Wyndham Stays
To help boost your Wyndham points balance, you’ll naturally want to make your Wyndham Rewards Earner+ card your go-to card on all of your Wyndham stays since the card earns 6x points per $1 on these purchases.
Better yet, these points are in addition to the points you’ll earn for being a Wyndham Rewards member with Platinum status.
Since Platinum members earn 11.5x points per $1, when paying for your stay with the Wyndham Rewards Earner+ card, you’ll earn a total of 17.5x points per $1 on stays — a 15.75% return on your spend based on our valuation of Wyndham points.
Gas Stations
The Wyndham Rewards Earner+ card also earns 6x points per $1 on gas purchases, making it a great option for those with long daily commutes, or those who take a lot of road trips.
Dining
Cardholders also earn 4x points per $1 on dining purchases, allowing you to continue racking up the points when dining at your favorite restaurants.
Grocery Stores
Stocking up on groceries for the family? The Wyndham Rewards Earner+ card also earns 4x points per $1 at grocery stores as well. This is a great way to earn a lot of points throughout the year, especially if you have a large family to feed.
Hot Tip: Keep in mind that the grocery store 4x bonus does not apply at superstores like Target and Walmart.
All Other Purchases
Of course, your card will earn 1x point per $1 on all other purchases outside of the above categories, although, you might want to consider another card option for all of these non-bonused purchases unless you’re trying to earn as many Wyndham points as possible.
Wyndham Shopping Portal
The Wyndham Rewards Shopping portal is another great way for travelers to earn more Wyndham points while they online shop. Simply select the merchant you want to shop with from one of the dozens of Wyndham partners, and depending on the merchant, you can earn anywhere from 1x to 30x points per $1 for your purchases.
Adding Capital One Miles Cards
Wyndham Rewards is a transfer partner of the Capital One Miles program, and all miles earned for eligible Capital One cards can be transferred to your Wyndham account at a 1:1 rate. Take the Capital One® Venture® Rewards card, for example, which earns 2x miles per $1 on all purchases made with the card.
With this 2-card combination, you could use your Wyndham Rewards Earner+ card for purchases at Wyndham hotels, gas stations, grocery stores, and on dining, while using your Capital One Venture card on all other purchases.
So you’ve built up a stash of Wyndham points — now what? Redeeming them of course! Wyndham offers a variety of redemption options, but there are far from equal when it comes to value.
Wyndham Go Free Nights
By far the best option when it comes to redeeming your Wyndham Rewards points is for award night redemptions at one of the more than 9,000 Wyndham hotels worldwide.
Wyndham offers 3 separate award night categories, with properties priced at 7,500, 15,000, and 30,000 points per night. But remember that, because you’re a Wyndham Rewards Earner+ cardholder, you’ll receive 10% of your redeemed points back, effectively bringing each of these award redemptions down to 6,750, 13,500, and 27,000 points per night.
Hot Tip: Wondering which Wyndham hotels make for the best redemptions? Read our guide on the best ways to redeem Wyndham Rewards points for maximum value.
Wyndham Go Fast Nights
If you’re looking to stretch your points out further, Wyndham offers Go Fast rates, which is the chain’s take on points plus cash redemptions.
At these rates, Wyndams 3 award categories drop to 1,500, 3,000, and 6,000 points per night, obviously accompanied by a reduced cash price for the stay.
These redemptions can make for a great option when cash rates are significantly higher than average, as well as for travelers who don’t quite have enough Wyndham points needed for a full award stay.
Airline Transfer Partners
Wyndham offers a handful of airline partners where members can convert their points to an airline loyalty program. However, with each of these airline partners, the transfer rates are 6,000 Wyndham points to 1,200 airline miles.
Given the poor transfer rate, this wouldn’t be the best use of your Wyndham points unless you really need to top off your balance in an airline program in order to make a redemption.
Merchandise
Through the Wyndham merchandise portal, you can use your points to purchase products from a wide variety of merchants, but redeeming your points this way will give you a value of just 0.3 cents per point — much lower than the 0.9 cents per point valuation we’ve given to Wyndham points.
Gift Cards
Like many rewards programs, you’ll have the option to redeem your points for gift cards with merchants like Amazon, Best Buy, and Starbucks, but again, you’ll receive just 0.3 cents per point in value, so we do not advise redeeming your points this way.
Marathon Gas Stations
Wyndham has partnered with Marathon’s Makeitcount rewards program to allow Wyndham members to redeem their points discounts when purchasing gas at Marathon stations. Like other redemption options, you’ll receive 0.3 cents per point in value, making it a poor redemption option for your points.
Tours and Activities
Lastly, you can use your Wyndham Rewards points to book experiences through the Wyndham Rewards portal on items like Napa wine tours, Chicago riverboat cruises, and live entertainment. The value of these redemptions will be around 0.3 cents per point, so you’d be better off just paying cash for them.
Bottom Line: If you want to get the absolute maximum value out of your Wyndham Rewards points, you should use them to book free award nights at Wyndham hotels and resorts, or as a way to reduce your cash outlay on Go Fast stays.