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Wanna Getaway in France? Wyndham Rewards 15K Presidential Suite

a building with a lawn in front of it

While this article comes a day after the Daily Getaways Wyndham Rewards points sale, I realized early yesterday morning the post would not be irrelevant if posted one day later. I saw very little chance of Wyndham Rewards points selling out before today.

Wyndham Rewards points went on sale April 17 in Daily Getaways at $175 for 15,000 points. Each Wyndham Rewards member can buy 2 sets of points for 30,000 points. These points are still available for purchase.

a screenshot of a hotel

It is odd to see the Daily Getaways page state “Save up to 35%†given that a Wyndham Rewards member can buy 10,000 points for $130. That is actually only 25.7% savings. I guess they rounded up.

15,000 points buys one GoFree reward night at any Wyndham brand property worldwide. There are probably only about 100 or so Wyndham brand properties worldwide where Wyndham Rewards GoFree reward night offers significant savings for a $175 reward night available by buying points in Daily Getaways.

Two GoFree reward nights for a $350 Daily Getaways points purchase can be a good value at some select properties. This article looks at two specific hotels in France I had my eye on for the past couple of years.

Bye Bye GoFast deals, Hello GoFree deals

This piece is also my lament to the devastating devaluation to Wyndham Rewards GoFast rates, their version of cash&points reward nights.  Wyndham Rewards GoFast rates last month changed from a fixed copay amount as low as $25 to $150+ for any specific hotel and a rate that was available at thousands of hotels worldwide.

GoFast reward nights copay amounts are now a dynamic rate based on 65% of the hotel’s Best Flexible Rate (BAR) for any specific dates.

Loyalty Traveler – Program devaluation – Wyndham Rewards GoFast copay now pegged to room rate (March 26, 2018).

Wyndham Rewards eliminated the best value for points rewards last month when the program changed GoFast Reward nights from 3,000 points + fixed copay to 3,000 points + 65% of Best Available Rate BAR.

Since group rates like AAA and AARP generally offer a 10% rate discount on BAR and Advance Purchase rates generally offer 15% or 20% discount on BAR, the GoFast copay is only 15% to 25% off the otherwise lowest available rates.

Redeeming 3,000 points for a GoFast rate also means you don’t earn the minimum 1,000 points for a paid Wyndham hotel brand stay. Essentially you are giving up at least 4,000 points to get a 15% to 25% discount on the nightly room rate. You only get decent redemption value on Wyndham Rewards GoFast rates now when the regular room rate is about $200 or more.

My last GoFast stay in February 2018 was 5 nights at Ramada Apollo Amsterdam Centre in an Executive Room for 3,000 points + 65EUR per night ($80 USD).

Loyalty Traveler – Ramada Apollo Amsterdam 15,000 Wyndham Rewards points saved $500.

I paid 15,000 Wyndham Rewards points + 325EUR ($402.36USD) when the BAR rate was 730EUR ($897.17USD). Basically, I dropped the rate from $180 per night to $80 per night with 3,000 Wyndham Rewards points. That kind of value is no longer available with Wyndham Rewards GoFast rates.

Last month there were literally thousands of hotels where 3,000 Wyndham Rewards points for GoFast reward nights offered a discount rate worth considering for the hotel. That has been reduced to probably fewer than 100 to 200 hotels worldwide where GoFast rates offer a significant discount.

The Good News with GoFree rates is still Suite News

The aspect that has not changed with Wyndham Rewards is there are hotels that still offer upgraded rooms, including suites for points. My lament is these hotel suites still available as GoFree rewards used to be available as GoFast Rewards at fantastic discounts for some hotels. Now these deals are basically only GoFree reward nights at 15,000 points per night.

The 65% GoFast cash copay means a $300 per night hotel suite that was available last month for 3,000 points + $65 on a GoFast rate will now cost 3,000 points + $195.

Or pay 15,000 points to GoFree with Wyndham Rewards.

The secret is knowing which Wyndham brand hotels offer high category rooms and suites.

And here is one of those hotel deals I have not previously shared explicitly on Loyalty Traveler.

Wyndham Halcyon Resort La Souterraine, France

a building with a lawn in front of it

Presidential King Suite

1 King Presidential Suite With 2 Bathrooms Free WiFi, Living Room, Dining Room, Luxury View. Located on the third floor our spacious presidential or honeymoon suite can welcome up to 6 people. The room is composed of a main bedroom with King bed, 2 baths, a smaller room, a spacious living and dining room. One bathroom is equipped with bath and shower and a second bathroom with 2 showers. Experience the splendid views of the arboretum and the lakes.

This countryside Wyndham Resort in central France offers the Presidential Suite as a reward night option. This Presidential Suite is one of the Wyndham Rewards points deals that has been around for a couple of years with GoFast rates for 3,000 points + 61EUR per night.

a screenshot of a computer

I booked a 3-night stay for July 2017 in the Wyndham Halcyon Presidential Suite at a total cost of 187.05EUR + 9,000 points when I thought Kelley and I would hang out in France during Le Tour. That was about $70 USD + 3,000 points per night in summer 2017.

