Wyndham Rewards is a valuable program for travelers who frequently stay at Wyndham hotel brands and want to earn Wyndham Rewards points that can be used toward hotel stays and other perks.
All Wyndham Rewards members receive special member rates and in-hotel perks such as free Wi-Fi. And by using one of the Wyndham Rewards credit cards, it’s easy to turn everyday purchases into premium rewards points.
Once you’ve earned Wyndham Rewards points, they can be redeemed for award stays starting at 7,500 points or for discounted nights starting at just 1,500 points. Or you can choose from a variety of additional redemption options, including transfers to partner airlines.
Here’s what else you need to know about the Wyndham Rewards program.
How to earn Wyndham Rewards points
Ways to earn Wyndham Rewards points include staying at participating properties, buying products online on Wyndham’s shopping portal, booking Avis car rentals and more. But the quickest way to earn Wyndham Rewards points is with a credit card.
Here are the three co-branded credit cards that Wyndham offers:
- Wyndham Rewards Earner® Card
- Wyndham Rewards Earner® Plus Card
- Wyndham Rewards Earner® Business Card
Let’s break down what each Wyndham credit card has to offer to help you decide which one might serve you best.
Wyndham Rewards Earner® Card: Best for cost-conscious travelers who want to avoid fees
The Wyndham Rewards Earner® Card could be a great option if you’re not interested in adding any extra credit card fees to your life. This card has no annual fee. And like the Wyndham Rewards Earner® Plus Card and Wyndham Rewards Earner® Business Card, it doesn’t charge any foreign transaction fees.
Wyndham Rewards Earner® Card members earn five points for every $1 they spend at Wyndham hotels or gas stations. They also earn two points per $1 they spend at eligible restaurants and grocery stores and one point on everything else.
This card offers a sign-up bonus of 30,000 bonus points after you spend $1,000 on purchases within your first 90 days with the card.
Wyndham Rewards Earner® Plus Card: Best for big spenders who want to maximize their rewards
If you plan to spend a little more on your hotel credit card, you might want to opt for the Wyndham Rewards Earner® Plus credit card. While this card charges a $75 annual fee, you may more than make up for that cost in extra earned rewards.
The bonus categories for the Wyndham Rewards Earner® Plus Card are more generous. For example, you’ll earn four points per $1 spent at grocery stores and restaurants, which is twice what you’d receive with the Wyndham Rewards Earner® Card. You’ll also earn six points per $1 spent on fuel purchases and at Wyndham properties.
The available sign-up bonus for the Wyndham Earner® Plus is also more lucrative. You can earn 45,000 bonus points after you spend $1,000 on purchases within the first 90 days of account opening.
Wyndham Rewards Earner® Business Card: Best for business owners who want to earn points on company expenses
If you own a small business, the Wyndham Rewards Earner® Business Card might be the right card for you. Cardholders earn five Wyndham Rewards points per $1 spent on qualifying advertising, marketing and utility purchases. Plus, the Wyndham Earner® Business Card earns the most on Wyndham stays and gas expenses at eight points per $1 spent.
This card charges a $95 annual fee. But the actual cost of owning it is offset by the 15,000 bonus points that cardholders receive each anniversary year. And the Wyndham Rewards Earner® Business Card offers 45,000 bonus points after you spend $1,000 on purchases within 90 days of account opening.
How to redeem Wyndham Rewards points
The actual value that you can get from your Wyndham Rewards points will depend largely on how you choose to redeem them. Here are a few of your best options.
1. Redeem your points for a free stay starting at 7,500 points
There are two main ways to use Wyndham Rewards points for stays. With the first choice, which Wyndham calls go free®, you use your points to book a completely free night. These awards can be used at any of Wyndham’s 20 hotel brands, which include the following:
- AmericInn
- Baymont
- Days Inn
- Dazzler
- Dolce Hotels
- Esplendor
- Hawthorn Suites
- Howard Johnson
- La Quinta
- Microtel
- Ramada
- Registry Collection Hotels
- Super 8
- Trademark Collection
- Travelodge
- Tryp
- Wingate
- Wyndham
- Wyndham Garden
- Wyndham Grand
For its hotels, Wyndham has three go free® night tiers: 7,500, 15,000, or 30,000 per bedroom. Resorts and vacation rental award stays, meanwhile, range from 15,000 to 30,000 points.
Getting one of Wyndham’s co-branded credit cards is a great way to maximize your points as you’ll receive a 10% redemption discount on go free® stays. This means that as a cardholder, you could actually redeem your points for free nights starting at 6,750 points.
2. Use fewer points to book a discounted night
If you don’t have enough points for a go free® night, you can still book a discounted stay with go fast® for just 1,500, 3,000, or 6,000 points per night. We ran some hypothetical tests and found that the value you can get for your points with these nights can vary widely depending on where and when you’re booking — from 0.82 cents per point to 1.4 cents per point.
So if you’re looking to maximize your go fast® redemptions, be sure to check multiple hotels and dates.
3. Transfer your points to United Airlines and book an airline ticket
Wyndham Rewards will allow you to move your points over to 10 different partner loyalty programs starting at 6,000 points. Notable options include United MileagePlus, American Airline AAdvantage and FrontierMiles.
But don’t be surprised if the transfer ratios are low. For example, 6,000 Wyndham Rewards points convert to only 1,200 United MileagePlus miles. Still, a points transfer could be worth considering if you only need a few more airline miles to book a free flight.
4. Buy a gift card or merchandise with your points
On the Wyndham Rewards online shopping portal, members can use their points to purchase gift cards from major restaurants and stores like Starbucks and Amazon. You can also buy products from several well-known brands.
Unfortunately, we found that you’ll generally only get about 0.33 to 0.37 cents in value out of your points if you redeem them for gift cards. And it’s difficult to gauge what you’re getting for your points when you redeem them for merchandise as the Wyndham Rewards shopping portal doesn’t show the cash prices for any of its available products.
For these reasons, we only recommend using your points for shopping as a last resort — such as to avoid losing them to expiration. The good news is that your Wyndham Rewards points won’t expire until four years after you earn them (or after 18 months of account inactivity), which gives you a fairly long time to use them toward a stay instead.
5. Donate your points to Save the Children or other charities
For some people, maximizing their hotel rewards points might include using a portion of them to do social good. That’s easy with Wyndham Rewards as it partners with more than a dozen charitable organizations including Save the Children, Fisher House and Clean the World Foundation. Redemptions for charitable donations start at 500 points.
Next steps
If you’re interested in opening a free Wyndham Rewards account, the next step is learning about the various elite status levels Wyndham offers, so you can take advantage of perks like enhanced room upgrades, priority check-in and late checkouts.