How to Earn Wyndham Rewards Points

When you see a list of the hotels that are grouped under a certain brand and many of them are considered truly budget hotels and motels, then you might not think about the hotel rewards program associated with those hotels. After all, if you’re not spending much per night, you can’t possibly earn enough points to add up to anything quickly, can you? Well, with Wyndham Rewards there are many other ways to earn points toward free stuff – and if you’re also getting bargain accommodation on top of that with Wyndham’s hotels, then all the better.

The hotels that participate in the Wyndham Hotels rewards program includes such famous budget brands as Super 8, Days Inn, Travelodge, and Howard Johnson, which is great if you’re a business traveler on a budget who wants to still earn rewards for perks later on – but there are hotels under the umbrella that have their own rewards programs, so you’ll want to pay attention to the differences in the programs to make sure you’re earning the most rewards points you can with the program that’ll get you free stuff faster.

How to Earn Wyndham Rewards Points

Hotel Stays
The clearest way to earn Wyndham rewards points is by staying in a participating hotel under the Wyndham umbrella. Wyndham might not be the first hotel name you think of when you’re traveling, but it’s more than just the places with “Wyndham” in the name – and with more than 6,000 properties in 20+ countries around the world, you’ve got plenty of choices for hotels that will help you earn Wyndham points.

The number of points you’ll earn with each stay will vary depending on the hotel chain, so be sure to check what you’re earning before you book.

With a stay at either Wyndham Hotels & Resorts or Hawthorn Suites, you’ll earn 10 Wyndham Rewards points for every $1 you spend, or a total of 500 airline miles for each stay (not per dollar). You’ll get 10 Wyndham points or 2 airline miles per $1 spent when you stay at participating properties with the names Ramada Worldwide, Days Inn, Super 8, Wingate by Wyndham, Baymont Inn & Suites, Microtel Inns & Suites, Howard Johnson, Travelodge, and Knights Inn.

If you’re unsure whether a hotel you’re looking at is considered a “participating” hotel, don’t hesitate to ask. For instance, while Travelodge exists throughout Canada, none of the Canadian Travelodge properties are “participating” hotels in Wyndham’s rewards program.

Airline Travel
Since you’re already traveling on a budget by staying in places like Super 8 or Travelodge, perhaps you’re more interested in using your Wyndham rewards for things like free flights than for free hotel nights. In that case, you can earn frequent flyer miles for the program you prefer just by setting up your Wyndham Rewards account with that program’s information.

Of course, the program you choose has to be one that partners with Wyndham for rewards points – but there are many to choose from, so chances are good you’ll find one of the airlines you fly listed. Airlines which let you earn miles for stays at participating Wyndham hotels include American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Lufthansa, United Airlines, and US Airways, but you’re not limited to just the big guns here. Air Berlin, Czech Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Midwest Airlines, and China Eastern Airlines are a few of the other companies listed.

The number of frequent flyer miles you can earn for stays at participating Wyndham hotels will vary depending on the airline and sometimes on the hotel you’re staying in, but it typically ranges from 250 miles to 500 miles. You can find out the specifics for the airlines that partner with Wyndham on the official Wyndham rewards site (linked below).

Credit Card
Like basically every rewards program in existence, there’s a program-specific credit card associated with Wyndham’s rewards program. Unlike most other programs, you don’t have a long list of credit cards to choose from here. Your options are limited to one, and it’s the Wyndham Rewards MasterCard.

With the Wyndham Rewards MasterCard, you’ll earn 13 points per $1 spent when you stay at a participating Wyndham property, 2 points per $1 spent on everything else, and 6,000 bonus points just for signing up and using the card. To get the block of bonus points, you just need to make a purchase on the card, transfer another credit card’s balance to the Wyndham card, or get a cash advance on the card.

Car Rentals
Wyndham’s car rental company partner list isn’t as long as some other hotel rewards programs, but it consists of two big companies that you’ll find just about anywhere you go – so it’s still pretty easy to stick to a participating car rental company and earn Wyndham points.

The two companies that partner with Wyndham are Avis and Budget, and with both agencies you’ll earn 50 Wyndham points per day on all qualifying rentals at participating airport locations around the world.

Train Travel
Earning points with Wyndham isn’t just about the usual suspects of business travel – hotel stays, air travel, car rentals, and credit cards. With Wyndham, you can also earn points that are good toward train travel.

With every $1 you spend at Wyndham properties on “qualifying room rates,” you’ll earn 2 rail points in Amtrak’s Guest Rewards program. Oh, and those Amtrak points don’t have to just be used for train trips on Amtrak, either – you can redeem them for hotel nights, car rentals, even convert them into airline miles.

Online Shopping
Wyndham Rewards makes it easy to earn points by shopping with some of the retailers you might already spend money with – they just require that you spend that money with the online branch of said retailer.

Once you log into your Wyndham Rewards account, you just click through to any of the retailers that partners with Wyndham from the Wyndham site, and you’ll earn points for every $1 you spend. The number of points varies depending on the retailer, but generally runs from 2-4 – although some retailers will give you 5 or 10 points per $1 spent.

Some of the online retailers through which you can earn Wyndham Rewards points are: Bose, Chadwick’s, FTD, Eddie Bauer Outlet, Kohl’s, Magellan’s Travel Supplies, Samsonite, Perfumania, and SkyMall.

Vacations
Wyndham, like many hotel rewards programs, even lets you earn points for free stuff while you’re on vacation. By booking your trip through one of their vacation partners, you’ll earn Wyndham Rewards points toward your next holiday.

If you’re in the market for a cruise, booking through CruisesOnly will earn 3 points for every $1 you spend on your cruise. And for any other vacation, booking your accommodation through Endless Vacation Rentals by Wyndham Worldwide will earn 5,000 points for a qualified stay at participating locations. There are vacation rentals in popular destinations around the world, just don’t forget to provide your Wyndham Rewards membership number when you’re booking to make sure you get your points.

Services
A look at the list of Wyndham’s “service” partners continues the trend you’re probably seeing if you’ve read this whole article – that Wyndham’s opportunities for earning rewards points aren’t as plentiful as some other hotel chains. But really, if you use the companies Wyndham partners with, then you don’t need a zillion options, right?

In the market for a new BlackBerry? Buy a new one and you can earn 15,000 Wyndham Rewards points. Looking for someone to handle your taxes for you? Flash your Wyndham Rewards membership card at a participating Jackson Hewitt office and get 500 points for every individual tax return for you and your family for the current year.

The “services” partners that Wyndham works with can change, as there are some whose offers are time-sensitive, but this list was accurate at the time this article was written.

To find out more details about the various aspects of the Wyndham Rewards program, visit the official Wyndham Rewards website – which includes a quick one-page list of the primary ways to earn Wyndham points.

photo by psd