Last week my parents stayed at the Wyndham Anaheim Garden Grove. My father booked a military discount rate one night, my mother booked one night on a AAA rate and she also booked a Go Fast cash and points night for 3,000 points and $55.
The GoFast $55 rate actually came out to $88.37 after tax and fees at the Wyndham Anaheim Garden Grove. This hotel is rated number 4 on TripAdvisor for Garden Grove hotels.
The Family room option is a Queen bed and bunk beds for children. I would have loved a hotel bunk bed as a child. I’d probably like it today too.
In this example shown above, the $169 Wyndham hotel rate comes out to $238.28 after tax per night. The Go Fast Award means 3,000 points saves $150 on the room rate. That is tremendous $50 per 1,000 points value for Wyndham Rewards points, which rarely gave $10 per 1,000 points in redemption value before the introduction of Go Fast Award nights last month.
If all goes as planned, my parents should get more than 4,000 Wyndham Rewards points in each of their accounts for the three night stay. Mom did not understand why she was having to check out and check-in each day, until I explained the hotel was helping her earn the Wyndham Rewards bonus points by processing different reservations under her Wyndham Rewards account and my dad’s Wyndham Rewards account, so they could both earn 3,000 bonus points for their first Wyndham Rewards hotel brand stay this summer.
Mom told my wife Kelley that my hotel booking strategies are not always explained clearly on my blog. I think she did well for her first time trying an advanced strategy of staying in a hotel three nights without changing hotel rooms and getting the nights credited to two different accounts for bonus points. They enjoyed the Wyndham Anaheim-Garden Grove.
Wyndham Rewards promotion registration for 3,000 bonus points on first stay by September 7.
Wyndham Rewards restructured their loyalty program last month. Wyndham Rewards was a program with highly limited value over the past few years until last month’s changes. I find great value in Wyndham Rewards points in the new program. This post shows the value of Wyndham Rewards points for Anaheim, California area hotels.
Loyalty Traveler – Loyalty brilliance in the new era of Wyndham Rewards (May 12, 2015)
![Wyndham Anaheim Room_Picture[1]](http://loyaltytraveler.boardingarea.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Wyndham-Anaheim-Room_Picture1.jpg)
Wyndham Anaheim room – photo credit: Grove District press kit.
I have not seen my parents photos from the Wyndham hotel and I was too tired when I dropped them off at their hotel one night to check out their room. I was excited to see the Wyndham Anaheim Hotel adjacent to the Anaheim Marriott Suites when I first arrived at the Marriott for our trip. After unloading my car, we learned that my reservation was for the other Marriott Anaheim Hotel, adjacent to the convention center. Parking went from $12 at Garden Grove Marriott to $24 per day at Anaheim Marriott.
The Grove District Anaheim Resort
Wyndham Anaheim Garden Grove is in a hotel area known as The Grove District in Garden Grove, less than two miles from the Disneyland park. There are nine major hotels in the Grove District including:
- Anaheim Marriott Suites
- Embassy Suites Anaheim South
- Hampton Inn and Suites Anaheim
- Hilton Garden Inn Anaheim
- Homewood Suites by Hilton Anaheim
- Hyatt Regency Orange County
- Residence Inn by Marriott Anaheim Resort
- Sheraton Garden Grove – Anaheim South
- Wyndham Anaheim Garden Grove
There are over 3,000 hotel rooms in these Grove District hotels.
The hospitality industry catering to Disneyland visitors extends beyond the borders of the city of Anaheim. City boundaries are obscured in congested southern California where Anaheim, one major city of 375,000 people is adjacent to Garden Grove on the south, another city of 175,000 people. To the north is Fullerton with 139,000 and Orange to the east is 140,000 more people. Urban development everywhere makes it hard to distinguish one city from another for a tourist. Needless to say, traffic congestion is part of the experience when traveling to Disneyland.
Anaheim Resort Transit ART bus for Disneyland and other Anaheim area locations.
The Grove District is a marketing name for these nine hotels and neighborhood restaurants, located about one mile down the street from the Disneyland Resort. There are complimentary shuttles from Grove District hotels here to the Disney park. Hotels closer to Disneyland use the Anaheim Resort Transit ART buses, which are hotel routes around Anaheim at a cost of $5 per day. Multiple day passes for ART reduce the daily rate for the bus. Seniors and disabled passengers get a real deal at $1 per ride. Single ticket price is $3 per adult.
