Wyndham Rewards Points: The Complete Guide

Historically, there was no transfer program to Wyndham Rewards Points and you could only earn them from a co-branded credit card. Recently, Capital One added the ability to transfer Capital One miles to Wyndham Rewards. With this newfound ability to earn more Wyndham Rewards points, now is the time to get to know this valuable hotel program.

Wyndham Rewards aren’t always the most valuable points, but the Wyndham rewards chart maxes out at only 30,000 points for a free night. Wyndham also has some unique partnerships that allow you to book cottages in Europe or vacation rentals through Vacasa.

Let’s dive deep and take a look at everything you need to know about Wyndham Rewards Points.

What is Wyndham Rewards?

The Wyndham Rewards program is the loyalty program of Wyndham Hotels.

Wyndham is the world’s largest hotel chain, with over 9,000 properties. Familiar economy hotels within the Wyndham brand include Super 8, Days Inn and Travelodge. Mid-range hotels include Ramada and Wyndham Garden. Luxury travelers can enjoy brands in the Wyndham family such as Wyndham Grand and Dolce hotels.

Wyndham also has their own timeshare program, Wyndham Vacations. There’s also some additional partnerships with Caesar’s Rewards, Vacasa and Cottages.com. Thanks to these partnerships, you can also use your Wyndham Rewards Points to book hotels through any of these other programs.

Actual Value of Wyndham Rewards Points

Wyndham hotels tend to not be too expensive, making it challenging to get great value out of them. You can expect to get around 0.9 cents per point at Wyndham hotels using these points.

Don’t let that stop you from searching, especially at Wyndham’s luxury properties. The Wyndham Margaritaville St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands typically costs around $300 per night, but only requires 15,000 Wyndham Rewards Points to book. That works out to 2 cents per point which is a great value.

There are some more valuable hotel programs out there, but Wyndham Rewards can be quite easy to earn compared to other programs. The ease of earning will get you to free nights faster.

How to Earn Wyndham Rewards Points

Wyndham Rewards Points are fairly easy to earn, especially with the addition of Capital One as a transfer partner. In addition to transferring from Capital One, you can also earn Wyndham Rewards Points with a co-branded credit card from Barclays.

• Transfer Capital One miles 1:1
• Wyndham Rewards Earner Card from Barclays
• Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus Card from Barclays
• Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Card from Barclays
• Shop through the Wyndham Rewards Shopping Portal
• Earn with special shopping partners like Avis Rental Cars and Home Chef
• Paid stays at Wyndham Hotels, Wyndham Vacation Clubs, and Caesars Hotels
• Earn 10X points per dollar booking activities with Wyndham Tours & Activities

Remember, Wyndham Rewards Points are worth about 0.9 cents each. Capital One miles are worth a fixed value of 1 cent a mile when you use them to offset travel charges. Be sure to check the cash prices before transferring Capital One miles to Wyndham to be sure you’re using the least amount of points possible.

If you want to earn more Wyndham Points directly, getting one of the Wyndham co-branded credit cards is a good way to earn more points.

The Wyndham Rewards Earner Card from Barclays earns 5X points at Wyndham hotels, 5X points on gas, 2X points on dining and at grocery stores and 1X point on all other purchases.

If you opt for the Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus Card from Barclays, you’ll earn 6X points at Wyndham hotels, 6X points on gas, 4X points on dining and at grocery stores and 1X points on all other purchases.

Business owners can open the Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Card from Barclays. You’ll earn 8X points on Wyndham hotels and 8X points on gas. Card holders will also earn 5X points on marketing, advertising and utilities and 1X point on all other purchases.

It’s important to know that Wyndham Rewards Points do expire. If you don’t have any account activity for 18 months, your points will be forfeited. Additionally, points are only valid for four years after posting to your account. This makes it more important than other programs to only transfer points to Wyndham Rewards when you intend to use them.

Wyndham Rewards Points Chart

The Wyndham Rewards program is easy to understand. With only three tiers of hotels with fixed pricing, there’s no peak or off-peak days. The amount of points needed for a free night will stay consistent.

A free night award (called a “go free” award) requires either 7,500, 15,000 or 30,000 Wyndham Rewards Points. Award nights at Vacasa are fixed at 15,000 points per night.

A nice aspect about Wyndham award nights is that there are no resort fees charged at Wyndham properties. If you’re booking an award night at a Caesar’s property, expect to pay resort fees at check-out.

In addition to booking over 9,000 properties in the Wyndham family, you can use Wyndham Rewards points to book vacation rentals through Vacasa. Vacasa is similar to AirBNB and VRBO, where you’re booking independently owned vacation rentals. This expands your available properties to book by over 15,000.

To book with Vacasa, simply search on Vacasa for available dates and call 866-996-7937. Vacasa award nights cost only 15,000 Wyndham Rewards Points for any property, including multiple bedroom houses and condos in idyllic locations. There’s some anecdotal evidence that award nights are capped at $500, but your mileage may vary. Bookings aren’t processed instantaneously, so expect up to three days to get a confirmation of your booking.

