For the past four years, Wyndham has had a fixed award chart which means that all properties, regardless of quality or price, cost a flat 15,000 points per night. This has been a great opportunity to use hardly any points at top tier Wyndham properties. I even did mattress running in the past to take advantage of some Wyndham promotions which ultimately allowed me purchase Wyndham points for pretty cheap—less than $100 for 15,000 points in total.
Unfortunately though, that is all about to change. Wyndham just announced that on April 3rd they are actually going to introduce a 3-tier award chart.
- Tier 1: 7,500 points a night
- Tier 2: 15,000 points a night
- Tier 3: 30,000 points a night
For some, being able to redeem half the number of points at now 3,000 properties will be great, but for me, I am ideally looking to redeem my Wyndham points at their top tier properties. While only 200 properties are moving into that Tier 3 level, those are probably the hotels I am looking to stay at. Through a variety of promotions and purchasing points years ago through the Daily Getaways promotions, I am sitting on about 130,000 Wyndham Reward points—or about 8 free nights. Due to the changes, I am actually looking at cashing in all of my points for free night stays over the next year. If I hold onto them I am pretty positive that my 8 free nights will result in just 4 free nights and I am not looking at devaluing my points in half! This means I have until April 2nd to make all of my Wyndham Reservations. And since you can book Wyndham hotels 12 months out, this means I can look as far out to book a stay with a checkout date of April 2, 2020.
Although Wyndham doesn’t have have as many ideal properties as some of the other hotel chains, there are still some hidden gems which are perfect for my family!
Hitting the Beaches in Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island actually has a ton of Wyndham properties. They have their hotel property in Middleton, RI (right in Newport and a few minute walk from the beach) as well as many timeshare properties right in the center of Newport. For just 15,000 points a night I was able to book a room that would have otherwise cost over $400 a night! With the timeshare properties, they are all 1 bedroom suites (ideal for a family!), but I actually opted for the hotel location since it is closer to the beach. We are about an hour drive from Newport, RI so this will end up being the perfect summer staycation for my family!
Shockingly, availability is still pretty good for summer weekends, but I wouldn’t wait too long! And best of all, the cancelation policy is just 24-hours in advance. This is great in case you need to cancel your vacation, although your points might not go as far at that point.
Hitting the Slopes in Park City, Utah
One of Wyndham’s better properties is located at the base of the Canyons Mountain in Park City, Utah. It is one of their time share properties where it is truly a ski-in ski-out location with many of the amenities you’d hope for in a ski lodge. This property is hardly ever available using Wyndham points, but after looking at every single night for next Winter I was able to book something over MLK weekend. It seems as though you need to look at a 3-night stay for availability to appear (if there even is any).
Staying in the mountains can get quite expensive, so this was a great find at just 45,000 points for our entire stay! Right now, it will probably be just my husband and I flying out West, but we are booked into a 1-bedroom suite just in case we decide to bring the kids!
Other Possibilities
With those two vacations I have used up 75,000 points, but I still have another 3 nights to burn somewhere. Some options include: Wyndham Clearwater Beach in Florida, Wyndham Santa Monica right near the pier, or one of the Wyndham all-inclusive properties in the Caribbean/Mexico.
I will definitely be putting the remaining post to good use prior to the changes take place in about 5 weeks, but just have to figure out some other travel details over the next year!
Where will you be burning your Wyndham points?
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I just burned up all mine in Aspen over the Christmas holiday at the Aspen Meadows, great value in my opinion as the paid rates were north of $800/night.
Transfer 30,000 points to Caesars Rewards and spend the $300 in Vegas.
You should be looking at the Wyndam Reef Resort in Grand Cayman. Luckily we already used all of our Wyndam Reward points booking for this summer. The property has great reviews and is off the beaten path and great for families. For a decent upgrade fee they will allow you to upgrade to a bigger room with a kitchen if you need it.
Upcoming we have TRYP NYC – family suite that sleeps like 8(!), for 3 nights over the week of Thanksgiving, for 15K per night (going rates ~$550 per night)
Stayed at the Silverado in Napa twice in the last several years for Bottlerock (similar value of points to $$ as above). The rooms were nice but service nonexistent, no platinum recognition or benefits, etc. They have another newer property in Napa, looks nice but is kind of in/near an industrial park (we previously stayed at the neighboring Meritage resort, same feel).
I am curious as to what all inclusive are out there? Any specific suggestions there?
Thanks for the Park City tip (search for 3 nights) – I snagged the last room at there. See you there!