Buy Wyndham Points For $33 To Get A Cheaper Stay

Wyndham’s new reward program is only a few months old but there are many travelers that have already been able to take advantage of the new, flat reward chart.

While the majority of Wyndham properties may not be places that would be anywhere near the top of your aspirational hotel list, the truth is that getting hotels for less than the going rate is always going to be a good deal – especially when the place you are visiting does not have a high-end Marriott or Hyatt hotel.

When it comes down to it, there are certain trips where hotels are simply a place that you lay your head in between activities at your destination. There have been many times that I was literally in the hotel room for only 6-7 hours before I was back out again. In cases like that, the last thing I want to do is use my valuable Hyatt points for some nicer property!

Buy Wyndham Points For $33 To Get Cheaper Rooms

Buying points for a single night stay can save some serious money!

One of the redemption methods with the updated Wyndham rewards program is the ability to book rooms at participating hotels using 3,000 points and some cash. The amount of cash is dependent on the hotel but should be in the range of $35 – $75 plus the 3,000 points.

Depending on when and where you are traveling, using the cash and points mixture can be a big cost savings. But, what happens if you do not have the Wyndham credit card (which gives 45,000 points after meeting the spending) and you do not plan on taking advantage of the current bonus for a single stay?

Buying Wyndham Points

While it is not normally a great idea to purchase travel points on speculation of a stay, it could make sense with Wyndham. That is because the cost is not that much – $11 per 1,000 points. The cap is 5,000 points in year for a single account to receive (but, you can have someone traveling with you also take advantage of that for more nights). So, you are not going to do this for a whole week of cheaper points and cash stays (called Go Fast by Wyndham), but it could be a great idea for that single night when prices are high or the location just works but the cost is too high.

• Cost – $11 per 1,000
• Cap – 5,000 points in a calendar year
• Link – Here

Even after you put the cost of the points together with the cash component of some of the rooms you can still come out ahead. I looked at a wide range of hotels and locations and found that, in most of the scenarios I looked at, you will still be saving at least 30% going this way instead of paying cash for the room.

Cheaper Elsewhere?

Now, can you get the room cheaper on Priceline or Hotwire? Very possibly, yes. But, if you want to pick the hotel because of the location or the price is much higher than $130, this is the cheapest way to get it done.

Big Value For Special Events

If you look back over a previous post I wrote about Super Bowl availability, using points and cash (and buying the 3,000 points for $33) could save you hundreds of dollars for a single night stay. This works the same for other popular places and events. There are big savings to be had for New Year’s Eve destinations as well as other large cities during events.

This is the cost of using points and cash for two nights – $121 (plus the cost of purchasing points) and 6,000 points

This is the cost for just the room on the same nights as above!

Summary

Even though buying points is not always the best way to approach smart redemptions, in a situation like this (especially if it is at a last minute type of hotel booking), buying points and redeeming for a single night with the points and cash method can give some serious savings.

While travel with miles and points is still never completely free, using them certainly helps to get us to a lower price than it would cost otherwise. More importantly, it stretches the ability of where we are able to go and what we are able to do because of the decreased price. This strategy in this post fits under this heading.