Underrated Reasons You Need a Wyndham Rewards Earner Card

Wyndham has more than 9,000 hotels across 20 brands, including upscale Dolce Hotels and Resorts and La Quinta Inns and Suites. Even if you only occasionally stay at Wyndham hotels, the Wyndham Rewards® Earner℠ Credit Card could make sense because you can redeem the points you earn as a cardholder to save money on your stay.

From bonus points on gas and grocery purchases to no foreign transaction fees, here are some of the better-known and lesser-known benefits of this card.

» Learn more: Wyndham Rewards: The complete guide

The well-known reasons

Wyndham Rewards® Earner℠ Credit Card cardholders enjoy these well-known benefits:

• Welcome bonus: Earn 30,000 bonus points, enough for up to 4 free nights at participating properties after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days. Free nights can require up to 30,000 points per bedroom at participating properties and are subject to availability. Resort fees may apply and cannot be paid with points.

• Bonus points on Wyndham, gas and grocery purchases: You can accumulate points quickly by using this card to make purchases in its bonus categories. You’ll earn 5 points per dollar spent on eligible Wyndham purchases and on qualifying gas purchases. Plus, 2 point per dollar spent on dining and grocery purchases (excluding Target and Walmart).

• No annual fee: If you tend to shy away from annual fee credit cards, then the Wyndham Rewards® Earner℠ Credit Card can be a good fit.

» Learn more: Wyndham Earner vs. Plus: Which is right for you?

The underrated reasons

10% discount on award stays

Cardholders receive a 10% discount when using points to book an award stay. Wyndham hotels are designated into three tiers, but without holding the Wyndham Rewards® Earner℠ Credit Card, a free night will set you back 7,500 points, 15,000 points or 30,000 points per night. Thanks to this underrated perk, however, cardholders can book the same rooms for 6,750 to 27,000 points.

» Learn more: Your guide to the Wyndham Rewards award chart

Anniversary bonus points

Cardholders earn 7,500 bonus points each anniversary year after spending $15,000 on eligible purchases. NerdWallet’s valuations determined that one Wyndham point has a value of about 0.9 cent.

Automatic Gold elite status

Earning Gold elite status with Wyndham typically requires you to book a specific number of qualifying nights, but you get it automatically with the Wyndham Rewards® Earner℠ Credit Card. That said, the perks aren’t plentiful, but you’ll at least get late checkout at participating hotels and earn 10% bonus points on qualified stays.

» Learn more: The complete guide to Wyndham Rewards elite status

Discount on paid stays

With this card, you can save money on paid stays by taking advantage of the exclusive cardmember rate. This standard discount ranges from 5% to 7% off the best available rate at these Wyndham brands:

• AmericInn.

• Baymont.

• Dolce Hotels and Resorts.

• La Quinta Inns and Suites.

• Trademark Collection.

• TRYP.

• Wyndham Garden.

• Wyndham Grand.

• Wyndham Hotels and Resorts.

You’ll get a larger discount of 10% to 12% off the best available rate at the following Wyndham brands:

• Days Inn.

• Dazzler.

• Esplendor Boutique Hotels.

• Hawthorn Suites.

• Howard Johnson.

• Ramada.

• Super 8.

• Travelodge.

• Wingate.

» Learn more: NerdWallet’s best hotel credit cards

No foreign transaction fees

If you travel abroad, it’s convenient to have a card that’ll save you on transaction costs. Some cards charge up to 3% per transaction on international purchases, so this is a great benefit — especially for a no annual fee card.

» Learn more: Read our full card review

The bottom line

The Wyndham Rewards® Earner℠ Credit Card offers a welcome bonus, which you can use to book award stays at nearly 10,000 hotels and despite having a $0 annual fee, the card offers valuable perks, including a discounted cardmember rate on paid hotel stays, no foreign transaction fees and bonus points on gas, and grocery purchases.

How to maximize your rewards

You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are our picks for the best travel credit cards of 2021, including those best for: