Wyndham Rewards Removing All-Inclusive Properties as of June 1
Depending on how you look at things, 2019 has either been the year of the hotel devaluation or one where it's time to think more strategically. Wyndham Rewards was the most recent program to change its award chart, creating a new, top-tier category but also cutting the award rate in half at thousands of properties. And unfortunately, the program is implementing another change at the end of this month.
As of June 1, Viva Wyndham all-inclusive resorts will no longer be participating in the Wyndham Rewards program. This change affects the following properties:
- Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach
- Viva Wyndham Dominicus Palace
- Viva Wyndham Tangerine
- Viva Wyndham V Samaná
- Viva Wyndham V Heavens
- Viva Wyndham Maya
- Viva Wyndham Azteca
- Viva Wyndham Fortuna Beach
This removes both the ability for members to earn and redeem points at these eight properties on or after June 1. However, we have confirmed with Wyndham that any stay booked before this date will be honored, whether it's paid with cash or points. In addition, the company provided us with the following statement:
"Any member who booked a future stay ahead of June 1 will still be able to earn points on the stay but will need to contact our member services team post stay to have the points added to their account."
This is a solid move by the program, as it still allows members to earn rewards on stays that take place after the properties cut ties with Wyndham Rewards. This is particularly helpful for travelers who selected a Viva Wyndham property for their paid stay with the expectation that they'd earn points. It may be too late to change hotels for a trip in June or July, so these travelers are kept whole with this approach.
On the award front, bear in mind that all eight did jump to 30,000 points per night with the April changes, so these may no longer represent a terrific use of Wyndham Rewards points. For example, I see rates as low as $161/night at the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach this July:
That's a redemption value of just 0.54 cents per point, less than half of TPG's most recent valuations, which pegged Wyndham Rewards points at 1.1 cents apiece.
That being said, it's never good to see top-tier properties (especially all-inclusive ones) removed from a program entirely. In addition, this change is being announced with just two weeks of notice for members, a relatively short window in which to adjust plans. Let's hope that this is the last change we'll see from Wyndham for a good while.
A program spokesperson has indicated that the information will be posted online Friday afternoon, though as of now, we do not see any notice alerting members to the change. We'll update this post when that information is available.
If you didn't get a chance to book an award stay at one of these properties at 15,000 points per night and are wanting to book an award stay now, time is running out. You have just two weeks left until the May 31 deadline, after which these Viva Wyndham all-inclusive resorts will no longer be a part of Wyndham Rewards. And if you can lock-in a paid stay before June 1, you'll still be able to earn points. It'll just take some manual adjustment on the part of customer service.
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