Alex Miller
Founder and CEO of Upgraded Points, Alex is a leader in the industry and has earned and redeemed millions of points and miles. He frequently discusses the award travel industry with CNBC, Fox Business...
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23 Wyndham brands including Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Ramada, La Quinta, and Days Inn.
7,500, 15,000, or 30,000 points per night for all hotels
Wyndham has over 9,000 properties across more than 80 countries. Those familiar with Wyndham’s budget brands in the U.S. may be surprised at new, upscale properties in the U.S. and resorts around the world.
Wyndham also has extensive timeshares, vacation rentals, and a partnership with Caesars Entertainment.
Register online for a free Wyndham Rewards account. Wyndham Rewards’ slogan is go free, go fast, go get ’em and its sign-up process lives up to that: just fill out your information and click “Join Now.”
Sign in on the Wyndham Rewards homepage.
After you log in, see your activity and elite status progress by clicking your name in the top right corner and then “My Account.”
There are 2 Wyndham Rewards expiration policies to be aware of.
First: points expire after 18 months of account inactivity. You can avoid this by earning, redeeming, or transferring points.
Second: all points expire 4 years (48 months) after they’re earned, regardless of activity… so you cannot indefinitely stockpile points.
Wyndham Rewards has revamped its elite status program to offer more meaningful benefits to its frequent guests than it did in the past.
You start as a Blue Member, and with progressively more stays each year you can earn higher status levels.
Blue Member
Gold Member
Platinum Member
Diamond Member
Wyndham Rewards has elite qualification rollover nights, a flexible benefit for earning elite status year to year.
While Gold status has limited benefits, with Platinum you get the valuable early check-in benefit.
Diamond comes with unlimited suite upgrades (subject to availability)… but even at this level, breakfast is not included.
Overall, Wyndham Rewards status echoes its heritage with budget hotels rather than its recent push into more upscale properties.
The Wyndham Rewards Earner Business card comes with Diamond status and the Wyndham Rewards Earner+ card comes with Platinum status, both nice jumpstarts for people who have several upcoming Wyndham stays. The no annual fee Wyndham Rewards Earner card comes with Gold, which is worth relatively little for Wyndham stays.
Earning Wyndham Rewards elite status is straightforward: you earn by the number of nights per year. Both paid and award stays count.
Through December 31, 2022, the status stay requirements are:
Platinum and Diamond members in Wyndham Rewards and Caesars Rewards can match to equal status in the other program.
Click here to match if you have Wyndham Rewards status, and here to match if you have Caesars Rewards status.
Wyndham Rewards lacks the various points-earning options of many other hotel programs.
Without a major credit card transfer partner, your main earning efforts will be through stays at Wyndham hotels and with its co-branded credit cards.
The Wyndham Rewards earning structure is perhaps the simplest among hotel programs:
Wyndham Rewards frequently has bonus point offers. Log in to your Wyndham Rewards account and click “Offers” at the top of the main page to see if there is a targeted bonus point offer for you to register for or book.
With Go Meet for bookings, you earn 1 point per dollar spent on:
Wyndham Rewards and Caesars Rewards have partnered to let you earn the same 10 points per dollar with a minimum of 1,000 points on stays at more than 30 Caesars properties.
You can also status match between Wyndham Rewards and Caesars Rewards.
You’re also able to transfer points between Wyndham Rewards and Caesars Rewards.
Earn 100 points per day on Avis/Budget rentals. Compare that to other miles or points you can earn for the same rentals.
There are 3 Wyndham Rewards Earner cards from Barclays:
Card | Points Earned at Wyndham and on Gas | Other Point-Earning Categories | Annual Fee |
Wyndham Rewards® Earner℠ Card | 5x per dollar | 2x per dollar on dining and groceries | $0 |
Wyndham Rewards® Earner℠ Plus Card | 6x per dollar | 4x per dollar on dining and groceries | $75 |
Wyndham Rewards® Earner℠ Business Card | 8x per dollar | 5x per dollar on marketing, advertising, and utilities | $95 |
All 3 cards earn 1% for all other everyday purchases.
Make purchases at participating online retailers through the Wyndham Rewards shopping site to earn points. Select the retailer you’d like to shop with and click “Shop Now.”
Earn 500 points for joining Opinion Rewards Panel and completing your first survey.
New customers get 2,500 points with their first Home Chef box and 500 points for each additional box.
You can buy or gift points for a fee (view current rates).
You can choose to earn airline/rail miles on your Wyndham stays instead of points. This is a great option for those with infrequent Wyndham stays that would not earn enough points for free nights.
Blue and Gold members will earn 1 mile per $1 spent at Wyndham and Platinum and Diamond members will earn 2 miles per $1 spent.
