Huge Wyndham Devaluation – Best Properties Going to 30K
Today is the final day to book properties at a flat 15,000 points.
Wyndham Rewards will undergo some changes in April with plans to introduce a wide-array of new features. We will see free nights at thousands of hotels starting at just 7,500 points (half their original redemption cost), the addition of more than 900 La Quinta® hotels, and the ability to earn and redeem points with a host of new and expanded partners. The most expensive properties will be 30,000 points per night.
A Faster Way to Free and Discounted Nights
Wyndham Rewards will begin offering three tiers for both free night redemptions (go free) and points + cash redemptions (go fast). Members will also start earning points on the cash portion of points + cashredemptions.
Free night redemptions will be available at 7,500 points, 15,000 points, and 30,000 points, while points + cash redemptions will be available at 1,500 points + cash, 3,000 points + cash, and 6,000 points + cash, respectively. All redemptions will be per bedroom, per night.
Approximately one-third of the program’s hotel portfolio—nearly 3,000 hotels—is expected to move to the more affordable 7,500 point tier while approximately 200 properties will move into the new 30,000 point tier.
Over 30,000 Hotels, Club Resorts, Vacation Rentals and Counting
Wyndham Rewards already offers one of the largest, most diverse redemption portfolios in the world and now it’s getting even bigger, from thousands of club resorts and vacation rentals to more than 900 La Quinta hotels.
La Quinta hotels will officially become a part of Wyndham Rewards on April 3. Free night redemptions will start as low as 7,500 points and with every qualified stay, members will earn 10 points per dollar spent or a minimum of 1,000 points, whichever is more.
More Ways to Earn, More Ways to Redeem
Wyndham Rewards will debut a host of new and expanded partnerships this April. Members can look forward to earning points for food delivery through DoorDash, earning and redeeming points at Marathon gas stations, and earning and redeeming points when booking tours and activities around the globe with Viator. The program will also unveil a new shopping portal, enabling members to earn points on purchases with thousands of online retailers.
In addition to new earn and redeem partners, Gold, Platinum and Diamond Wyndham Rewards members will be able to earn extra points on their qualified stays with the introduction of accelerated earn. Gold members will earn 10% more in base points, Platinum members will earn 15% more and Diamond members will earn 20% more. Accelerated earn replaces point bonuses, which were previously awarded annually for Platinum and Diamond members.
Conclusion
The lower end properties will get cheaper and the more luxurious ones will get more expensive. It might make more sense to look at cheaper Wyndham properties now, but the best Wyndham options are getting more expensive which is what most travelers were probably using their points on.
The vast majority of the above program changes are anticipated to take effect starting April 3, 2019. La Quinta Returns will officially end at 11:59 p.m. ET on April 2, 2019. Additional information related to earn and redeem opportunities with new partners is expected to be available in late March.
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[…] had a great deal with its award chart, offering a free hotel night anyway for 15,000 points. Recently that’s changed and so some hotels cost more or less, not unlike other programs. it can still be worthwhile for […]
This is the way the program used to be when we first got our Wyndham card 10ish years ago. It was often very random which hotels were lower points and which were higher, it didn’t seem based on the price. Often an $80 hotel would be 30,000 points simply because it was the only one in the area.
We loved the value of being able to stay at a 4+ star hotel or wyndham vacation rental property for a fair amount of points. We were able to stay in Hawaii for a week for free! Doubling these is a huge jump and disappointing. Hopefully point values don’t change based on seasons and holidays…
Another great program I regularly used drying up. Many rooms at top props at Go Free I used to book are ALREADY no longer available (forced into paying cash).
Was some outstanding value, though, while it lasted. Time to book the rest of my points before the “cost” soon doubles – a top room was a deal at $180 (@ .012) but a stretch at $360.