As a result of Wyndham Worldwide Corporation entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the hotel franchise and hotel management businesses of La Quinta for $1.95 billion in cash back in January of 2018, you can finally officially earn and redeem Wyndham Rewards points at greater than 900 hotel properties which had participated in the La Quinta Returns frequent guest loyalty program effective as of Wednesday, April 3, 2019 at 11:59 in the evening…
Wyndham Rewards Welcomes LaQuinta — But Reward Chart Changes
…but also effective as of that date, 15,000 Wyndham Rewards points will no longer be the universal redemption rate for one GoFree reward night at greater than 30,000 hotel properties, club resort properties and vacation rental properties worldwide. Although you will still be able to redeem 15,000 Wyndham Rewards points per bedroom per night at many of the properties, the good news is that you will be able to redeem as few as 7,500 Wyndham Rewards points per night at approximately 200 hotel properties — but the bad news is that at almost 3,000 hotel and resort properties, the redemption rate increases to 30,000 Wyndham Rewards points per bedroom per night. The specific list of hotel and resort properties — as well as their redemption rates — has not yet been released.
Additionally, points + cash redemptions — which are also known as GoFast reward nights — are structured as follows:
- 6,000 Wyndham Rewards points plus cash copay
- 3,000 Wyndham Rewards points plus cash copay
- 1,500 Wyndham Rewards points plus cash copay
More Ways to Earn Wyndham Rewards Points Than Ever
A host of new and expanded partnerships — to become effective in April of 2019 — will debut through which more ways to earn and redeem Wyndham Rewards points will be available. You can earn points for food delivery by using DoorDash; earn and redeem Wyndham Rewards points at Marathon gasoline stations; and earn and redeem Wyndham Rewards points when booking tours and activities around the globe with Viator.
The Wyndham Rewards program will also unveil a new shopping portal, which will enable you to earn Wyndham Rewards points on purchases with thousands of retailers.
Earn Extra Points on Stays With Elite Level Status
In addition to new earn and redeem partners, members of Wyndham Rewards who have earned Gold, Platinum and Diamond elite level status will be able to earn extra Wyndham Rewards points on qualified stays with the introduction of accelerated earn, which replaces point bonuses that were previously awarded annually for Platinum and Diamond members:
- Gold elite members will earn 10 percent more in base Wyndham Rewards points
- Platinum elite members will earn 15 percent more in base Wyndham Rewards points
- Diamond elite members will earn 20 percent more in base Wyndham Rewards points
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
Raise your hand if you thought that the universal redemption rate of 15,000 Wyndham Rewards points per reward night was going to last for a long time.
Uh huh…yep…I did not think so.
When members earn their points at lower-end hotel properties and redeem them at what could be considered aspirational hotel and resort properties, that potentially creates an imbalance through which the member benefits significantly — and we cannot have that happen now, can we?!?
That the universal redemption rate of 15,000 Wyndham Rewards points per reward night lasted approximately four years — regardless of hotel or resort property — is in and of itself longer than probably anyone expected.
Members of the Wyndham Rewards program who like to redeem their points at lower-end hotel properties — essentially saving half the number of points per night — benefit the most with the announced changes; while members who enjoyed earning points at lower-end hotel properties and see the rate double for the most expensive aspirational hotel and resort properties will lose out the most.
Staying at many of the lower-end hotel properties is not worth the effort, in my opinion — I have stayed at a few of them over the years, which were barely one level above being dingy and dumpy places — but at least Wyndham divested itself of the Knights Inn brand.
Whatever you might think about the changes which were announced, remember that we are discussing the frequent guest loyalty program in which a number of members have lost trust — such as when the following shenanigans occurred with no notice, announcement or advance warning of any sort whatsoever to members:
- Wyndham Rewards changed the rules on this promotion in February of 2018
- The number of Wyndham Rewards frequent guest loyalty program points needed to convert to airline frequent flier loyalty program miles had doubled
- At least one hotel property was “upgraded” to a new redemption level known as Tier 9
- 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
- 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
Photograph ©2017 by Brian Cohen.
