17 ways to earn Wyndham Rewards points for your next redemption
Editor's Note
You can redeem for high-quality hotels using relatively few points with the Wyndham Rewards program. After all, you'll pay no more than 30,000 Wyndham Rewards points per bedroom per night. This means you can get a lot of value from Wyndham Rewards points, especially compared with the high award night costs in other hotel loyalty programs.
Sure, when you think of Wyndham, you might picture Days Inn, Howard Johnson, Travelodge and Super 8. But the Wyndham Rewards portfolio also includes Tryp, Wyndham Grand and the Trademark Collection. You can also book select Caesars Entertainment casino properties, Wyndham timeshare properties and Vacasa vacation rentals with Wyndham Rewards points.
So, regardless of whether you're taking a road trip, visiting U.S. national parks or traveling abroad, you may want to stay at a Wyndham property. And you may find that redeeming Wyndham points for your stay provides good value. So, let's consider 17 ways to earn Wyndham Rewards points for your next redemption.
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Earn Wyndham points by staying at hotels
You can earn 10 points per dollar spent or 1,000 points — whichever is more — each time you stay with Wyndham. Based on TPG's valuations, this means you'll get an 11% return (or points worth $11) on each stay, whichever is more.
Usually, you'll earn points on the room rate you pay. But at Dolce, Wyndham, Wyndham Garden and Wyndham Grand hotels and resorts, you'll earn points on the total charges you pay. When you book Go Fast awards, you can earn points on the cash part of your redemption.
You'll only earn points when you book directly with Wyndham, though. Specifically, you can earn points when you book through Wyndham's call centers, websites, mobile app or on-site at a hotel. You won't earn points if you book through a third-party website such as an online travel agency. However, in some cases, stays booked through independent travel agents may earn points.
Finally, you won't earn points at:
- Select properties: Wyndham Concorde Isla Margarita and The H Hotel.
- Select Dolce Hotels and Resorts corporate training facilities: Bank of Montreal Institute for Learning and the Ivey Tangerine Leadership Centre.
- Travelodge properties outside of the United States, Canada and Mexico.
- Select Wyndham destinations (see participating destinations here).
- Select Caesars Entertainment properties (see participating properties here).
Elite status bonuses
Wyndham Rewards has four elite status member levels. At enrollment, you'll be an entry-level Blue member.
Wyndham Rewards is once again offering lower elite qualification requirements in 2022. This year, you can earn Gold after three nights, Platinum after nine nights and Diamond after 24 nights. Wyndham Rewards elite members get bonus points on most stays that earn points. However, Go Fast award nights don't earn additional points for elite members.
On other point-earning stays, elite members get the following:
- Gold members: 10% of base points for 11x total points (a 12.1% total return based on TPG's valuations).
- Platinum members: 15% of base points for 15x total points (a 16.5% total return).
- Diamond members: 20% of base points for 20x total points (a 22% total return).
Wyndham adds accelerated earning points to your base points before calculating the 1,000-point per stay minimum. So, Wyndham will only round your points up to 1,000 points per stay if your base points plus your accelerated earning points are less than 1,000 points.
Related: Does elite status from a credit card get you less recognition?
Earn points through Wyndham Rewards promotions
Wyndham Rewards also periodically offers bonus points promotions. For example, you can currently earn double points when you book the Wyndham Rewards Double Points Rate.
Related: Promotions that will make your next hotel stay more rewarding
Earn Wyndham points with credit cards
Wyndham and Barclays offer three Wyndham Rewards credit cards. Here's a quick comparison of the sign-up bonuses, earning rates and annual fees on these three cards:
| Wyndham Rewards card | Sign-up bonus | Earning rates | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wyndham Rewards Earner® Card | 30,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days. | 5 points per dollar spent on eligible purchases made at Hotels by Wyndham as well as on qualifying gas purchases.
2 points per dollar spent on eligible dining and grocery store purchases (excluding Target and Walmart). 1 point per dollar spent on other purchases. | None |
| Wyndham Rewards Earner® Plus Card | 45,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days. | 6 points per dollar spent on eligible purchases made at Hotels by Wyndham as well as on qualifying gas purchases.
4 points per dollar spent on eligible dining and grocery store purchases (excluding Target and Walmart). 1 point per dollar spent on other purchases. | $75 |
| Wyndham Rewards Earner® Business Card | 45,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days. | 8 Wyndham points per dollar spent on eligible purchases made at Hotels by Wyndham as well as on qualifying gas purchases.
5 points per dollar spent on marketing, advertising and utilities. 1 point per dollar spent on other purchases. | $95 |
The information for the Wyndham Business Earner card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
But, as I'll discuss in the next section, if you're looking for an everyday spending card that earns Wyndham Rewards points, you may be better off with a card that earns Capital One Venture Rewards miles.
