Like many frequent travelers, I hardly give Wyndham Rewards much thought in the miles and points world. I find the Wyndham hotel brands useful when road tripping in rural places around the USA and sometimes a low priced Ramada pops up in some international city where I need a room, but generally I find more compelling hotel deals in urban areas with other chains like IHG, Starwood, Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton. Most of the Wyndham Rewards points I ever had were purchased through the U.S. Travel Association Daily Getaways. Wyndham Rewards did not participate in the five week sale last year.
That being said, Wyndham Rewards received my vote for most improved hotel loyalty program in 2015 with its introduction of Wyndham Go Fast and Go Free rewards.
Earning Points with Wyndham Rewards is hard when you don’t stay at Wyndham hotel brands
This post describes Go Fast and Go Free reward options in Wyndham Rewards and looks at Wyndham Rewards bonus point room rates to earn up to 2,000 extra points per hotel stay. There are some good deals with GoFast and GoFree rewards, but earning Wyndham Rewards points is hard when you don’t want to stay in lower market hotels like Super 8, Travelodge and Days Inn. Booking Best Available Rate with points is an option to accelerate points earning in Wyndham Rewards with fewer stays.
I thought bonus points packages might be a new feature of Wyndham Rewards, but then I saw that I wrote about them on Loyalty Traveler in 2013.
Wyndham Rewards website display Feb 8, 2016.
Wyndham Rewards has an offer prominently displayed on its website for 2,000 bonus points on 2-night midweek stays and 1,000 bonus points on one-night midweek stays and 500 bonus points for weekend stays.
Howard Johnson Express Inn Monterey Seaside
- Best Available Rate = $55.00 ($125.20 after tax)
- Best Available Rate + 2,000 points = $55.00 ($125.20 after tax).
- Advance Purchase-nonrefundable = $46.75 ($106.72 after tax).
Basically you can buy 2,000 bonus points for about $18.50 when staying two nights paying $55 per night at this Howard Johnson motel. The deal is not that these Wyndham Rewards points are cheap. The deal is that you can earn more points by paying a small charge equivalent to the price paid when buying Wyndham Rewards points through Points.com – but with no annual purchase limit of 5,000 points in a calendar year.
Wyndham Rewards Hotel Brands
- Wyndham – Upper Upscale
- Wyndham Grand – Upper Upscale
- Dolce Resorts – Upper Upscale
- Wyndham Garden – Upper Midscale
- Ramada Plaza – Upper Midscale
- Tryp by Wyndham – Upper Midscale (primarily outside USA in Europe and Latin America)
- Ramada – Midscale
- Baymont Inn & Suites – Midscale
- Wingate by Wyndham – Midscale
- Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham – Midscale
- Days Inn – Economy
- Howard Johnson – Economy
- Knights Inn – Economy
- Microtel Inn – Economy
- Super 8 – Economy
- Travelodge – Economy
Wyndham Rewards Go Fast and Go Free Rewards
Go Free Rewards mean any hotel worldwide is 15,000 points for one free night. Wyndham Rewards has over 7,500 hotels worldwide, the largest number of hotel properties of any hotel chain.
Go Fast Rewards are capacity controlled reward rates for 3,000 Wyndham Rewards points plus a cash copay from $25 to $150 per night.
Go Free Rewards
The introduction of Go Free Rewards in May 2015 had the effect of raising the cost for a free night at thousands of Wyndham hotels, especially Travelodge, Days Inn and Super 8 hotels to a higher reward price at 15,000 points. Wyndham Rewards previous structure had hotel rewards at 5,500 points; 8,000 points; 10,000 points and 14,000 points for many properties. The consumer benefit impact was Wyndham Rewards hotels that had been priced at 16,000; 20,000; 25,000 and 30,000 points became cheaper at 15,000 points. In effect, Wyndham Rewards points increased in value at certain high-end hotels.
Ramada Engelberg, Switzerland is regularly over $200 USD per night in July or 15,000 points with a GoFree reward using Wyndham Rewards points.
Go Free Rewards make top hotels globally in the Wyndham family affordable at 15,000 points per night. This is 50% of the reward rate for many of the finest hotels in the system. There are some nice Wyndham Resorts and Dolce Resorts in the USA and around the world. All these hotels are 15,000 points per reward night.
Go Fast Rewards
Go Fast Rewards started as a great deal last May 2015 when the highest copay was $95. Apparently too good a deal for many hotels where it was possible to save $150 to $200 per night with 3,000 Wyndham Rewards points. Now there are many hotels with $150 copay and many more with $95 copay and these high copay amounts generally make many hotels not that much of savings compared to paying a points earning room rate.
Buy Wyndham Rewards Points
Wyndham Rewards has the most restrictive points purchase program of all the U.S.-based loyalty programs with an annual limit of 5,000 points in a calendar year. You can buy 5,000 Wyndham Rewards points in a calendar year for $55.00.
Getting High Redemption Value from Wyndham Rewards GoFast Rewards
The ability to buy Wyndham Rewards points for about $10 per 1,000 points through hotel stays with Best Available Rate + 1,000 or 2,000 points pays off with the potential cash savings booking GoFast Rewards with high redemption value at some hotels.
Ramada Inn Hotels in Switzerland
Switzerland is one place where I see great value for Wyndham Rewards points. There are seven locations with Ramada Inn hotels with winter and summer peak season mountain air prices. All these hotels are 15,000 points for a GoFree reward night. There are also some deals using GoFast rewards.
Ramada in the Swiss Alps with high July room rates
- Room Rate = 148.75 CHF ($150.75 USD)
- Go Free = 15,000 points ($10 per 1,000 points redemption value)
- Go Fast = 3,000 points + 77 CHF ($78.03 USD) ($24 per 1,000 points redemption value)
An even higher category room than the 148.75 CHF room is available with GoFast and GoFree rates. The redemption value could actually be compared to the 215 CHF best flexible rate for a King Premium room.
Wyndham Rewards 3,000 points have $72 redemption value or $24 per 1,000 points at the conservative low category room rate. This is an example of how it can be good value to buy Wyndham Rewards points when there is a low priced bonus points rate selling points for $10 or less per 1,000 points, as shown in the Howard Johnson Express Monterey Seaside offer for BAR + 2,000 points rates.
Pick up 12,000 to 15,000 points on four to six Wyndham brand hotel stays annually and you are in a position to book four to six nights using Go Fast discount rate rewards and save all the money you spent to buy Wyndham Rewards points and more.
