuites Extended Stay by Wyndham
- Esplendor
- Hawthorn Suites
- Howard Johnson
- La Quinta
- Microtel Inn & Suites
- Ramada
- Ramada Encore
- Registry Collection
- Super 8
- Trademark Collection
- Travelodge
- TRYP by Wyndham
- Vienna House
- Wingate By Wyndham
- Wyndham Alltra
- Wyndham Hotels & Resorts
- Wyndham Garden Hotels
- Wyndham Grand Collection
Wyndham Rewards members also can redeem their points for vacation rentals through Wyndham Vacations as well as Vacasa vacation rentals, at a rate of 15,000 points per bedroom per night.
Wyndham Rewards Elite Status
Wyndham Rewards has four elite tiers:
- Blue: Awarded when you join Wyndham Rewards
- Gold: Requires 5 nights
- Platinum: Requires 15 nights
- Diamond: Requires 40 nights
Here's a look at the perks that you get with each level of Wyndham Rewards elite status:
The perks at Blue and Gold are not overly valuable, although Gold-level members do receive late checkout when available.
When reaching the Platinum level, members will receive early check-in, a Caesars Rewards status match, and also car rental upgrades with Budget and Avis.
Members who achieve Diamond level status can expect similar rental upgrades to Platinum members, a welcome amenity, suite upgrades (including on award nights), and the ability to gift Gold status to a friend or family member each year.
Additionally, the Wyndham Rewards co-branded cards from Barclays provide complimentary status to cardholders:
- Wyndham Rewards Earner® Card: Gold status
- Wyndham Rewards Earner® Plus Card: Platinum status
- Wyndham Rewards® Earner℠ Business Card: Diamond status
Earning Wyndham Rewards Points
If you primarily earn points through hotel stays, Wyndham Rewards offers a high return on your spending. Wyndham members earn a minimum of 1,000 points per qualifying stay or 10 points per dollar spent — whichever is higher.
Wyndham Rewards credit cards
Wyndham offers several co-branded credit cards through Barclays:
Wyndham Earner Card
- Earn 60,000 Bonus Points after spending $2,000 on purchases in the first 90 days.
- Earn 5x points on Hotels By Wyndham and gas purchases.
- Earn 2x points on eligible dining and grocery purchases (excluding Target® and Walmart®).
- Earn 1x points on all other purchases.
- Automatically receive Wyndham Rewards gold status.
- Earn 7,500 bonus points each anniversary year if you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases.
- Get a 10% discount on award nights.
- No foreign transaction fees.
- $0 annual fee.
Wyndham Earner Plus Card
- Earn 90,000 bonus points after spending $2,000 on purchases in the first 90 days.
- Earn 6x points on Hotels By Wyndham and gas purchases.
- Earn 4x points on eligible dining and grocery purchases (excluding Target® and Walmart®).
- Earn 1x points on all other purchases.
- Automatically receive Wyndham Rewards Platinum status.
- Receive 7,500 bonus points each anniversary year after payment of the annual fee.
- Get a 10% discount on award nights.
- No foreign transaction fees.
- $75 annual fee.
Wyndham Earner Business Card
- Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 90 days and 25,000 bonus points after spending $12,000 on purchases within the first 365 days.
- Earn 8x points on hotels By Wyndham and gas purchases.
- Earn 5x points on eligible marketing, advertising, and utilities purchases.
- Earn 1x points on all other purchases.
- Automatically receive top-tier Wyndham Rewards Diamond status.
- Receive 15,000 bonus points each anniversary year after payment of the annual fee.
- Get a 10% discount on award nights.
- No foreign transaction fees.
- $75 annual fee.
Wyndham Rewards for meeting planners
Wyndham Rewards also offers a generous rewards program for meeting planners called go meet. The program has no minimum spending requirement and no limit to how many points you can earn. Planners will earn 1 point per dollar on all qualifying revenue including:
- Guest rooms, when there are 10 or more rooms on at least one night.
- Meeting room rental fees.
- Food and beverage charges.
The 1 point per dollar on room spending is in addition to each paying guest earning 10 points per dollar on stays at Wyndham Rewards hotels (with a minimum of 1,000 points).
Buying and gifting Wyndham Rewards points
You can buy or gift up to 200,000 Wyndham points per calendar year at $13 per 1,000 points (1.3¢ apiece). Wyndham Rewards points purchases are processed by Points.com and will not count towards bonus categories for credit card spend, so be sure to use a good daily spending credit card. Paying the full price for purchasing Wyndham points is not generally a great use of cash, since AwardWallet members typically redeem Wyndham points at 1.27¢ each.
However, Wyndham sometimes runs promotions to buy points with a discount or bonus. This can make it a bit more reasonable to buy Wyndham points, especially if you have a specific redemption in mind.
In addition to the methods above, you can earn Wyndham Rewards points for Avis and Budget car rentals, select tours and activities, online shopping purchases, and for giving your opinion through surveys. You can find the details on earning points on Wyndham’s website.
Redeeming Wyndham Rewards Points for Free Nights
Wyndham Rewards offers two different options for redeeming points. Members can choose between go free and go fast awards.
- go free: For a flat rate, members can redeem points for Wyndham hotel stays. Hotels are divided into three categories, with free nights costing 7,500, 15,000, or 30,000 points per night. Wyndham credit card holders get a 10% discount on go free redemptions.
- go fast: For just 1,500, 3,000, or 6,000 points per bedroom plus a cash copay, you can redeem for a go fast award. The amount of cash needed for a go fast award varies by hotel and can be found on the Wyndham website.
With the addition of Vacasa vacation rentals to Wyndham Rewards redemption options, members can redeem points at over 25,000 vacation rental properties. The price is solid: 15,000 points per bedroom per night when booking a vacation rental using Wyndham Rewards points. Plus, Wyndham cardholders get a 10% discount.
Related: How To Use Points and Miles for Vacation Home Rentals
Lack of Points Sharing
Wyndham doesn’t allow members to share points between their accounts. That means you can't combine balances from accounts, even within households, for hotel redemptions.
Related: Which Rewards Programs Let You Pool Points and Miles With Others for Free?
Final Thoughts
If you primarily stay at low-cost hotels, Wyndham Rewards offers fantastic value with the 1,000-point minimum earning rate on paid stays. Points can then be redeemed for a variety of different Wyndham hotels, including Vacasa vacation rentals and Wyndham's upscale brands. It's not uncommon to get upwards of 2–3 cents per point when using your Wyndham points for Vacasa vacation rentals.
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