When I tell people about how many credit cards I have, one of the first questions that they have are about how much I pay in annual fees. While there are some cards that have no annual fees, in many cases I end up canceling the cards before paying the annual fees. However, there are some cards that I am willing to pay the annual fee on. In most cases, it’s because the ongoing value the card brings is more than the annual fee.
Keeping (and Paying the Fee On) Hotel Cards
One type of card that I think can often make sense to keep is hotel credit cards, especially those that give a free night each year in exchange for paying the annual fee. While it can be sometimes frustrating to use hotel free nights, I think generally it’s not that difficult to get more value than the cost of the annual fee. It’s hard to find a (good) hotel room for less than $99, for example
(SEE ALSO: Where I “wasted” my 2 IHG free night certificates)
Looking at the Wyndham Credit Cards
So that brings me to the Wyndham credit cards. Here are the 3 Wyndham credit cards, their annual fees, and their anniversary bonuses
- Wyndham Rewards Earner, $0 annual fee, 7,500 points each anniversary year if you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases
- Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus, $75 annual fee, 7,500 points each anniversary year
- Wyndham Rewards Earner Business, $95 annual fee, 15,000 points each anniversary year
As you can see, these cards don’t give free night certificates, but instead give out points each anniversary year. You could use them for a free night (since most Wyndhams cost 15,000 points per night), but they’re even more flexible. My wife and I both have the Wyndham business card, and they have been our primary cards for gas purchases, since they earn 8x at gas stations
Should You Cancel Your Wyndham Credit Cards Now?
However, the news recently dropped that Wyndham is ending (has ended) their partnership with Vacasa. We had gotten over 3 cents per point in value from our Wyndham points for a cabin we booked in the Smoky Mountains. Even after they made it a bit harder to use (i.e. devalued) a year or so ago, we got good value when we booked a 2 bedroom suite in Hawaii and most recently an oceanfront condo in Myrtle Beach.
But with the elimination of the Wyndham / Vacasa partnership, I’d peg Wyndham points as being worth around 0.7 cents. So the 15,000 anniversary points would be worth $105, right around the $95 annual fee. And given the fact that I’m currently already sitting on a decent stash of Wyndham points, I don’t think it makes sense to be buyers at that rate. So I think I’m going to cancel our 2 Wyndham cards.
Is anyone else in a similar position? What are you doing?
The Bottom Line
I used to be able to get pretty outsized value from my Wyndham Rewards points, thanks to their partnership with Vacasa. And so, it made sense to keep their credit cards, for the bonus anniversary points in exchange for paying the annual fee. But given the ending of that partnership, I’m thinking it no longer makes a lot of sense to keep those cards.
What do you think? Are you going to keep your Wyndham cards or cancel them? Leave your thoughts in the comments below
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at
LOVED my Wyndham points for Vacasa stays, so I’ve been reconsidering my Wyndham Business Earner, too. For now, it’s still a keeper because: 1. Wyndham points can still be randomly valuable, 2. They’re worth 1 cent each at Caesars properties. 3. The 10% discount for bookings. 4. 8x at gas stations is still great. And 4. It was so difficult to get approved for by Barclays in the first place, I wouldn’t want to go through that again unless I was surely done with the program.
Hmm I forgot about the 10% for bookings – that is a good point
One more benefit of the Business card: 5x on utilities (gas, electric, water, etc). I don’t know of any other card that bonuses broad utilities besides cable/internet/wireless.
All of my utilities charge big processing fees to pay with a credit card 🙁
you can still book some properties in Hawaii in Mexico which would be 15,000 points and cost $320 and be even all inclusive..
Good point. Though I’m sitting on a pretty decent stash of Wyndham points. Maybe it just makes sense to keep one of the 2 cards