Well, Wyndham Rewards does it again.
You have been hard at work, saving up your Wyndham Rewards points to splurge on a nice aspirational getaway at an upscale resort in a beautiful location — and you have decided that a Viva Wyndham all-inclusive resort will be the perfect respite from the stresses of everyday life: unlimited food and alcoholic beverages at a location on the beach which offers multiple activities…
Viva All-Inclusive Resorts No Longer Participating in Wyndham Rewards Effective as of June 1, 2019
…until you go to the official Internet web sites of each of the eight Viva Wyndham all-inclusive resort properties and read the words “Please note: This resort will no longer participate in Wyndham Rewards as of June 1, 2019.”
The list of Viva Wyndham all-inclusive resort properties which will no longer participate in the Wyndham Rewards frequent guest loyalty program — meaning that you can no longer earn or use points, as well as earn stays towards elite level status for next year — include:
- Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach
- Viva Wyndham Dominicus Palace
- Viva Wyndham Tangerine
- Viva Wyndham V Samaná
- Viva Wyndham V Heavens
- Viva Wyndham Maya
- Viva Wyndham Azteca
- Viva Wyndham Fortuna Beach
Another Sneaky Move?
Anyone who purchased 15,000 Wyndham Rewards points for $175.00 during the recent Daily Getaways sale on Wednesday, May 8, 2019 likely had no idea that this devaluation would occur — and with little notice — so if you purchased those points with the expressly specific intent of using those points at one of the eight Viva Wyndham all-inclusive resort properties, you are out of luck…
…and you might think that you could maybe use them at one of those eight Viva Wyndham all-inclusive resort properties prior to Saturday, June 1, 2019. Even if the property is not already sold out, you will have to incur more expensive airfares and other possibly increased expenses for booking your reservations within a week.
Forget about it.
Past Moves Perceived as Untrustworthy From Wyndham Rewards
Wyndham Rewards is a frequent guest loyalty program which has had a history of not being upfront with alerting its members of devaluations and changes of the terms and conditions of promotions while they are in effect — blindsiding its members with seemingly arbitrary changes to its promotions with little or no notice.
Two examples are when the number of Wyndham Rewards frequent guest loyalty program points needed to convert to airline frequent flier loyalty program miles had doubled; and at least one hotel property was “upgraded” to a new redemption level known as Tier 9. Both perceived devaluations were implemented immediately within four days of each other — and with no notice, announcement or advance warning of any sort whatsoever.
Also with no advance notice or announcement, a redemption increase of almost 282 percent was reported in January of 2013 for the Wingate by Wyndham Manhattan Midtown located on West 35 Street in New York.
More recently, a bizarre promotion from Wyndham Rewards was cancelled before it even started, with which if you donate all of your Starpoints to charity, you will earn quadruple the amount of Wyndham Rewards points in return; and you would also receive a match to your current elite level status in the Starwood Preferred Guest program.
Other articles which highlight questionable actions from Wyndham include:
- Why You Should Transfer Your La Quinta Returns Points to Wyndham Rewards Now
- Wyndham Rewards Welcomes LaQuinta — But Reward Chart Changes
- Wyndham Rewards Changed Promotion Rules on Its Members Without Notice — Again?
- How Important to You is Your Trust in a Frequent Travel Loyalty Program? The Wyndham Rewards Debacle
Portfolio of Hotel and Resort Brands
The 19 hotel and resort brands which participate in the Wyndham Rewards frequent guest loyalty program — excluding partner, club, vacation or destination properties — include:
- Wyndham Hotels and Resorts
- Wyndham Grand Hotels and Resorts
- Dolce Hotels and Resorts
- TRYP by Wyndham
- Esplendor Boutique Hotels
- Dazzler Hotels
- Trademark Collection by Wyndham
- La Quinta
- Wingate by Wyndham
- Wyndham Garden Hotels
- Hawthorn Suites
- AmericInn
- Ramada
- Baymont Inn & Suites
- Microtel Inns and Suites
- Days Inn
- Super 8
- Howard Johnson
- Travelodge
Summary
Although some viable options do exist, let’s face it: how many people go out of their way to save up enough points to stay at a Super 8, a Days Inn, a Travelodge, a Howard Johnson, or a Ramada hotel property? Even some of the Wyndham hotel properties are middling in quality at best.
After reading about the past history of some promotions, would you participate in it while remaining confident that the rules, terms and conditions of the promotion will be completely honored?
Trust is an implicit act on our part in everyday life. Many times in a single day, we automatically trust many things without even realizing it or stopping to think about it: that the bridge we drive over will not fall into the water below; that the cars we drive are not defective; that the commercial airplanes on which we fly as passengers are safe enough to transport us to our destination; and that the terminal of the airport will not collapse on us while we are waiting for our flights…
…and we trust that the frequent travel loyalty program miles and points which we earn will be valuable enough to redeem for an award which we will actually want. Otherwise, why would we even bother being members of them? Why would we go through the trouble of earning, tracking and redeeming frequent flier loyalty program miles and points; and what would be the point of earning elite level status if the benefits that were promised once that status was earned were suddenly eliminated without warning?
It is important to note that loyalty — a form of allegiance or support — does not automatically equate to trust; but speaking for myself, I certainly cannot be “loyal” to anyone or anything I do not trust. It is one thing to earn loyalty, in my opinion — but earning trust is completely different altogether. You can have trust without loyalty — but you cannot have loyalty without trust.
I would advise that those who administer frequent travel loyalty programs — the term perhaps a misnomer in and of itself — clearly know and understand the differences between loyalty and trust with regard to their members. If this poll is any indication, it could mean the difference between retaining and losing a customer…
…but you can bet on one thing for certain: no matter how good of a frequent guest loyalty program Wyndham Rewards might be to some people, I have not — and still do not — trust it enough to be interested in participating in it.
What may be of no surprise to you is that I never received the courtesy of a response when I contacted the office of the senior vice president of worldwide loyalty and partnerships at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts with a request for an interview…
Photograph ©2017 by Brian Cohen.
