A couple of months ago, Wyndham overhauled their rewards program and made it very simple. In a day of award programs trying to complicate redemptions (looking at you, Delta), it is nice to see a program become more simple.
The New Wyndham Reward Program
Read more: The New Wyndham Rewards Program
Not only did it become more simple but it also made many hotels cheaper for redemption. To give members access to those new program redemptions, they also did a slight refresh on their credit card to let you have 3 free nights as a sign-up bonus.
However, for those customers who use points to stay in the lower tier properties (Super 8, Howard Johnson, etc), the change was not good. Now, those hotels cost the same 15,000 points for a night as do the high end Wyndham properties.
– Wyndham Rewards Credit Card Link – get up to 45,000 points! (this is not a referral link)
How The New Wyndham Program Can Save You Big Money During Special Events
No Blackout Dates
If your goal is to secure hotel rooms for special events, the new Wyndham rewards program can certainly help you to do that. Like other hotel programs, Wyndham offers a no blackout claim for awards. If there is a standard room available, you can book it with points.
A Lot Of Standard Rooms
The problem with many other hotel reward programs, they sometimes like to play with the “standard” room category, especially during peak travel times. Not only might they change a minor classification to release it from being a standard room, but peak travel for that hotel may use up what (possibly few) standard rooms they do have in the offering. That means – no reward nights for you at some chains during big events!
Special Events Make Great Redemptions
Undoubtedly the largest sporting event in the US is the Super Bowl and hotels all around the area of the host stadium begin to command insane prices. For instance, when the Super Bowl was in NY/NJ, nearby Howard Johnson hotels were going for $1,000 per night! That is just crazy!
Get this hotel for only 15,000 points per night – 8 miles from the Super Bowl!
The good part is that these hotels that often can be had for under $100 or so are typically full of “standard” rooms. As a result, they are in the redemption pool for awards. Wyndham’s hotel portfolio is full of such hotels and that translates to some excellent reward redemptions in cities during special events.
It Is All About Value
Use 15,000 points or only 3,000 points and $55 to save almost $500 per night!
It is not necessarily a great feeling to blow 15,000 points that could be used at resorts in Hawaii on a Super 8, but this travel hobby we participate in is about making travel cheaper. If your goal is the Super Bowl and to do the travel as cheap as possible, then it makes great redemption sense to redeem for a Super 8 and actually get a nearby room vs paying almost $500 for that same room.
Not only that, but when you are visiting a city for a special event, how much time do you really spend in your room? It is more of a place to crash and stash your stuff and if you can do it for “free” with points, why not?
Use “Go Fast” For Even Better Value
Look at the value of the Go Fast award!
The same room as above but without any points.
Of course, if you do not want to use 15,000 points for a room, you can also take advantage of Wyndham’s Go Fast redemption rate. That involves using 3,000 points and some cash (in this case, $55) for a room. Now, not all Wyndham properties participate in the Go Fast redemption system, but if you are going someplace during a special event, the best value will almost certainly be the Go Fast rate if it shows up.
Summary
Do not rule out Wydham’s new reward program as a great backup program for special events. There are many hotels all over the world and many of them will likely have some great availability for those special events that will normally make all other hotel programs be absent of redemption opportunities. Using your Wyndham points for redemptions like these could easily make their value on the redemption become higher than any other hotel point system.
Tip: this works for New Year’s Eve in New York City as well. Check out the Wingate by Wyndham with availability for points only .5 mile from Times Square!
I just used “Go Fast” to book a room in Hong Kong for a 2-night stopover, and using those 6000 Wyndham points saved me about $400 off the cash rate. In comparison, 2 nights at a Marriott property would’ve been 70K pts, so I see this as a fantastic deal.
Great value!