Additionally, you can book cottages around Europe through cottages.com for only 15,000 points per night. Similar to Vacasa, you’ll need to call in at 1-866-232-8628 to book your award stay.

If you’d rather stretch your points even farther, you can book a “go fast” award night. This is basically a cash and points combo. Similar to “go free” award, there’s a fixed chart for “go fast” awards. You’ll get a discounted night for only 1,500, 3,000 or 6,000 points per night. Go fast awards do not cover resort fees, so be prepared to pay these out of pocket.

The go fast cash portions can vary, and there’s no fixed discount. However, the value can often be very good. You can commonly get around two to four cents per point with the go fast rate, making it a great way to offset the cash price of your visit.

How to Use Wyndham Rewards Points

In addition to award nights, there are plenty of other ways to use Wyndham Rewards Points. Keep in mind that you won’t typically get the same value as redeeming your points for free night awards, but if you have a large stash of points just sitting there about to expire you should put them to use. Remember, points expire after 18 months of inactivity or four years after having earned them.

• Book Experiences & Awards
• Discounts on Gas at Marathon Gas Stations
• Use points to shop online
• Purchase gift cards
• Make a charitable donation
• Transfer to airline loyalty programs
• Transfer to Caesar’s Rewards

If you’re planning to book experiences and awards, shop online or purchase gift cards, the value you’ll get will be approximately 0.35 cents per point. You can get the most value for $100 gift cards, where you’ll get 0.37 cents per point.

There’s a number of airline programs that you can transfer too, but like other hotel to airline programs it really only makes sense if you need to top off your account or if your points are close to expiring. For every 6,000 Wyndham Rewards points you transfer, you’ll earn 1,200 airline miles.

You can transfer to the following airlines:

• Aeromexico Club Premier
• Air Canada Aeroplan Miles
• Air China PhoenixMiles
• American Airlines AAdvantage Miles
• Avianca LifeMiles
• China Eastern Miles
• Frontier Airlines FRONTIER Miles
• PAYBACK Points
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
• United MileagePlus Miles

If you’re choosing to transfer to Caesar’s Rewards, you’ll get one Caesar’s Rewards point for every one Wyndham Rewards point you transfer.

Wyndham Rewards Status Overview

There are four tiers of status within the Wyndham Rewards program. Each level comes with increasingly more benefits. When earning status, all qualifying nights must be booked directly through Wyndham. If you book through a third party like Expedia or Priceline, you won’t earn elite qualifying nights or be entitled to the benefits of your status.

Let’s take a look at the different levels, what it takes to get there, and the benefits that you can expect.

Wyndham Blue Status

Wyndham Rewards Blue status is the lowest level in the Wyndham Rewards status chart. As soon as you sign up as a Wyndham Rewards member, you’ll automatically be assigned blue status.

With Wyndham Blue status, you’re entitled to the following benefits:

• Member Savings – you’ll get the lowest price on hotels worldwide when booking directly through Wyndham
• Earn 10 points per dollar or 1,000 points on every qualifying stay, whichever is greater
• The ability to book “go free” and “go fast” award nights
• Rollover Nights – your elite nights earned in one year roll over to the next, helping you maintain your status level or get to your next level faster
• Free WiFi during your stay

Wyndham co-branded card holders will be able to earn even more points. Wyndham Rewards Earner Card members with Blue status will earn a total of 15X points at Wyndham hotels. Rewards Earner Plus card holders who carry Blue status will earn 16X points at Wyndham hotels. Rewards Earner Business Card holders will earn a total of 18X points at Wyndham hotels when they have Blue status.

Wyndham Gold Status

You’ll be elevated to Wyndham Rewards Gold status after staying five qualifying nights at Wyndham Hotels. For 2021, the threshold is temporarily lowered to only three qualifying nights.

Wyndham Gold status comes with all of the same benefits of Blue status plus the following additional benefits:

• Dedicated member services – when you call you’ll get access to a dedicated customer service team that assists your level of status
• Preferred room choice – notify the hotel of your room preferences and they’ll do their best to accommodate
• Accelerated earning – you’ll earn 11 points per dollar spent, 10% extra than what you would earn with Blue status
• Late check out

Wyndham co-branded card holders will be able to earn even more points. Wyndham Rewards Earner Card members with Gold status will earn a total of 16X points at Wyndham hotels. Rewards Earner Plus card holders who carry Gold status will earn 17X points at Wyndham hotels. Rewards Earner Business Card holders will earn a total of 19X points at Wyndham hotels when they have Gold status.

Wyndham Platinum Status

Moving on up! You can achieve Wyndham Platinum status after staying 15 qualifying nights. Similar to Gold status, the qualifying night requirement has been temporarily reduced to only nine nights for 2021. If you have Platinum status with Caesar’s Rewards, you can also match your Caesar’s Platinum status to Wyndham Platinum status.

