Tomorrow is the official launch date for the new Wyndham Rewards program, with all participating hotels offering rooms at 15,000 points across the board and cash & points rates available as well. The program actually went live on the WyndhamRewards.com website this past Friday (as mentioned on FlyerTalk) which means there is already some data available on what the new rates really look like, what hotels are participating and more. And, at least for now, it is mostly good news (or at least as expected news).
Award nights are 15,000 points everywhere I’ve looked, including a few spot checks of dates at properties where there was skepticism about availability and participation. The Planet Hollywood and Dolce properties are not participating but that is as expected. Other than that, even the “very expensive” Wyndham properties appear to be in on the new rates. I did also spot a handful where award rooms are not available despite revenue bookings showing but these appear to be “upgraded” rooms rather than a regular room.
Even more interesting is that, for at least some properties, it is possible to book Suites for the same 15,000 points which a normal room would cost. That is most definitely a bargain, though it is unclear if this is on purpose or (more likely) an error in getting the inventory loaded into the system for the cutover.
What was unclear from the initial announcement is how the cash + points aspect of the program would play. We knew that it would be a fixed requirement of 3,000 points per night but the cash requirement was unclear. Based on running a few dozen searches through Hotel Hustle and aggregating the results I can identify at least seven specific cash points for the awards:
- $25
- $30
- $35
- $45
- $55
- $75
- $95
In some cases the number is approximate as it is converted to local currency but these are the main price points I’ve uncovered so far. There may be more out there but I have not seen them yet.
Read More: Beware of Wyndhams Bearing Gifts
These rates mostly seem fair though I’m not entirely sure I know how to define that vis a vis loyalty programs any more. There are some rates, however, which are most bizarre. Which is to say that there are cash + points rates at a few hotels/dates where the cash component is actually higher than the regular cash rate for the room, even before considering the 3000 points/night. Again, I expect that these are mostly anomalies related to getting the data loaded and potentially last-minute sales on cash rates rather than the norm. But they are out there.
And, finally, because the data is now available to the public I’ve updated the Hotel Hustle rate comparison tool to include the new points and cash + points rates in the search results displayed.
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