Wyndham Rewards describes itself as ‘the world’s most generous hotel rewards program’ and boasts over 9,100 properties across its portfolio. You might not see many of those hotels across Australia, but overseas (and particularly within the US), Wyndham has a strong presence.

While originating from the US, they do have a wide selection of hotels in Australia, New Zealand and other Asia-Pacific countries. Their rewards program is also very simple to understand and use, with three levels of reward nights.

In this guide, we cover key hotel locations, status benefits, how to earn frequent flyer points, and how to get the best value from earning and redeeming Wyndham points.

How do I join Wyndham Rewards?

Joining Wyndham Rewards is free and easy. If you’re not already a member, then follow these simple steps:

  1. Head to the â€˜Join Now’ page and enter your personal details.
  2. Click ‘Join now’ to become a member.
  3. You’re now ready to earn and use Wyndham Rewards points.

What Wyndham brands are there?

Wyndham has a massive global reach of hotels, with over 9,100 properties under 24 brands. Within Australia, some of the brands you could encounter include Wyndham, Ramada Hotel & Suites and TRYP by Wyndham. Check this link for a full list of Asia-Pacific properties.

Forty of these properties are in Australia. Most are Ramada Hotel & Suites and are concentrated around coastal resort destinations such as the Gold Coast, Port Douglas and Coffs Harbour. But there are also a few inner-city Wyndhams, located in Sydney, Melbourne and West Perth such as Club Wyndham Sydney, Trademark Collection by Wyndham, Wyndham Hotel Melbourne, and Club Wyndham Perth, Trademark Collection by Wyndham.

Club Wyndham Sydney.

What are the Wyndham Rewards status levels?

Wyndham Rewards offer four status tiers: Blue (entry-level), Gold, Platinum and Diamond. You can find more information about the status tiers and benefits on the Wyndham Rewards website. We recommend joining the program just to get free internet and a discount off the best available rate.

If you earn a higher status level, it’s valid for the rest of the calendar year, plus all of the following calendar year (unless you upgrade your status again earlier).

Blue

Requirement: just enrolment in the program

  • Complimentary internet
  • Discount off the best available rate
  • Rollover nights that never expire (e.g. if you stay one qualifying night each year for five years, you’ll then receive Gold for your fifth year)

Gold

Requirement: 5 nights

In addition to Blue benefits:

  • +10% points earning
  • Dedicated member services number
  • Choice of preferred room within same room category
  • Late check-out up to two hours after normal check-out

Platinum

Requirement: 15 nights

In addition to Gold benefits:

  • +15% points earning
  • Early check-in up to two hours
  • 3,000 bonus points
  • Avis and Budget car rental upgrade (US and Canada only, excluding Quebec)

Diamond

Requirement: 40 nights

In addition to Platinum benefits:

  • +20% points earning
  • Complimentary suite upgrade (where available at time of check-in), including on reward stays
  • Ability to gift Gold status to anyone, providing you have earned your status through stays
  • One snack and/or beverage welcome amenity per stay

As a bonus, any go free or go fast award night redemptions are included in your qualifying nights.

A note on status matching

Wyndham Status Match

Wyndham Rewards will occasionally match your status from other hotel loyalty programs so you can enjoy the perks of Gold, Platinum or Diamond status. At the time of writing, they are accepting applications to status match, so check the webpage to see if you’re eligible!

Earning points with Wyndham Rewards

When you join, you’ll automatically be earning Wyndham Rewards points. You’ll earn 10 points per US$1 spent (before any status bonuses) with a minimum of 1,000 points per stay. You also have the option to earn frequent flyer points instead. You can earn points for each stay with up to three rooms booked.

Your earning preference can be changed in your member profile. Look out for this section to toggle between Wyndham Rewards points and airline miles. This can be changed as often as you like, before any stay.

Wyndham Profile Page

Participating airline programs are listed below. The programs with links to our guides are the ones that are most relevant for Australian travellers.

You can usually earn one or two airline miles per US$1 spent – see the website for more details. We recommend that if you’ve only got a one-off stay at a Wyndham property, you choose to earn frequent flyer points.

However, if you think you’ll stay regularly, there are often great bonus point promotions that let you earn a lot more Wyndham Rewards points. These can then either be used for free nights or transferred to select frequent flyer programs at better rates.

Any accrued Wyndham Rewards points will be forfeited if you have no account activity for a period of 18 consecutive months. Otherwise, points will expire after four years.

Lastly, you can transfer Commbank Awards points to Wyndham for free nights.

Retrospective points

You can earn Wyndham Rewards points on stays that have occurred within 30 days before enrolling in the program, simply by contacting Wyndham Rewards within 12 months of the date of enrollment. You’ll be asked to provide your hotel receipt and Wyndham Rewards member number, dates of applicable stay, and the name and address of the hotel.

Buying points

Buying Wyndham Rewards points can represent good value for topping up balances for specific redemptions, including the co-pay go fast redemption option, which we explore more below.

You can purchase a maximum of 60,000 points per calendar year, for a cost of US$780, but there are regular promotions that can bring the price down (such as 25% off).

Redeeming points

There are three key redemption options that travellers can take advantage of. All award nights can be booked for others also, and not just yourself.

Go free award nights

go free award is a redemption option that allows you to redeem between 7,500 to 30,000 Wyndham Rewards points for a free night at a participating hotel, or 15,000 to 30,000 points per bedroom at a participating club resort or vacation rental (e.g. Caesars properties, Landal GreenParks in Europe).

The aim is to use points for a stay at an aspirational property that may have more expensive rates, such as the Ramada Resort Port Vila in Vanuatu, where a standard room can cost around AU$200 per night.

Ramada Resort by Wyndham Port Vila
Ramada Resort Port Vila in Vanuatu costs 7,500 points per night.

Remember that points bookings come with booking flexibility and free refunds, so this should be factored into any price comparisons that you do. There are also no blackout dates at any properties.

Go fast award nights

If you don’t have at least 7,500 points to redeem for a free night, you can choose to redeem 1,500 points + cash instead. These awards can also be combined with go free award nights if you have the minimum required for that redemption type.

If the difference between the normal rate and the go fast rate is more than US$39, then you could save by purchasing points specifically to redeem for a go fast award night.

Again, these award nights come with booking flexibility and free refunds, so factor this in when comparing rates.

Transfer points to frequent flyer programs

You can redeem 6,000 Wyndham Rewards points for 1,200 miles with programs like AAdvantage, Avianca LifeMiles, and United MileagePlus. See this page for more information, including a wider range of partners than those listed above. Unfortunately, it could take at least 6-8 weeks for the points to make it into your frequent flyer account.

An example transfer from Wyndham Rewards to Aeroplan.

Summing up

Some of the best-value rewards from this program are from saving up your Wyndham Rewards points for stays, particularly at more aspirational properties. Members can earn at least 10 points per US$1 and get a free night from 7,500 points (equivalent to a US$750 spend). That’s quite generous overall.

Wyndham also continues to offer great points promotions that allow you to earn points very quickly and have a very generous ongoing status match promotion.

Unfortunately, Wyndham doesn’t partner with any local frequent flyer programs, so you’re largely restricted to transferring your points to US programs. The transfer rates are a bit low and it can take up to eight weeks for the points to land, but it’s good to have the option anyway.

All images courtesy of Wyndham and associated brands. This article was previously written by Danielle O’Reilly.

The Ultimate Guide to Wyndham Rewards was last modified: October 19th, 2023 by Brandon Loo