Rumor: Wyndham to DOUBLE Award Price of Premium Hotels – Book Your Hawaii Resort Stays Now!

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There is a rumor floating around that Wyndham’s award chart might be about to see a major overhaul.  A few years ago, Wyndham made all award nights at their properties a standard 15,000 points a night.  But if the rumored changes end up being true, the price for a free night will be between 7,500 to 30,000 Wyndham points.

This could mean bad news for folks that use Wyndham points at high end hotels because this rumored new award chart will DOUBLE the cost of their finest hotels.  On the flip side, Wyndham’s more economical properties will probably see a price cut (when it comes to redeeming points) if this rumor ends up being true.

If you have any Wyndham points you want to use at expensive hotels, I would suggest booking sooner rather than later.  Wyndham is notorious for making sudden changes to their program.  In the past, they’ve even changed the terms to a promotion after it already started!

If these changes go into effect, you might be better off paying with other points for your high-end Wyndham stays.

Wyndham Set To Release New Award Chart (Rumor)

I think it is important to note that this is only a rumor, but it is something that I think has a reliability behind it.  Wyndham is not confirming or denying this information.

Wyndham’s Current Flat Rate Rewards Program Is Awesome For Earning Premium Hotel Stays

Wyndham owns 19 different hotel brands.  The majority of these brands fall in what we can call the “economical” end of the hotel scale.  These are brands like Days Inn, Super 8, Howard Johnson, and Travelodge.  However, there are premium hotels offered such as Viva Wyndham, Wyndham Grand, and Dolce Hotels & Resorts.

Under the current rewards program, members could redeem 15,000 Wyndham points towards a free award night at any Wyndham hotel all the way from a $59 a night Super 8 up to a $459 a night at Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Beach Resort & Spa.  With the same 15,000 points you could be staying in Dubuque, Iowa or at a resort in Kona!

The obvious best way to use this rewards system was to earn points from affordable hotels like La Quinta or Ramada (other Wyndham owned brands) and then spend points on premium resorts like Wyndham hotels that run $300+ a night.  In fact staying at super-affordable hotels was even better because you are guaranteed a minimum of 10 points per $1 or 1,000 points per stay (whichever is greater).  So for stays under $100 you earned more than 10 points per $1!

Note:   Many of Wyndham’s best resorts require a minimum 3-night stay.

If this new rumor ends up being true then this will likely be changing from a single flat redemption system to a 3 tier system.

Wyndham’s Potential New Tiered System

The new award schedule could ditch the flat rate redemption in favor of a tier system based on hotel brand and location.

It is rumored to look like this:

• Tier 1:   7,500 Wyndham points per night
• Tier 2:   15,000 Wyndham points per night
• Tier 3:   30,000 Wyndham points per night

This system actually does make more sense.  But it obviously means that earning those luxury hotel nights is going to be harder.  Expect the premium hotels to go up from costing 15,000 Wyndham points per night up to 30,000 points.

The silver lining with this new system is that Wyndham’s value oriented brands will make more sense as redemption options because they could fall in the 7,500 points tier which is half what it used to cost for a free award night.

What Impact Does This Have Wyndham’s Reward Value

For me, if this new system is rolled out, I probably would start putting less effort into earning Wyndham points.

I previously used La Quinta and Ramada hotels frequently when traveling on road trips because the hotels made good pit stops during a long drive and I could easily earn elite status (5 nights per year for gold or 15 nights per year for Platinum), which is status matched for elite status at Caesars Hotels in Las Vegas.  Then the points I earned could be redeemed on expensive holidays or expensive locales.  Overall it was a great value, but I think that value will drop if this change is enacted.

What do you think of this new system and does it impact your likelihood of staying at a Wyndham hotel?

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