Your status will come with all the benefits of Blue and Gold, with some extra benefits as well:

• Early check in – notify the hotel in advance of your arrival time and you’ll be able to check into your room before the posted check in time
• Caesar’s Reward Status Match – simply request a match online and you’ll earn Caesar’s Rewards Platinum status.
• Rental car upgrades – book a rental car with Avis or Budget and you’ll receive a complimentary single category upgrade at participating locations in the U.S. and Canada (excluding Quebec), subject to availability
• Accelerated earnings – earn 11.5 points per dollar spent, 15% extra than what you would earn with Blue status

Wyndham co-branded card holders will be able to earn even more points. Wyndham Rewards Earner Card members with Platinum status will earn a total of 16.5X points at Wyndham hotels. Rewards Earner Plus card holders who carry Platinum status will earn 17.5X points at Wyndham hotels. Rewards Earner Business Card holders will earn a total of 19.5X points at Wyndham hotels when they have Platinum status.

Wyndham Diamond Status

If you’re seeking the ultimate status level within Wyndham Rewards, then look no further than Wyndham Diamond status. You’ll earn Wyndham Diamond status after staying 40 qualifying nights. For 2021, you’ll earn Diamond status after staying just 24 qualifying nights. Similar to Platinum status, you can also match Caesar’s Diamond status to Wyndham to automatically earn Wyndham Diamond status.

Wyndham Diamond includes all of the same perks from the lower status, with a few extras:

• Suite upgrades – be upgraded to a suite on every stay, subject to availability, including on go free and go fast award stays
• Welcome amenity – you’ll receive a complimentary snack or beverage at check in at select hotels
• Gift gold – every year you can gift gold status to one family member or friend
• Accelerated earning – you’ll earn 12 points per dollar spent at Wyndham hotels, that’s 20% more than you would earn with Blue status

Wyndham co-branded card holders will be able to earn even more points. Wyndham Rewards Earner Card members with Diamond status will earn a total of 17X points at Wyndham hotels. Rewards Earner Plus card holders who carry Diamond status will earn 18X points at Wyndham hotels. Rewards Earner Business Card holders will earn a total of 20X points at Wyndham hotels when they have Diamond status.

Frequently Asked Questions

Let’s review a few key common questions about the Wyndham Rewards program.

How Many Wyndham Rewards Points do you need for a free night?

There are two types of “free” nights you can redeem Wyndham Rewards points for: Go free and go fast nights. Go free nights are completely free, while go fast nights reduce the cash price. Whichever way you choose to redeem, your hotel will fall into one of three categories.

The first category costs 7,500 points for a go free award, while a go fast reward costs 1,500 points and some cash.

If your hotel falls into the second category, a go free award costs 15,000 points while a go fast reward costs 3,000 points and some cash.

For hotels in the highest category, go free awards cost 30,000 points and go fast rewards cost 6,000 points and some cash.

How much are 1,000 Wyndham Rewards Points Worth?

Remember, Wyndham Rewards Points are worth about 0.9 cents each. Dig back to your middle school math education because we’re going to do some math.

All we have to do is multiply 1,000 Wyndham Rewards by 0.9 cents, and we get 900 cents. Given there’s 100 cents per dollar, 1,000 Wyndham Rewards points are worth $9.

How Many Wyndham Rewards Points Do You Get Per Stay?

The amount of Wyndham Rewards points that you earn depends on your status with Wyndham.

First of all, remember that you won’t earn points on award nights. But if you’re paying cash, you’ll earn the following number of points for your stay:

• Blue Level – 10 points per dollar
• Gold Level – 11 points per dollar
• Platinum Level – 11.5 points per dollar
• Diamond Level – 12 points per dollar

What can I get with my Wyndham Rewards points?

First and foremost, you can get free nights with your Wyndham Rewards points. Remember, though, that your points will expire after 18 months of no activity or four years after earning them. Because of that, if your points are about to expire you can redeem your points a few other ways:

• Book Experiences & Awards
• Discounts on Gas at Marathon Gas Stations
• Use points to shop online
• Purchase gift cards
• Make a charitable donation
• Transfer to airline loyalty programs
• Transfer to Caesar’s Rewards

Final Thoughts

If you haven’t looked at the Wyndham Rewards program, it should definitely be on your list as a hotel program worth understanding. Now that you’ve read this primer, you should have a better understanding of the program.

With Capital One adding Wyndham Rewards as a transfer partner, the Wyndham Rewards program is more viable than ever. Wyndham Rewards has a fairly good award chart as well since you won’t be shelling out tons of points for a hotel since the highest cost is 30,000 points per night. However, Wyndham Hotels typically aren’t as expensive as others, so you’ll usually get a value around 0.9 cents per point.

Now that you know all of the basics of the Wyndham Rewards program, be sure to keep it in your mind before booking your next hotel.