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Many of you are probably already aware of this news but Wyndham hotels recently removed their award categories, instead going to a flat 15,000 points needed per hotel / night.

Wyndham Brands

Wyndham International has a number of worldwide brands.  Some of the more common are:

  • Wingate by Wyndham
  • Hawthorn Suites
  • Ramada
  • Baymont Inn and Suites
  • Days Inn
  • Super 8
  • Howard Johnson
  • Travelodge
  • Knights Inn

All Wyndham hotels now 15,000 points / night

Before April, Wyndham hotels were in different award categories, ranging from 5500 points needed per night all the way up to 50,000 points per night.  According to the Wandering Aramean blog, if you look at the number of hotels at each level, the 15,000 points / night number still keeps things about the same overall.  What that means is that even though the low-end hotels are only increasing by 5000-10000 points (compared to high-end hotels decreasing by 35,000 points / night), there are a LOT more of the low-end hotels.

wyndham-rewards

 

Wyndham rewards Go Free awards

There are now 2 different kinds of Wyndham awards.  First is Go Free – which is 15,000 points a night for ANY hotel, at ANY time, with no blackout dates.  While it obviously wouldn’t be a great deal to use your Wyndham points to stay at a $49 / night Days Inn or Super 8, there are definitely some great redemption options here.

(SEE ALSO: Is it ever a good idea to book a Rodeway Inn?)

(SEE ALSO: Okay – I stayed at a Rodeway Inn (and lived to tell the tale!))

For example, the Wyndham Wingate Midtown Manhattan is running for $229 / night (PLUS TAX!) on a random summer night.

a building with windows and a sign

Compare that to 15,000 points, and you’ll find that you’re getting about 1.52 cents of value per point, which is pretty good for hotel points.

Wyndham rewards Go Fast awards

Wyndham Go Fast Awards are “Points + Cash” awards, where you pay 3,000 points plus a cash copay, which varies by hotel and ranged anywhere from $55 to $95 in the searches that I do.  One other important note to mention about Go Fast awards is that not all hotels participate in the Go Fast awards, so you’ll want to check the specific hotel you’re looking at.  The Shelborne South Beach that we just mentioned does NOT do Go Fast awards for example.

How to get Wyndham points

Well…. that’s the hard part.  There is a Wyndham Rewards credit card (issued by Barclays) that gives 30,000 points upon approval and 15,000 points after spending $1000 in the first 3 months.  It also gives 15,000 points on your anniversary and comes with an annual fee of $69 (not waived)

wyndham-rewards-credit-card-offer

Here’s the link to the Wyndham Rewards card.  I get no compensation for anyone approved through this link.  So for the $69 annual fee, you’d get enough points for 3 free nights.  Not a super exciting offer for me, but I could definitely see how there’d be some value.  Personally, with as hard as it seems to be to get many Barclay cards, I think that I would hold my Barclay card slots for better cards.

 


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