We ended up traveling to Prague instead.

Wyndham Halcyon Le Souterrain July 9-13 for 4 nights

I checked today for Wyndham Halcyon Le Souterrain GoFast rates and they are available for only one room type, Prestige Accessible King Lake View for 498.35 EUR ($616.92 USD) + 3,000 points per night. That GoFast rate is $250 more per night than simply paying the published rate that includes breakfast.

a screenshot of a hotel website

Prestige Accessible King Lake View = 291 EUR ($360.24 USD) per night.

Presidential Suite = 471 EUR ($583.06 USD) per night.

a screenshot of a website

But, you can still book the Presidential Suite as a GoFree reward night for 15,000 points per night.

$175 to buy points for a $583 room night

Two Wyndham Rewards members can buy 60,000 points in the Daily Getaways sale for $700 and book a 4-night stay in the Presidential Suite at Wyndham Halcyon Resort Le Souterraine. 

But I wonder if this deal will stick around for much longer after publishing it here?

I lament the fact that we no longer have the opportunity to book this Presidential Suite for 61EUR + 3,000 points. That is another hotel discount opportunity that went away in a tough two years of devaluations we have seen hit hotel loyalty programs.

Loyalty Traveler – 4 hotel loyalty member changes made budget travel more expensive in 2017-18.

Dolce Fregate Provence Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer, France 

You might also want to consider a seaside holiday stay at Dolce Fregate Provence.

a golf course with rocks and trees

This is one of the hotels where a GoFree reward night still potentially saves over 100EUR per night on room rate.

Fri July 20 – Mon July 23, 2018

a screenshot of a hotel

Superior room

Go Fast 187.85 EUR ($232.46) + 3,000 points per night

GoFree 15,000 points per night

Lowest rate = 289 EUR per night ($357.63 USD).

Wyndham Rewards points still have high potential value at maybe 100 hotels worldwide. Regrettably, the Wyndham Rewards loyalty program that put high value GoFast Reward nights in place in May 2015  eliminated the best part of the loyalty program for me with last month’s devaluation to GoFast Reward rates.

5 Comments

  • Ric Garrido April 18, 2018

    Software issues meant photos and links were messed up in my original post. Looks like those are fixed now.

  • Ron April 18, 2018

    It may be a lovely suite in a lovely property, but is it in a part of France worth visiting? If so, great. If not, is staying in such a suite such a big deal so as to forego spending time in a more desirable locale?

  • Ric Garrido April 19, 2018

    @Ron – A reader once made a similar comment when I said I was traveling to Clermont-Ferrand for 4 nights to stay at the Holiday Inn for 5,000 points per night. That turned out to be one of the best trips I had hanging out in a part of France in late September with so few tourists that many people stopped on the street and stared at me with my camera, then looked to see what it was I photographed on the street. I had the feeling locals were taking a new appreciation of their own local environment by observing what a foreigner found interesting about the place.

    “A reader last month, upon learning my reasoning for coming to Clermont-Ferrand solely for a cheap hotel described the city as the ‘armpit of France’. As a Californian I know some real armpit towns and some are pretty close to my ‘damn near paradise’ hometown of Monterey. The scenic setting alone excludes Clermont-Ferrand from my definition of an ‘armpit city’. To continue with metaphors, if Clermont-Ferrand is an ‘armpit’ place, it certainly is not Gerard Depardieu’s armpit. Audrey Tautou (The Da Vinci Code) is from the Auvergne area and she is a good metaphoric representation of perfectly pleasant French armpits to get tangled up with for a few days.”
    https://loyaltytraveler.boardingarea.com/2015/10/01/clermont-ferrand-impressions-are-authentic-france/

    The remoteness of Noth, France is what has kept me from getting to Wyndham Halcyon for this deal. I don’t rent cars in Europe to drive myself places.

    In travel, to each his own.

    I think I would enjoy this part of France. I enjoy most any place I travel, since my joy of travel is primarily observing how people live, work and play in different places.

  • Rupert April 25, 2018

    I also lament the loss of the GoFast award, as I got some of the best value in Wyndham Rewards points out of them.
    But there is some good news – Wyndham Vacation properties are now available for booking online and show up in regular hotel searches on their site. I was able to snatch the Donatello San Francisco during summer when the rates for a suite were $480 on a GoFree award – with points purchased at $175 that’s still over a 60% discount. This is a nice alternative to the (ahem) less inspiring Super8, Days Inn and Travelodge in San Francisco – and better value than any other hotel rewards program for SF!
    I’ll be looking for similar vacation properties in other big US cities…

  • Ric Garrido April 26, 2018

    @Rupert – there are still good points values to be found with Wyndham Rewards. My lament is that I had planned on spending about 20 nights with the points I have to stay at many hotels on discount rates using 3,000 points per night. Now I can choose 4 splurge nights with 60,000 points.

    After my splurge nights, I will likely stop using Wyndham Rewards program.

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