Related: Maximize your road trip with the new lineup of Wyndham cards
Transfer points to Wyndham Rewards
You can transfer three main travel currencies to Wyndham Rewards: Capital One Venture Rewards miles, Citi ThankYou points and Caesars Entertainment reward credits. Let's take a closer look at these transfer options.
Capital One Venture Rewards miles
You can transfer Capital One Venture Rewards miles to Wyndham Rewards at a 1:1 ratio. Specifically, you can transfer 1,000 Capital One miles to 1,000 Wyndham Rewards points. And the transfer usually occurs instantly.
So, you may do better with one of the following Capital One Venture Rewards cards than with a Wyndham Rewards card.
| Capital One credit card | Sign-up bonus | Earning rate | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card | 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. | 10 miles per dollar spent on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
5 miles per dollar spent on flights booked through Capital One Travel. 2 miles per dollar spent on all other purchases. | $395 |
| Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card | 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. | 5 miles per dollar spent on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
2 miles per dollar spent on every other purchase. | $95 |
| Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card | Earn a bonus of 40,000 miles once you spend $1,000 on purchases within three months from account opening | 5 miles per dollar spent on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
1.25 miles per dollar spent on every other purchase. | None |
| Capital One Spark Miles for Business | 50,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,500 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. | 5 miles per dollar spent on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
2 miles per dollar spent on every other purchase. | $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, $95 after that |
| Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business | 20,000 bonus miles once you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening. | 5 miles per dollar spent on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
1.5 miles per dollar spent on every other purchase. | None |
The information for the Capital One Spark Miles Select has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Suppose you use the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card or Capital One Spark Miles for Business as your everyday spending card. In that case, you'll effectively earn at least 2 Wyndham points per dollar spent on every purchase due to the 1:1 transfer ratio.
Related: Who should (and shouldn't) get the Capital One Venture X card?
Citi ThankYou Rewards points
In late 2021, the Citi ThankYou program added Wyndham as a 1:1 transfer partner. You can now transfer Citi ThankYou Rewards points earned by select ThankYou Rewards cards, including the Citi Premier® Card, to Wyndham.
The Citi Premier Card currently offers a sign-up bonus of 60,000 ThankYou bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first three months of account opening. The card has a $95 annual fee, but you'll earn 3 ThankYou points per dollar spent at restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, air travel and hotels. Plus, you'll earn 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases.
Related: 4 reasons the Citi Premier Card should be on your shortlist
Caesars Entertainment reward credits
You can transfer Caesars Entertainment reward credits to Wyndham Rewards at a 1:1 ratio. However, you can only transfer rewards credits in increments of 5,000, and you can only transfer up to 30,000 reward credits to Wyndham Rewards per year. Plus, transfers may take six to eight weeks to process.
Related: How I leveraged a hotel partnership to extend expiring hotel points
Earn points by shopping and dining
You can earn Wyndham Rewards points on select online shopping purchases and dining. Here's what you need to know.
Wyndham Rewards shopping portal
Wyndham Rewards has a shopping portal. When you start at the Wyndham Rewards shopping site, click through to the merchant of your choice and make a purchase, you can earn bonus points on your purchase.
Note that these Wyndham points are on top of any rewards you'd earn from the merchant or your credit card. So, you may be able to triple drip by clicking through the Wyndham Rewards shopping site.
There are many other shopping portals, though, and some may offer a higher earning rate. It's worth comparing your options with a shopping portal aggregator such as Cashback Monitor.
Related: Don't want to miss out on earning bonus points? There's an extension for that
Earn Wyndham points with Home Chef
You can also earn Wyndham Rewards points when ordering Home Chef meal kits. To earn Wyndham points with Home Chef, you must click through Wyndham's Home Chef link and become a new Home Chef customer. Then, you'll earn:
- 2,500 Wyndham Rewards points on your first box.
- 500 Wyndham Rewards points on each subsequent box.
Based on TPG's monthly valuations, you'll earn $27 of points on your first box and $5 of points on each subsequent box.
Related: How to maximize your spending on these 5 meal-kit delivery services
Wyndham Business rewards
Wyndham offers various business travel and event planning rewards through its Wyndham Business program. Whether you manage company travel, plan events professionally or are planning a one-off event, you may be able to pick up some extra points.
Small and medium businesses
If you manage company travel, you can earn extra rewards and discounts by enrolling your company at the Wyndham Business website. For example, registered small and medium businesses can get up to 15% off the best available rate. And business accounts can earn 4x points when booking lodging for a crew member.
Related: 5 tips to turn business travel into family vacations
Wyndham's Go Meet program
Through Wyndham's Go Meet program, you can earn 1 point per dollar spent when you plan an event. Specifically, you can earn points on:
- Guest sleeping rooms, but only when 10 or more rooms are booked on at least one night of your event.
- Event space cost.
