Wyndham Rewards is the only major loyalty program that has not had elite tiers for members. Now Wyndham Rewards adds a Gold elite level for members who stay 20 nights in a calendar year in Wyndham Rewards numerous brands.
The only benefit advertised for Gold status are bonus points awarded upon reaching 20 eligible nights in a calendar year.
How does Gold Status work?
- After staying 20 qualifying* nights in a calendar year, you’ll achieve Gold Status and automatically be rewarded with Gold Status Points that can solely be redeemed for a free night.
- The amount of Gold Status Points you have depends on the average amount you spent over the course of your 20 qualified nights.
Average spend per 20 nights
Gold Status Points earned
$100 or less 6,000
$100.01 – $150 10,000
$150.01+ 20,000
- You will earn an additional Gold Status Point bonus for every 20 qualifying nights, up to 3 bonuses in a calendar year.
- Your Gold Status will last for the remainder of the calendar year in which you achieved status as well as the following calendar year.
- You will continue to earn your regular Rewards points on every qualifying night you stay. Again, your Gold Status Points may only be redeemed for a free night; however, your regular Rewards points can be redeemed for free nights, gift cards, merchandise & more.
Basically the only published benefit for Gold members are bonus points earned after staying 20 nights. The amount of points depends on the average spend for the stays.
6,000 bonus points that can only be used for free room redemption and expire four months after issuance if not redeemed is not much to get excited about. That is like a $60 bonus value after spending up to $2,000.
Spend over $3,000 for your 20 nights and the 20,000 bonus points is like a $200 value, if you can find a hotel with that redemption value for your 20,000 points.
I find it odd that there are no other published benefits for Wyndham Rewards Gold elite.
How do I use Gold Status Points?
- Book a free night stay at any participating hotel with your Gold Status Points.
- Your Gold Status Points can be combined with your regular Rewards points when booking a free night. Gold Status Points will automatically be redeemed first, starting with those closest to expiring. Regular Rewards points will then be used for any balance.
- Your free night stay using Gold Status Points must be redeemed within 4 months of earning your free night or they will expire and will no longer be available. Be sure to redeem your free night before your Gold Status Points expire!
The primary drawback to the bonus points is the short expiration period. Four months sets a new low bar for expiring points.
Gold elite bonus points after 20 nights are restricted to being used only for a free room night and they expire after four months if not used.
The ability to combine the Gold elite bonus points with regular points makes even the 6,000 bonus points after 20 stays with under $2,000 in spend a useful gift. All Wyndham Rewards hotel brands earn 10 points per dollar in room rate, except Hawthorn Suites at 5 points per dollar.
Stays at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Dream and Night brands earn 10 points per dollar on entire hotel folio meaning dining and other incidental spend also earns points.
Even a member staying at $50 per night Days Inn hotels will earn 10,000 points on top of the 6,000 points bonus after 20 nights and promotional bonus points. So a small bonus gift of 6,000 points should be redeemable for a nicer hotel at the 16,000 points level where thousands of US hotels in Days Inn, Ramada and other brands are located on the Wyndham Rewards chart.
Wyndham Rewards ” target=”_blank”>FAQ on Gold Status
Here are the key points about Gold elite qualification:
- Gold elite membership is activated upon qualifying with 20 eligible paid nights in Wyndham brand hotels during the calendar year.
- Gold elite membership is valid from date earned, the following year and through February the year after that. A member qualifying in with 20 nights May 15, 2013 will hold Gold elite membership through February 28, 2015.
- Only one room per night qualifies for Gold elite qualification even if more than one room is booked.
Any Elite Recognition is a Good Move for Wyndham Rewards.
Wyndham Rewards is different from almost all hotel loyalty programs in not having elite member benefits for bonus points and hotel stay add-ons for stays.
There was Wyndham ByRequest, but that program only applied to stays at Wyndham brand and it was eliminated recently.
Wyndham Rewards global award restructuring last week
Free Nights Just Got Faster
Get free nights faster than ever before. As of March 14, 2013, we have introduced our lowest point level ever and have lowered other tiers so you can experience a free night faster!
- The lowest tier decreased from 6,000 to 5,500 points!
- We added a new 8,000 point tier between 5,500 and 10,000 points so you can stay at hotels for FREE more quickly.
- Our highest point tier is now 30,000 points. The 35,000 and 45,000 point tiers have been eliminated.
- Properties within the former point tiers may have moved into different point levels. This means the point levels for individual hotels may have decreased or increased in point levels. The updated point levels have been updated as of March 14, 2013*.
- View a list of properties with point levels that have decreased or stayed the same or increasedright here! Please note that tier number changes do not necessarily indicate an increase in points required to redeem.
- All participating locations worldwide now utilize the following point levels:
Wyndham Rewards Hotel Tiers for free nights using points.
Wyndham Rewards new hotel award tiers
Wyndham Rewards 16 brands:
- Wyndham Hotels & Resorts
- Wyndham Grand Collection
- Wyndham Garden
- Tryp
- Wingate by Wyndham
- Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham
- Microtel by Wyndham
- Dream
- Night
- Ramada
- Baymont Inn & Suites
- Days Inn
- Super 8
- Howard Johnson
- Travelodge
- Knights Inn
All in all, the addition of Gold elite status is a positive change for Wyndham Rewards members, even if it is a small bonus for loyalty. Hopefully they will add more defined benefits for the Wyndham Rewards Gold status members as the program gets established.
There is also a promotion for 1,000 or 2,000 bonus points with stays at new properties in the USA and Canada.
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