Wyndham Rewards

[Elizabeth Darling]

dumb question but I got 30,000 WR points opening a My Wyndham Rewards Visa at a owners presentation. The CC has a Wyndham Rewards number on it. I received a paper card that showed how to redeem the 30,000 points, and that created a different WR number.

So, are the points earned on the CC different than the 30,000 points I received. They both have the words Wyndham Rewards on them.

I think they are the same, so I will call customer service to merge them. But I wondering if anyone knew so I can be educated before dealing with customer service.

It turns out I found a very old WR card with another reward number, so this will be a fun phone call.

 

[Elizabeth Darling]

Well turns out the CC has a Wyndham Rewards Member Number not the Wyndham Rewards Number.

My husband stays at hotels a lot, so we have CCs for several brands for when he stays. He is staying at the Wyndham Beacon Hill in Boston. We went through the Wyndham rewards system to book, when we couldn’t get it with our timeshare points. We have stayed at the New Yorker quiet a few times and finally got the rewards card to use at our next trip. I used to think if something was available on a hotel site or RCI, it meant it was available on the timeshare site. Screwed up at least one vacation with that assumption. I am getting better with TUGgers!

 

[Al Wilson]

I think using timeshare points at a hotel would be a waste of your timeshare points. You just wouldn't get as much value out of them as using them at a resort. I would save the timeshare ownership points for timeshares, and the rewards points for hotels or resorts. But hey, if everyone uses their ownership points for hotels, cars, airlines, etc. then that leaves more resort reservation openings for me to find.

 

[am1]

I managed to get about a million Wyndham Rewards points. The value can be better and more flexible then using wyndham timeshare points to stay at timeshares.

 

[Al Wilson]

I managed to get about a million Wyndham Rewards points. The value can be better and more flexible then using wyndham timeshare points to stay at timeshares.

I see value that way; one can book the new clearwater resort with just 15k rewards points per night. But the reverse, using ownership points for hotels (some of which are nasty hotels), seems a waste.

 

[am1]

I see value that way; one can book the new clearwater resort with just 15k rewards points per night. But the reverse, using ownership points for hotels (some of which are nasty hotels), seems a waste.

I converted timeshare points to wyndham reward points. All depends on where you want to stay. Wyndham lost a south beach hotel during the process which was disappointing. Have since lost a tyrp in Paris and a few others.

 

[wjappraise]

I converted timeshare points to wyndham reward points. All depends on where you want to stay. Wyndham lost a south beach hotel during the process which was disappointing. Have since lost a tyrp in Paris and a few others.

Adam.
How do you convert Wyndham TS points to WR points?
Thanks
Wes.

 

[Lisa P]

But hey, if everyone uses their ownership points for hotels, cars, airlines, etc. then that leaves more resort reservation openings for me to find.

Does it? When timeshare points are used for other purposes, the management company takes over those points, may use them to reserve nights at a timeshare to put up for rent and profit. This recovers the cost of providing whatever the owner had wanted (hotel room, car, airfare, etc.).

 

[am1]

Adam.
How do you convert Wyndham TS points to WR points?
Thanks
Wes.

It was something Wyndham offered before. May still do.

 

[Silverdollar]

Adam.
How do you convert Wyndham TS points to WR points?
Thanks
Wes.

You can convert Club Wyndham TS points to WR (hotel) points by calling the Club Wyndham operator and they will do it for you. There is a $99 fee each time you convert points, and the conversion ratio is 10:4; or 100,000 Club Wyndham points = 40,000 WR points. Except in rare instances, you will lose buying power when converting. Those rare instances would be if you are able to book a reservation at one of the more expensive Wyndham hotels.

As you are probably aware, it takes 15,000 WR points to book a one-night stay at any Wyndham hotel, whether it is one of their low-end hotels or their high-end hotels. A few years ago, they did away with charging different amount points depending on the quality of the hotel. Now its 15k pts per night regardless of the quality, so its the same whether its a $50 a night hotel or a $500 a night hotel.

Personally, I accumulate WR pts using my WR credit card. Again, it only ends up being a good deal if you stay in one of Wyndham's high-end hotels which I have done many times.

One thing I like about WR is that you can cancel a reservation (at most Wyn hotels) up to 24 hours prior to arrival. And there has even been a couple times that I cancelled within the 24 hours and got my points back because of a true emergency. I simply made an appeal and they restored the points to my account.

