How to Earn and Redeem Wyndham Rewards With Transfer Partners

You can redeem Wyndham Rewards points for hotel stays, but did you know that you can also transfer Wyndham points to several loyalty programs, including a few popular airlines?

Though you’ll typically get less value transferring your points than you would redeeming them for a hotel stay, a Wyndham Rewards points transfer could make sense for your next travel redemption.

Here's what you need to know about transferring Wyndham Rewards.

» Learn more: Wyndham Rewards: The complete guide

Wyndham Rewards credit card transfer partners

Some of the major banks have partnerships with hotel brands, allowing you to exchange rewards earned in that bank's currency to hotel point. Wyndham currently partners with Capital One, which issues Venture miles as rewards for some of its credit cards, including the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card. With that card, you might take advantage of the recently improved transfer ratio and move miles to Wyndham at a 1:1 ratio.

NerdWallet values Capital One Venture miles earned through that card at 1.4 cents, while it values Wyndham Rewards at just 1.2 cents. Thus, this is not the greatest redemption of all time, but it's not bad either, especially if you're booking a hotel that fits in the Wyndham sweet spot when booked on points.

» Learn more: Capital One Venture review: Easy earnings, effortless redemptions

Wyndham Rewards airline transfer partners

You can transfer Wyndham Rewards points to about a dozen airline and other travel loyalty programs:

• Aeromexico Club Premier Miles.

• Air Canada Aeroplan Miles.

• American Airlines AAdvantage Miles.

• Avianca LifeMiles.

• Fortune Wings Club (frequent flyer program for Hainan Airlines, Grand China Air, Lucky Air, Tianjin Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, Capital Airlines, Fuzhou Airlines and Yangtze River Airlines).

• Frontier Airlines Frontier Miles.

• PAYBACK Points.

• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles.

• United Airlines MileagePlus Miles.

The airline transfer ratio

For most partners, most of the time, the transfer ratio is 5:1, meaning for every 5 Wyndham points you hand over, you get one point or mile in the currency you've exchanged to. Additionally, there are only three transfer denominations available, and you need to transfer a minimum of 6,000 points, meaning you can't just transfer the equivalent of your spare pennies that you don't intend on spending with Wyndham to an airline you actually are collecting miles with. The Wyndham transfer thresholds are:

• 6,000 Wyndham Rewards points = 1,200 travel partner points.

• 16,000 Wyndham Rewards points = 3,200 travel partner points.

• 30,000 Wyndham Rewards points = 6,000 travel partner points.

There's also a cap on transfers You can move a maximum of 30,000 Wyndham Rewards points per year.

When to skip Wyndham Rewards transfer partners

Sure, you can transfer Wyndham Rewards points. But should you? Eh.

In general, transferring them doesn’t offer great value. For example, Wyndham Rewards have an estimated cash value of 1.2 cents each. You need five of them to get a single American AAdvantage mile. But considering NerdWallet values an American Airlines mile at about 1.7 cents, you almost always lose significant value when you transfer.

Still, transferring could be worthwhile, particularly if you want to top off your frequent flyer account to book a specific award flight. For example, if you’re sitting on a lot of Wyndham points and only need 1,000 United Airlines miles to book an award flight, it might make sense to transfer points.

Better ways to redeem Wyndham Rewards

Typically, the most valuable way to use Wyndham Rewards is to redeem your points for hotel stays. Given Wyndham’s simple redemption structure, it's easy to book award stays: All Wyndham hotels fall into one of three redemption tiers, costing 7,500, 15,000 or 30,000 points per night.

Wyndham is one of the world’s largest hotel companies, with more than 9,000 properties to choose from when you book an award stay.

» Learn more: The complete guide to earning Wyndham points

Even so, this isn’t the best way to use Wyndham points because the transfer ratio is less favorable. You’re usually better off redeeming your Wyndham points for hotel stays. However, the flexible redemption options that come with Wyndham's transfer partners could come in handy if you’re looking to top off your frequent flyer account.