Wyndham Rewards restructures its reward night program once again on April 3, 2019. While the new changes raise the rate for a free night to 30,000 points at some 200 hotels and lowers the rate to 7,500 points for about 3,000 hotels, the vast majority of hotels, some 6,000 properties worldwide will remain at 15,000 points for a GoFree reward night.
Wyndham Rewards Changes April 3, 2019
GoFree Reward Nights
- 30,000 points
- 15,000 points
- 7,500 points
GoFast Reward Nights
- 6,000 points + copay
- 3,000 points + copay
- 1,500 points + copay
Copay is currently 65% of Best Available Rate. No indication in this initial announcement if that 65% proportion will change.
Members earn 10 points per $1 on hotel room rate. Members also earn base points on GoFast cash copay amounts in the new Wyndham Rewards program.
Wyndham Rewards go get ’em guarantees a minimum 1,000 points per eligible stay. This means a member who pays a $50 room rate on a one night stay earns 500 base points (10 points per $1) + 500 bonus points to reach 1,000 points minimum.
- GOLD level members (5 nights): 10% of base points
- PLATINUM level members (15 nights): 15% of base points
- DIAMOND level members (40 nights): 20% of base points
As of April 3, 2019 the elite member bonus points will be added to stay points (10 points/$1) before calculating go get ’em bonus points earned.
Accelerated earnings (if any) will be applied to a stay first, followed by go get ’em. In instances where accelerated earning pushes a member’s points earning above 1,000 points for a stay, go get ’em will not be applied. For example:
A GOLD member stays one night at a rate of $80 (before taxes and incidentals), earning 800 base points. Accelerated earning is applied (calculated as 10% of the base points earned), which adds 80 more points, for a total of 880 points. Because the total is fewer than 1,000 points, go get ’em is then applied, adding an additional 120 points and resulting in a total of 1,000 points for the stay.
A DIAMOND member stays one night at a rate of $125 (before taxes and incidentals), earning 1,250 base points. Accelerated earning is applied (calculated as 20% of the base points earned), which adds 250 more points, for a total of 1,500 points. Because the total earned with accelerated earning is over 1,000 points, go get ’em is not applied.
A shopping portal and more partners for earning and redeeming points are other options coming April 3.
Why I wrote off Wyndham Rewards in 2018
Wyndham Rewards was one of my most useful hotel loyalty programs in 2017. I wrote off the Wyndham Rewards program in March 2018 when they changed their GoFast reward rate copay amount from a fixed rate ($25 to $150 per night, depending on hotel) to 65% of the best available rate for the room type.
Loyalty Traveler - Program devaluation – Wyndham Rewards GoFast copay now pegged to room rate (March 26, 2018).
One of the primary competitive advantages for Wyndham Rewards stays on points is the availability at some hotels for upgraded room types. For example, Ramada Apollo Amsterdam generally offers their highest category Executive Room with Panoramic view as GoFast and Go Free reward nights. This means a reward night cost 15,000 points for either a standard room, which might cost 100 EUR per night or 15,000 points for the Executive Room with Panoramic View, which might cost 200 EUR per night.
The change to GoFast rates from 3,000 points and a fixed 62 EUR copay per reward night changed the cost for reward nights at Ramada Amsterdam. A 100 EUR standard room increased to 3,000 points + 65 EUR and a 200 EUR per night Panoramic View Executive room increased to 3,000 points + 130 EUR.
I redeemed my last 45,000 Wyndham Rewards points for a 3-night GoFree reward stay over New Year’s Eve staying in a Panoramic View Executive room at Ramada Apollo Amsterdam. The GoFast rate for this stay would have been 3,000 points + 156 EUR per night.
I will be very interested to see if April 3 also changes the availability of higher category room types for reward nights. This has been one of the main competitive advantages of Wyndham Rewards that improved the value of reward nights for some hotels.
Depending on the details for the changes, I might find more value in the new Wyndham Rewards program with the changes to their GoFast rates at low end properties at 1,500 points + copay.
Wyndham Rewards GoFast Nights
15,000 points for a free hotel night is a good value for a couple hundred hotels among the 9,000 hotels worldwide in Wyndham Rewards. The basic issue for me is the ability to earn 15,000 Wyndham Rewards points is limited unless you have a Wyndham credit card or stay at Wyndham brand hotels frequently.
Neither of those fit my circumstances. That is why I cleaned out my account balance in 2018.
And many of these higher end properties in Wyndham Rewards will increase to 30,000 points per reward night on April 3, 2019.
GoFast reward nights at 1,500 points + copay might put Wyndham Rewards on my radar again.
As far as some hotels rising in cost to 30,000 points per reward night, that makes little difference to me. I cleaned out my account balance last year and I don’t expect to have the ability to pick up a large number of points again. When I purchased 114,000+ points through Daily Getaways in 2011, I paid less than $3 per 1,000 points. Wyndham Rewards now sells points for $13.00 per 1,000 points and there is an annual purchase limit of 10,000 points.
I look forward to seeing if April 3 also increases the number of points a member can buy per year.
I declared Wyndham Rewards dead to me in 2018. Now I will wait and see on April 3 if Wyndham Rewards shows any signs of coming back to life for my travel needs.
Loyalty brilliance in the new era of Wyndham Rewards (May 12, 2015).
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