I learned something else recently about WR. When paying to stay at a Wyndham hotel you receive a 20% discount, but sometimes you can get an even better rate through WR if you are in the military, or do business with certain companies. Just ask the WR operator for that list to see if you qualify for any of them and they will give it to you. Recently, I received a better rate for a business trip coming up in October because the WR operator asked if I did business with a particular insurance company. The WR operator gave me the lower rate and told me to show my insurance card at check-in and the discount would be honored. I received an email from WR confirming the lower rate.

 

[skotrla]

You can convert Club Wyndham TS points to WR (hotel) points by calling the Club Wyndham operator and they will do it for you. There is a $99 fee each time you convert points, and the conversion ratio is 10:4; or 100,000 Club Wyndham points = 40,000 WR points. Except in rare instances, you will lose buying power when converting. Those rare instances would be if you are able to book a reservation at one of the more expensive Wyndham hotels.

As you are probably aware, it takes 15,000 WR points to book a one-night stay at any Wyndham hotel, whether it is one of their low-end hotels or their high-end hotels. A few years ago, they did away with charging different amount points depending on the quality of the hotel. Now its 15k pts per night regardless of the quality, so its the same whether its a $50 a night hotel or a $500 a night hotel.

Personally, I accumulate WR pts using my WR credit card. Again, it only ends up being a good deal if you stay in one of Wyndham's high-end hotels which I have done many times.

One thing I like about WR is that you can cancel a reservation (at most Wyn hotels) up to 24 hours prior to arrival. And there has even been a couple times that I cancelled within the 24 hours and got my points back because of a true emergency. I simply made an appeal and they restored the points to my account.

I learned something else recently about WR. When paying to stay at a Wyndham hotel you receive a 20% discount, but sometimes you can get an even better rate through WR if you are in the military, or do business with certain companies. Just ask the WR operator for that list to see if you qualify for any of them and they will give it to you. Recently, I received a better rate for a business trip coming up in October because the WR operator asked if I did business with a particular insurance company. The WR operator gave me the lower rate and told me to show my insurance card at check-in and the discount would be honored. I received an email from WR confirming the lower rate.

Wyndham hotel points are some of the most valuable hotel points ($12/1K according to TPG) - for a 200K conversion, your break even maintenance would be around $3.60, so not a great deal for most people, although since it's 15k points for any hotels, there are deals to be had.

I would bet hotel points are a better value than RCI for most people due to the much greater availability.

Is it correct that wyndham hotel conversions are available only for owners that purchased from the developer but that RCI deposits are available for all owners?

- Scott

 

[markb53]

Wyndham hotel points are some of the most valuable hotel points ($12/1K according to TPG) - for a 200K conversion, your break even maintenance would be around $3.60, so not a great deal for most people, although since it's 15k points for any hotels, there are deals to be had.

I would bet hotel points are a better value than RCI for most people due to the much greater availability.

Is it correct that wyndham hotel conversions are available only for owners that purchased from the developer but that RCI deposits are available for all owners?

- Scott

I don't really see the value myself. First you have to decide to do it before your use year starts and you have to have purchased your points direct from Wyndham. I have 182k points purchased direct from Wyndham. So, if before my use year started I could convert all 182k points (which cost me $1153.00 in MF) for $99. I would get 72,800 WR points. at 15,000 per night, that is 4.8 nights. That is just over $260.00 per night. I think the Wyndham Rewards work if you are staying in a lot of the cheeper Wyndham hotels like Days Inn. With 10 nights stay you could have 15,000 points and get a night in a $250 per night hotel for just the points. But the conversion I don't think works. And you can only do it every other year.

 

[am1]

I don't really see the value myself. First you have to decide to do it before your use year starts and you have to have purchased your points direct from Wyndham. I have 182k points purchased direct from Wyndham. So, if before my use year started I could convert all 182k points (which cost me $1153.00 in MF) for $99. I would get 72,800 WR points. at 15,000 per night, that is 4.8 nights. That is just over $260.00 per night. I think the Wyndham Rewards work if you are staying in a lot of the cheeper Wyndham hotels like Days Inn. With 10 nights stay you could have 15,000 points and get a night in a $250 per night hotel for just the points. But the conversion I don't think works. And you can only do it every other year.

And you are an N of 1. It can and does work. I am by no means a Wyndham mark but maybe you have too little points to work with or not going to be staying at the prime Wyndham hotels. Part of it is you need to convert more points for the $99 fee. Mine was just a rounding error.

 

[markb53]

And you are an N of 1. It can and does work. I am by no means a Wyndham mark but maybe you have too little points to work with or not going to be staying at the prime Wyndham hotels. Part of it is you need to convert more points for the $99 fee. Mine was just a rounding error.

