In a world of constant program devaluations, I was pleasantly surprised when a press release announcing Wyndham’s new loyalty program plans made it into my inbox this afternoon.
It seems like Wyndham is trying to revolutionize and “rebrand” by re-introducing their loyalty program under the tagline “You’ve Earned ThisTM.”
Set to launch globally on May 11, 2015 with the objective to simplify confusing award-night categories and steer away from upsetting travelers with constant devaluations, the program will feature what they call a “generous” points earning structure and a a flat, free night redemption rate – the first of its kind for a major hotel rewards program.
The program’s core features will include:
- The “Go FreeSM†award (free nights): With just 15,000 points, members can redeem a free night at any of the program’s more than 7,500 hotels globally with no blackout dates.
- The “Go FastSM†award (points and cash): Members who want to redeem their points sooner or stay longer for less can book a night at available hotels for just 3,000 points plus cash.
- More points for faster rewards: For every qualified stay, members now earn 10 points for every dollar spent or a minimum of 1,000 points per stay, whichever is more.
My first thought was, “so what’s going to happen to our existing points?”
Here’s the good news:
Beginning on May 11, 2015, members will see their existing points automatically transferred into the new program, and new and update elite membership tiers for the program’s most loyal members are expected to roll-out later this fall.
This might actually be the complete opposite of a devaluation for some people. I personally have given up on Wyndham and let my points expire last year after they continuously devalued their program (often without notice!!) time after time.
I look forward to learning more about this new program and exploring ways to maximize redemptions in the coming days.
I don’t know about you, but I am kind of excited!
Stay tuned…
This change raises the Wyndham Rewards redemption rate on more rooms than it lowers them on. And it reduces the value of the points.
The 14k and 16k rooms I exclude because the numbers are close enough, both in points required and number of nights/searches for each in my data set. Looking at the other results, however, shows at least 3,200 hotels increasing in redemption cost while only 425 are reduced. The change actually reduces the average cents/point valuation of a Wyndham Rewards point from 0.5610 cents to 0.4773 cents, a cut of ~17%. The median point value drops from 0.5946 to 0.4666 cents.