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 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.
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)
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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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Appreciate your candor in noting that you receive no compensation for this post, that you have nothing personally to gain here. Yet I suspect that’s why the travelsphere has generally been mum about this card and recent change in WR reward structure — as no one stands to gain from hyping it, or mentioning that (by golly), you apparently can stay at some VERY high end properties and even a half dozen swank all-inclusive resorts. (in the Bahamas even)….
If so, that potentially would put this WR ccard in the ranks of the much ballyhooed Hyatt/Chase card (with its two free nights at all-inclusive resorts — including the beachless Zilaras in Jamaica — been there, done that)
Am I missing something? Maybe this is a theoretical possibility, waiting to be tested? Availability?
I believe Mommy Points had an article saying that the all-inclusive hotels WERE eligible on the Go Free awards. As for credit card pushers, I do know what you mean. I don’t really push credit cards very hard, but one reason probably is that I still have a “real job”, so I’m not dependent on CC referral income to pay the bills…
In most blogger’s defense, this was announced back in April, and I do think that most folks mentioned it.
Dan, the CC link on ur post is still accepted & honored (sign-up bonus including a 15K anniversary bonus) by Barclays?
nvm, ur link to the appl is no longer valid