Without credit card transfer partners, the Wyndham Rewards Earner cards from Barclays are your only credit card options to earn Wyndham Rewards points.
Card | |||
Benefits |
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|
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Annual Fee | $0 | $75 | $95 |
The card has 3 versions that earn 5x to 8x points per dollar spent on hotels by Wyndham (and gas!). All cardholders also enjoy redeeming 10% fewer points for awards, an annual/anniversary points bonus (terms apply), and a cardmember booking discount.
If you earn Capital One Miles, you can transfer them to Wyndham Rewards. With a 1:1 transfer ratio, this can be an attractive use of your points if you find a good redemption opportunity for a property with pricey cash rates.
The Capital One Venture X card is an excellent option for travelers looking for an all-in-one premium credit card.
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is the premium Capital One travel rewards card on the block.
Points and miles fans will be surprised to see that the Capital One Venture X card packs quite the punch when it comes to bookings made through Capital One, all while offering the lowest annual fee among premium credit cards.
Depending on your travel goals and preferences, the Capital One Venture X card could very well end up being your go-to card in your wallet.
Get 2x miles plus some of the most flexible redemptions offered by a travel credit card!
The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is one of the most popular rewards cards on the market. It’s perfect for anyone in search of a great welcome offer, high rewards rates, and flexible redemption options.
Frequent travelers with excellent credit may benefit from this credit card that offers a lot of bells and whistles. And it offers easy-to-understand rewards earning and redemption.
The card offers unlimited miles at 1.25x per $1 and no annual fee. When you consider the flexible rewards, frequent travelers come out on top.
Interested in a travel rewards credit card without one of those pesky annual fees? Then say hello to the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card.
In addition to no annual fee, the Capital One VentureOne card offers no foreign transaction fees.
But is this card worth its salt, or is it merely a shell of the more popular Capital One Venture card?
You can also opt to transfer over your Citi ThankYou Points to Wyndham at a 1:1 ratio or a 1:0.8 ratio, depending on which card you hold.
*The information regarding the Citi Premier card has expired, and the card is no longer open to applicants.
The Citi Premier® Card is an excellent option for anyone looking for an all-around travel rewards credit card. The card helps you earn points fast with great 3x bonus categories such as restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, airfare, and hotels. Plus, it offers access to airline and hotel transfer partners, doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees, and has a reasonable annual fee!
This no annual fee card rewards cardholders for everyday purchases. Earn bonus points at supermarkets and gas stations, plus your points are rounded up on every purchase.
The Citi Rewards+ card is an excellent way to earn Citi ThankYou points with a $0 annual fee while receiving perks like point round-ups, a 10% point redemption rebate, and more.
Great card for the average spender with no specific focus category; worry-free cash-back earning on everything!
The Citi Double Cash® Card has long been one of the top cash-back credit cards on the market, and the card now has the ability to earn Citi ThankYou Points!
This means that cardholders of the Double Cash card will now earn 2% on every purchase with unlimited 1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay for those purchases. Cash back is earned in the form of ThankYou Points. This means each billing cycle, you will earn 1 ThankYou point per $1 spent on purchases and an additional ThankYou point for every $1 paid on your purchase balance as long as there is a corresponding balance in your Purchase Tracker.
Citi has turned the Double Cash card into a top choice for those who are looking for an everyday, no-fuss credit card.
Earn big on purchases in your top eligible spend category, up to the first $500 each billing cycle, without an annual fee!
The Citi Custom Cash® Card is inventive when it comes to cash-back credit cards. Instead of earning a set amount of cash-back on predetermined bonus categories, the Citi Custom Cash card earns 5% cash-back on your highest eligible spend category each billing cycle, with a $0 annual fee.
Thanks to that unique perk, you’ll never need to worry about whether you’re using the right card for the right purchase, as your Citi Custom Cash card will always pay you 5% back on whichever category you end up spending the most on each month.
Wyndham Rewards is known for major changes to its program, and the current iteration is its biggest change ever.
Each type of free night award has 3 prices:
You can book these online by searching from Wyndham Rewards.
You can also book award nights at:
Go Free and Go Fast work a bit differently for condos and homes. The 15,000/3,000 pricing is per bedroom, so a 2-bedroom unit is double the price of a single bedroom.
Many are subject to minimum stay requirements, but you can mix points and paid nights if you do not have enough points for your entire stay.
You have to call to book these special properties. Each has a different contact number; check terms and contacts here.
Hot Tip: Due to a new partnership in 2021, Wyndham Rewards members can also redeem their points at 15,000+ Vacasa vacation rental properties for a cost of 15,000 points per room, per night.
Wyndham Rewards has additional types of awards or things you can do with your points:
Most of these awards are of poor value for travelers. Transferring to airline miles used to be a great option, but it has been drastically devalued.