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Wyndham Rewards® has been named the Best Hotel Loyalty Program by the USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards for the sixth consecutive year. The program has 103 million enrolled members, which is nearly half of the check-ins in the US.
Nominees in the 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards are compiled by a panel of industry experts. Winners are chosen based on reader votes over a four-week period.
I know little about the Wyndham Rewards® program and honestly had to look up the list of brands in the portfolio. Wyndham operates 24 hotel brands, including Super 8®, Days Inn®, Ramada®, Microtel®, La Quinta®, Baymont®, Wingate®, AmericInn®, Hawthorn Suites®, Trademark Collection® and Wyndham®. This represents over 9,100 hotels globally.
I can’t say that I have stayed at any of these in the past 20 years, but I can see the appeal of the loyalty program as it offers quick ways to earn free rooms (members always get 1,000 points per stay) with redemption rates starting at 7,500 points (and discounted rooms available for as little as 1,500 points). This means that it’s possible to get a free night in as little as eight paid stays. You can’t say the same is true of most Hilton, Hyatt, or Marriott properties. But, to be fair, the portfolio being offered here is much lower end than any of those chains.
Dana Rosenberg, SVP of Marketing at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, said:
No other hotel rewards program is as simple, generous and offers more redemption options than Wyndham Rewards. Year after year, our program gets stronger and stronger – driven directly by the loyalty of our more than 100 million enrolled members, dedicated franchisees and strategic partners, who helped make this win possible.”
Anthony’s Take: I’m not too familiar with the Wyndham Rewards® program, but some quick research shows why it got the win. It’s easy to earn and redeem hotels and these properties are budget friendly (appealing to a wide audience).
(Featured Image Credit: Wyndham.)
(Brand Image Credit: AAA.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
3 comments
Anthony:
There are some errors in your article. The redemption rates for award stays are three levels: 7,500, 15,000 and 30,000. You wouldn’t want your worst enemy to stay at a property costing 7,500 points. These are the lowest of the low, where room rates are below $70 a night.
Most properties are 15,000 points except in places like New York City where they are 30,000 points.
Two years ago I attended an FTU seminar on hotel loyalty points. Although all the attendees thought Hyatt the best loyalty program everyone belong to Wyndham Rewards. Why.
Turns out Wyndham offers a Business Credit card. $95 annual fee, usually 65,000 points are a certain spend within 90 days and instant Wyndham Diamond Status and a 10% reduction on point redemptions. Perks are nothing to write home about (perhaps the worst on an elite level).
However, Wyndham has a relationship with Caesars and does Status Matching. Wyndham Diamond = Caesars Diamond. Stay in any Caesars hotel (Vegas, Atlantic City, Reno, etc.) at a reduced rate, NO RESORT FEES, an annual $100 Dinner Credit), access to the VIP lounge, and much more. During the very slow season its possible to get a free room at some of the Caesar Las Vegas Hotels.
Thank you for the clarification. I updated the article. The press release confused me with the 1,500 points. I don’t know the program well, so I appreciate the feedback.
No thanks… I can stay at a top resort in Hyatt portpolio and earn enough points to stay at multiple nights at Hyatt Place and I will take any Hyatt place over Days Inn or Super 8 any day of the week…