Ok, Let's leave out the $99.00 and use a larger number. Let's say you want to convert 10 million points you want to convert. Let's also use a lower MF of $5.50 per k. The cost of 10,000,000 points would be $55,000.00, right. If you converted 10,000,000 points you would get 4,000,000 Wyndham Reward points. With that many points you could book 267 rooms in Wyndham hotels and some of the timeshares in a 1 BR unit. That makes the cost per night $206.000. Sure that is a savings of $54.00 per night over my previous post. I still don't thing that good and not many Wyndham have 10,000,000 points now. The reason I don't think it is a good deal is a 1 BR in the Wyndham system runs between 77,000 points and 154,000 points in general for prime season. Even if I use 126,000 points for a one bedroom as an average a very high average if you consider the non prime weeks. If we use the same $5.50 per k cost. That makes the nightly cost $99.00. Even if you deposited the points in RCI and used them there it comes to $133.00 per night including the exchange fee. I will grant you that if you are getting to the beginning of your use year, and you know you have 1,000,000 points you aren't going to be able to use and you don't want to deposit into RCI because... maybe you already have a million points in RCI that are going to expire. Paying between $206.00 and $260.00 per bedroom per night is better than letting to points expire. And remember if you use WR points for a 2BR Wyndham timeshare unit, it will cost twice the reward points.

I still don't think converting to WR it is a "good" use for timeshare points. Unless you have no other option and you don't mind spending $200.00 plus per night on your hotel room. I generally try to avoid that. That is why I own Wyndham. I like getting a 2BR condo with a kitchen for what amounts to under $150.00 per night.

 

[skotrla]

Ok, Let's leave out the $99.00 and use a larger number. Let's say you want to convert 10 million points you want to convert. Let's also use a lower MF of $5.50 per k. The cost of 10,000,000 points would be $55,000.00, right. If you converted 10,000,000 points you would get 4,000,000 Wyndham Reward points. With that many points you could book 267 rooms in Wyndham hotels and some of the timeshares in a 1 BR unit. That makes the cost per night $206.000. Sure that is a savings of $54.00 per night over my previous post. I still don't thing that good and not many Wyndham have 10,000,000 points now. The reason I don't think it is a good deal is a 1 BR in the Wyndham system runs between 77,000 points and 154,000 points in general for prime season. Even if I use 126,000 points for a one bedroom as an average a very high average if you consider the non prime weeks. If we use the same $5.50 per k cost. That makes the nightly cost $99.00. Even if you deposited the points in RCI and used them there it comes to $133.00 per night including the exchange fee. I will grant you that if you are getting to the beginning of your use year, and you know you have 1,000,000 points you aren't going to be able to use and you don't want to deposit into RCI because... maybe you already have a million points in RCI that are going to expire. Paying between $206.00 and $260.00 per bedroom per night is better than letting to points expire. And remember if you use WR points for a 2BR Wyndham timeshare unit, it will cost twice the reward points.

I still don't think converting to WR it is a "good" use for timeshare points. Unless you have no other option and you don't mind spending $200.00 plus per night on your hotel room. I generally try to avoid that. That is why I own Wyndham. I like getting a 2BR condo with a kitchen for what amounts to under $150.00 per night.

TPG values the points at $12/1K, which is $180 for any Wyndham hotel room, so your math is about right - if you ignore the $99, you need to be at about $4.20/1K in maintenance (+$0.58/1K in program) to break even. The best use of points in any program is almost always to do an internal timeshare exchange - on a limited basis if you can't use or rent out all of your points, converting to Wyndham hotel points will often be better than putting the points in RCI, where they expire for most owners because nothing they want to book is available.

For example, I was in Anchorage recently and there is nothing cheap available - I was paying $200/night for rooms that I would pay $100/night for in the rest of the US. The Ramada has availability for 2 nights 8/10-8/12 for $398 or 30K points - used on a limited basis, I see value.

The key things to remember about hotel points vs. paying cash are 1) no taxes/fees, 2) good cancellation policy vs. the lowest hotel rates, which are usually non-refundable, and 3) there are good values and bad values, so you want to use points where they are the cheapest option and cash where they are not.

-Scott

 

[Silverdollar]

TPG values the points at $12/1K, which is $180 for any Wyndham hotel room, so your math is about right - if you ignore the $99, you need to be at about $4.20/1K in maintenance (+$0.58/1K in program) to break even. The best use of points in any program is almost always to do an internal timeshare exchange - on a limited basis if you can't use or rent out all of your points, converting to Wyndham hotel points will often be better than putting the points in RCI, where they expire for most owners because nothing they want to book is available.