Wyndham Rewards for other Disneyland area hotels
My parents read on my blog that Wyndham Rewards points could be a great deal for some Disneyland hotels. They booked the Wyndham Garden Grove on their own with two separate reservations for my mom and dad on consecutive nights.
I explored hotel reward night options when looking for one hotel night on a Friday night near Disneyland. I had hotel points available for Best Western, Choice, Club Carlson, IHG Rewards Club, Marriott, Starwood and Wyndham.
I ended up staying at Quality Inn Placentia, by Fullerton for 8,000 Choice Privileges points, or about $34 based on the price I paid for 172,000 points in April during the US Travel Association Daily Getaways sale.
Loyalty Traveler – Daily Getaways Choice Privileges points value in 2 words twice (April 2, 2015).
Kelley and I stayed at the Marriott Anaheim on a certificate I bought in December 2014 from an auction for two nights with breakfast at $110. The buffet breakfast alone at Marriott would have come to $110 for our four meals over two mornings, so I got a great deal.
More Wyndham Rewards deals for Disneyland trips at other Wyndham brand hotels around Anaheim Resort.
July 14-17, 2015 3 nights Tuesday to Friday
Baymont Inn Anaheim is ranked #61 of 115 hotels in Anaheim on TripAdvisor.
$89.10 per night AAA rate or $307.38 after tax.
- Go Fast Award rate = 3000 points + $35 per night
Total cost = 9,000 points + $120.75 for 3-nights award stay.
9,000 Wyndham Rewards points saves $186.63 for this 3-night award stay.
No Wyndham Rewards points, no problem
You can buy up to 5,000 Wyndham Rewards points at $11 per 1,000 points.
Pay $89.10 for the AAA rate at Baymont Inn & Suites and earn 1,000 Wyndham Rewards points for your hotel night. You also earn 3,000 bonus points for the summer 2015 promotion, if this is your first eligible Wyndham Rewards hotel brand stay of summer. You can earn 4,000 points in Wyndham Rewards for one night at Baymont Inn Anaheim for $102 after tax.
Repeat this with your companion for the second hotel night. There are some dates when this hotel also has a $99 rate with 1,000 bonus points, meaning you can earn 5,000 points for one night for $114 after tax.
Your points earned from the hotel stay will likely take several days to process after your stay. The reason you might want to buy 3,000 points is to open access for a Go Fast Award night before your paid stay points post to your account.
This same Baymont Inn & Suites Anaheim can be booked for 3,000 points + $35. The final rate is 3,000 points + $40.25. Assuming you paid $33 to buy 3,000 Wyndham Rewards points, your total cost for the hotel night is reduced from $102 AAA rate to $73.25 on a Go Fast award rate.
This three night stay example for Baymont Inn & Suites Anaheim is essentially what my parents did for the more expensive Wyndham Anaheim-Garden Grove. They bought 3,000 points for $33 and booked a Go Fast Award night for 3,000 points + $55. They booked paid rates for nights two and three with one of the nights on my mom’s account and one on my Dad’s account.
Baymont Inn & Suites Anaheim is a less expensive hotel, where you can do this strategy for $33 to buy 3,000 points and pay $40.25 for one night at a total cost of $73.25 for the room night. Then, one person pays $102 AAA rate to earn 4,000 points for a one night stay and the other person pays $102 AAA rate to earn 4,000 points for a one night stay in the second account.
All in, you spend $277.25 and each earn 4,000 Wyndham Reward points for the three night stay. Tell the desk clerk you want to keep the same room and check-in and check out each day to close out the hotel stay for the first person and switch the name to the second person. That ensures the bonus Wyndham Rewards points will credit correctly to each person’s account for each paid night. No points are earned for the Go Fast award night.
$277 or $92 per night for a 3-night Disneyland hotel stay and both persons will have 4,000 Wyndham Rewards points for another GoFast Award night after the trip.
One of you can still buy 5,000 more Wyndham Rewards points for $55. You will then have 9,000 points for another 3-night Go Fast award stay using Wyndham Rewards points.
This is a deal that can be done at more than two dozen Wyndham brand hotels in the area around Disneyland.