- Event food and beverage costs.
You won't earn points on taxes, resort fees, facility fees, incidental charges, gratuities and related charges. But the Go Meet program differs from other event planner rewards programs in a few positive ways:
- Event planners can earn regardless of the billing method.
- Paying guests who are Wyndham Rewards members can still earn Wyndham points on qualified stays.
- No minimum spending requirement on events.
- No limit on how much you can earn.
Not all Wyndham Rewards hotels participate in the Go Meet program, though. And some Wyndham Rewards hotels may offer point bonuses to event planners under terms that differ from the Go Meet program. So, take a close look at how much you'll earn when signing an event contract with a Wyndham Rewards hotel.
Related: Maximizing points and miles when planning your wedding and honeymoon
Earn Wyndham points with travel partners
You can also earn Wyndham Rewards points when booking tours, activities and car rentals. Here's what you need to know.
Tours and activities
When you book tours and activities through Wyndham Rewards Experiences, you can earn 10 Wyndham Rewards points per dollar spent on your booking. Based on TPG's valuations, you'd get an 11% return on your booking just by clicking through Wyndham Rewards Experiences. And this return is before considering the rewards you'd earn from your credit card.
Viator powers the tours and activities bookable through Wyndham Rewards Experiences. So, you can earn Wyndham Rewards points on Viator activities, tours and experiences around the world.
Related: 4 easy strategies to earn over 500,000 points and miles a year
Car rentals
You can also earn Wyndham Rewards points when you rent a car from Budget, use coupon #MUHZ005 and provide your Wyndham number when reserving or at the rental counter. And through March 31, 2022, you can earn 1,000 Wyndham Rewards bonus points on qualifying rentals of three or more consecutive days in the U.S. and Canada. However, note that not all Budget locations participate and it's unclear how to determine which locations do participate.
Luckily, there are many other ways to save on rental cars. My personal favorite is to use AutoSlash to find a cheap car rental. Or, you can check current car rental promotions yourself. If you can't find any good deals, one final option is to redeem your points and miles for a car rental.
Related: Here's how renting a car through Lyft stacks up against traditional car rentals
Other Wyndham partnerships
There are three final partnerships through which you can earn Wyndham Rewards points. Let's take a closer look at these three partners.
Bakkt
Bakkt allows you to convert your Wyndham points into cash. As such, Bakkt is usually a method for redeeming, not earning, Wyndham points.
But between Dec. 6, 2021, and Feb. 15, 2022, you can earn up to 3,000 Wyndham Rewards points when you link your Wyndham Rewards account with Bakkt and convert your points to cash. In particular, you'll earn 1,000 points once you add the Wyndham Rewards program to your Bakkt account. Then, you'll earn an additional 2,000 points once you redeem Wyndham Rewards points within the Bakkt app.
Related: The Bakkt app has limited value, but it's still worth downloading — here's why
Opinion Rewards Panel
You can earn Wyndham Rewards points when you join Opinion Rewards Panel and take surveys. Specifically, when you join through Wyndham's link, you'll earn 500 Wyndham Rewards points after completing your first survey. Based on TPG's valuations, 500 Wyndham points are worth $5. You'll earn points for every additional survey you take as well, presumably at a much lower rate.
Related: Ways you could be earning points and miles other than credit cards
Marathon Gas
You can also earn Wyndham Rewards points at participating Marathon Gas stations in the U.S. To earn points, you must sign up for an account with Marathon's loyalty program MakeItCount through Wyndham's link and then link your Wyndham account. Once you do, you can earn Wyndham Rewards points for every gallon of fuel purchased and for select in-store purchases. To learn about current in-store offers, check the My Offers tab in the MakeItCount app.
You'll also save on gas when using the MakeItCount app. Use one of the best credit cards for gas purchases to maximize your fuel purchases.
Related: How TPG's Richard Kerr saved $1,000 on gas fill-ups in 1 year
Buy Wyndham points
Finally, you can also buy Wyndham Rewards points for yourself or others in increments of 1,000. Wyndham Rewards points cost $13 per 1,000 points, which equals 1.3 cents per point. But TPG values Wyndham Rewards points at 1.1 cents each, so buying points won't make sense unless you have a specific high-value redemption in mind.
If you decide to buy Wyndham Rewards points, use one of the best credit cards for buying points. When you buy points, they should post within 72 hours. Each Wyndham Rewards account can only receive up to 45,000 points per calendar year from buying or gifting.
Related: When does it make sense to buy points and miles?
Bottom line
As you can see, there are many ways to earn Wyndham Rewards points besides staying at Wyndham hotels. Perhaps you've found it easy to get good value from Wyndham points and you want to earn more, or maybe you need to top off your balance for an upcoming redemption. In either case, you can earn more Wyndham Rewards points using one or more of the methods described in this guide.