For example, I was in Anchorage recently and there is nothing cheap available - I was paying $200/night for rooms that I would pay $100/night for in the rest of the US. The Ramada has availability for 2 nights 8/10-8/12 for $398 or 30K points - used on a limited basis, I see value.

The key things to remember about hotel points vs. paying cash are 1) no taxes/fees, 2) good cancellation policy vs. the lowest hotel rates, which are usually non-refundable, and 3) there are good values and bad values, so you want to use points where they are the cheapest option and cash where they are not.

-Scott

Yes, internal timeshare exchange is best. You’re a numbers guy. Consider these numbers. I recently booked a studio at 50% discount and upgraded to a 2BR unit for 4 nights at Fairfield Plantation next month for 15,500 pts. I used a portion of my PIC pts to book the reservation valued at $3/1000 MF. At that rate it cost me $11.62 per night to stay in a 2 BR unit. Check my math and confirm.

 

[skotrla]

Yes, internal timeshare exchange is best. You’re a numbers guy. Consider these numbers. I recently booked a studio at 50% discount and upgraded to a 2BR unit for 4 nights at Fairfield Plantation next month for 15,500 pts. I used a portion of my PIC pts to book the reservation valued at $3/1000 MF. At that rate it cost me $11.62 per night to stay in a 2 BR unit. Check my math and confirm.

Nice reservation! What are your maintenance fees on the PIC? Did you add in the cost of converting PIC to points and the program fee? At a cost of $12/night, I don't think it will make much of a difference.

-Scott

 

[Silverdollar]

Nice reservation! What are your maintenance fees on the PIC? Did you add in the cost of converting PIC to points and the program fee? At a cost of $12/night, I don't think it will make much of a difference.

-Scott

My PIC week is worth 254,000 points and my annual MF on it is $758 or $3/1000. I used 15,500 pts to book the reservation. There is an $89 fee to convert PIC to 254k pts, or .35 cents per 1000 pts. The PIC fee to convert on those 15,500 pts would cost $5.42, or $1.36 per night. The Program fee at .58/1000 would cost $8.99, or $2.25 per night. Now let’s add it all up. The cost per night without fees is $11.62 + $1.36 (PIC conversion fee) + $2.25 (Program fee) = $15.23 per night, or $60.92 for the 4 nights. So, even with the fees, it’s still a great deal IMO.

 

[skotrla]

My PIC week is worth 254,000 points and my annual MF on it is $758 or $3/1000. I used 15,500 pts to book the reservation. There is an $89 fee to convert PIC to 254k pts, or .35 cents per 1000 pts. The PIC fee to convert on those 15,500 pts would cost $5.42, or $1.36 per night. The Program fee at .58/1000 would cost $8.99, or $2.25 per night. Now let’s add it all up. The cost per night without fees is $11.62 + $1.36 (PIC conversion fee) + $2.25 (Program fee) = $15.23 per night, or $60.92 for the 4 nights. So, even with the fees, it’s still a great deal IMO.

Yep - here's how I'd summarize:

PIC 254K Cost/1K: $758 Maintenance + $89 Annual PIC Fee = $3.33/1K + $0.58/1K Program Fee = $3.91/1K Total Cost, which comes to $61 for a 15.5K Reservation

-Scott

 

[Hawaiibarb]

Do Wyndham Rewards Points roll over to the next year? I would hate to make the conversion and then find I had leftover points which would disappear if I miscalculated how I would use them.

 

[JohnPaul]

Per their terms and conditions, Wyndham Rewards points have a life of 4 years once posted to your account. That's a little different from a lot of loyalty programs that usually require you to earn or redeem within a certain period (like 18 months) to keep your account active.

 

[HitchHiker71]

Interesting, I wonder why the ratio is 10:4? I would think they would offer existing Wyndham timeshare owners a better ratio for points conversion. It is nice that you get 4 years to use the converted points at least. So if we have a light year on points I could convert those points into WR and have up to 4 years to use them. We have several oceanfront hotels within a three hour drive where we could use the points to book long weekends. I will definitely keep this in mind moving forward.

EDIT: We received 45000 free WR points that we just used at a local oceanfront HoJo's hotel in OCMD. Certainly not a timeshare facility, but overall was a nice place to stay. I could see us converting points every few years and simply vacationing nearby to avoid airfare costs and/or really long driving commutes when compared to booking at actual timeshare locations.