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Wyndham Rewards has introduced experiential rewards to its lineup of redemption options; the new awards are called Wyndham Auctions. It is the third hotel group in the last few months to add experiential rewards after Hyatt introduced experiential rewards in April, and Marriott announced them earlier this month. The new rewards will operate in two different ways; some rewards will be auctioned off to the highest points bidder, while others will operate as simple sweepstakes.
The Sweepstakes
The sweepstakes are straightforward, and works as follows:
- Entry to the sweepstakes cost 100 points
- You can submit as many entries as you like per day
With the introduction of the sweepstakes, Wyndham has also unveiled its first package, and it is an impressive offer: The Caesars Entertainment Las Vegas VIP Experience which takes place between October 6-8, 2017. The prize includes the following:
- Roundtrip tickets for two to Las Vegas from the nearest airport to winner’s place of residence
- Two nights in a Augustus Strip View Room at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas
- VIP Check-In and Hospitality Host during your stay
- Two VIP tickets to Jennifer Lopez’s “All I Have” show
- Meet & Greet for two people with Jennifer Lopez
- $400 dinner voucher for two at one of the following restaurants:
- Gordon Ramsay Steak at Paris
- Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill at Caesars Palace
- Giada’s at The Cromwell
Auction Rewards
The auction rewards are also pretty impressive; the auctions will operate as follows:
- Bidding will start at between 3,000 and 10,000 Wyndham Points
- Bidding is increased in 500-point increments
- Members can enter as many different auctions as they like
- Auctions will be 2 to 3 weeks in duration
- Wyndham will upload 25-30 new experiences every month
Wyndham categorizes its Auction Rewards into four different categories:
- Sport
- Fun
- Travel
- Entertainment
Wyndham has gotten off to a good start with tickets for Elton John in Las Vegas, to an observer experience at the Wyndham Championship golf tournament available at auction. We expect to see this expand — who knows if it'll end up at the caliber that we see with SPG Moments.
Our Take
Although Wyndham is not one of our top names in hotel loyalty programs, it nevertheless has 7,800 properties worldwide. Their loyalty program prices all award stays at 15,000 points per night at every one of its properties. If you want to pick up some additional Wyndham points, look to Wyndham Rewards Earner® Plus Card. The card is currently running with a top signup bonus, which is enough for up to multiple nights at any Wyndham property, or you can spend your points on some great Wyndham Auctions.
Source: The Points Guy
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Interesting to see what new ideas for points Wyndham has coming. Likely everything good will be big points. Good for experiences if they are really worth it. I have tried to get tickets through SPG auction for shows in NYC. Never been successful. Always out bid by some ridiculous #. Best value IMO is to redeem nights @ best properties
I bid a bit more than I should have on a stay and I was still outbid. I will probably stick to regular redemptions.
I’ve never made a redemption for something else than on stay with hotel points (except conversion to miles with Marriott/SPG).
Of course if you have lots of points and you don’t know what to do you can also use the points differently.
I suppose any additional redemption opportunities are always welcome, but personally I prefer to use for hotel nights. Having said that I’m not a big fan on Wyndham.
I second the comments above. It is usually a very bad idea to redeem points on these “auctions” and “experiences” and I don’t know anyone who does!
SPG Auctions has been kind to me — I still think it is the gold standard of the auction and experiences programs out there: https://awardwallet.com/blog/marriott-bonvoy-moments-guide/
I have some Wyndham points. So far haven’t used any. I’ll keep building them since I like staying at their properties. I just don’t earn enough all the time to want to use them for experiences. I can imagine people who stay freq with them can really use this or have their credit card and want to get something extra. Maybe they are more lucky than me…does anyone else find it hard to win something? lol!
Wow I never knew Wyndham had a credit card.
Maybe I’ll pick one up this time.
I suppose if you have some odd hundred points sitting in your account doing nothing it would be ok but seriously what are the chances of winning anything in these new offers.
Craziness sets in with point entrysweepstakes. People get caught up in the want to win and forget about value.
sweeptakes are always a blackhole of points…
Sweepstakes with your points is a terrible way to waste them!
I agree with most of the comments — sweepstakes are a very poor use of points. I would only redeem for a sweepstakes if I had no other option and my points were about to expire.
Like the auction idea…hate the sweepstakes idea.
I dont stay too often at wyndham so this honestly seems like a better deal than trying to get 15k worth of points to redeem. Might try it sometime!
I have never used points from any program for sweepstakes. What are the chances of winning?
I bid on two nights in Clearwater and the bidding quickly got out of control. The room can basically be booked for what the bid is presently at.
I’m glad to see more options being added. I just hope their packages are consistently good instead of just a way to entice people to buy into their program
Wyndham Rewards is an underrated hotel program. Yes, they have a lot of cheap rooms for which 15,000 points would be a poor redemption value; however, with my 15,000 anniversary points each year as a cardholder, that free night equivalent still offsets the annual fee even at the lower end.
*The card has since reduced the 15,000 anniversary points to 6,000, but it now gives you plantium status.
Like you said, the 15k flat price means there are some great and some terrible redemptions.
I’d still prefer to use my points on stays. There’s definitely value to be had with Wyndham in their better properties. Obviously 99% of their redemption are poor if you were to use them, but some make perfect sense and add tremendous value.
LOL, the sweepstakes are a good way to get absolutely zero return on one’s points. Great for Wyndham, terrible for members.
Yeah… a ‘chance’… what chance exactly?! 1 in a million?
I’m with you on that one. I always avoid redeeming any type of points for sweepstakes unless it requires no points for entering.
It’s better than having a pile of points that are very difficult to redeem. The more offerings to use your points the better