Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus Review: Solid Rewards and Perks for Loyalists
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4.4
This $75-annual-fee card offers a lot of value, including anniversary points that could snag you a free night each year — but only at the lowest tier.
Pros
High rewards rate
New cardholder bonus offer
Anniversary perk
Transfer partners
Cons
No free anniversary night
Has annual fee
Limited redemptions
Compare to Other Cards
Annual fee$0 | Annual fee$95 | Annual fee$250 |
Regular APR21.24%-28.24% Variable APR | ||
Intro APR0% intro APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers | Intro APRN/A | Intro APRN/A |
Recommended Credit Score |
Recommended Credit Score |
Recommended Credit Score |
Detailed review: Wyndham Rewards Earner® Plus Card
If you're wedded to Wyndham, the Wyndham Rewards Earner® Plus Card is a solid hotel credit card, earning 6 points per $1 spent at Wyndham properties. So if you frequently stay at the brand’s hotels, vacation rentals or timeshares, you can rack up points and then redeem them for free or discounted nights, transfer them to more than a dozen travel partners including airlines, or even purchase gift cards or merchandise, among other options.
The $75-annual-fee card, issued by Barclays, features a sign-up bonus that's significant and relatively easy to earn. Plus, it offers elite status with Wyndham, as well as anniversary points each year that can help offset that annual fee.
However, unlike a lot of other hotel credit cards with annual fees, you won't get a free overnight stay each year — at least not outright — and that's a bit of a disappointment. On the other hand, the anniversary points you get can be worth at least as much as a free night, and points are more flexible with a longer expiration.
There's a $0-annual-fee version of this card called the Wyndham Rewards Earner® Card, though its rewards and benefits are less robust.
Key features of the Wyndham Rewards Earner® Plus Card
Card type: Hotel.
Annual fee: $75.
Sign-up bonus: Earn 45,000 bonus points, enough for up to 6 free nights after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days.
Ongoing rewards:
6X points per dollar spent at Wyndham hotels.
6X points per dollar spent at gas stations.
4X points per dollar spent on dining and grocery store purchases (except at Target and Walmart).
1X point per dollar spent on all other purchases (except for Wyndham Vacation Club down payments, the hotel brand's timeshare program).
NerdWallet values Wyndham points at 1.1 cents each. This is a baseline value, drawn from real-world data, not a maximized value. In other words, you should aim for award redemptions that offer 1.1 cents or more in value from your Wyndham points.
Wyndham hotel brands include its namesake Wyndham properties, but also La Quinta, Ramada, AmericInn, Baymont, Microtel, Days Inn, Howard Johnson's, Super 8 and Travelodge.
Redemption options
You'll typically get the most value from your points by redeeming them within the Wyndham program for award nights. You have two options for this:
Go free: Free nights with Wyndham cost 7,500, 15,000 or 30,000 points per bedroom.
Go fast: A mixture of cash and points. You can get a discounted night for 1,500, 3,000 or 6,000 points per bedroom plus cash at participating properties.
Other ways to use your points:
Transfers to more than a dozen partner programs, including American, United and Frontier airlines.
Fuel discounts at Marathon gas stations.
Merchandise, gift cards, charitable contributions.
Wyndham timeshare owners only: Redeem points for partial payment of maintenance fee, RCI Exchange Fees and more.
For point transfers to travel partners, the standard transfer ratio is 5:1, meaning that for every 5 Wyndham points you transfer, you get only 1 point or mile in the partner program.
APR: 0% intro APR for 15 months on balance transfers made within 45 days of account opening, then the ongoing APR of 20.49%, 24.74% or 29.74%, Variable APR.
Foreign transaction fees: None.
Other benefits:
7,500 anniversary points every year.
Automatic Wyndham Rewards Platinum membership, which comes with perks like early check-in and rental car upgrades.
The Wyndham Rewards Earner® Plus Card is a revamped version of the older Wyndham Rewards® Visa® Card. That older version is no longer open to new applicants, as of September 2020.
Benefits and perks
High rewards rate
When you spend at Wyndham properties, you earn 6X points per dollar. Those rewards rates are in addition to the 10 base points per $1 you get simply as a Wyndham Rewards loyalty program member. A $350 hotel stay, for instance, would earn you a total of 5,600 points: 3,500 as a member of Wyndham rewards, on top of 2,100 from your card. What's more, you'll also earn 6X points per $1 when you fill up on gas and 2X points per $1 for spending on dining and grocery store purchases. So if you're a frequent Wyndham guest who also drives a lot and shops at grocery stores, you have plenty of opportunities to earn a lot of points.
Large sign-up bonus, plus valuable anniversary points
New cardholders get handsomely rewarded: Earn 45,000 bonus points, enough for up to 6 free nights after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days.
But the rewards keep coming each year when you renew your card. You’ll earn 7,500 points automatically every anniversary, which can be good for one free night at a low-tier property. Or you can choose to put those 7,500 points toward a higher-end, 30,000-per-night resort.
Elite status
If you stay at Wyndham properties frequently, then you’ll appreciate the Platinum-level membership perks, which include early check-in, late checkout and rental car upgrades. You'll also get a 15% bonus on base points earned from hotel stays (not points earned with the card). Without the card, it takes 9 nights to reach the Platinum membership level.
Multiple transfer partners
As with the Wyndham Rewards Earner® Card, you can transfer your points to over a dozen partners, including American Airlines, Frontier Airlines and United MileagePlus. That means greater flexibility when you’re ready to redeem. Keep in mind, however, that the transfer ratio represents a poor point value.
Drawbacks and considerations
Annual fee
Although this card's annual fee is lower than others in its class (which are typically closer to $100), you can find no-annual-fee travel cards with solid rewards — and one of them is this card's sibling, the Wyndham Rewards Earner® Card. It offers the same bonus categories, but at lower rates.
Here's how those two Wyndham cards stack up, along with details on the business version of the card, the Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Card:
Wyndham Rewards Earner Card | Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus Card | Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Card | |
|---|---|---|---|
Annual fee | $0 | $75 | $95 |
Sign-up bonus | Earn 30,000 bonus points, enough for up to 4 free nights after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days. | Earn 45,000 bonus points, enough for up to 6 free nights after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days. | Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 in the first 90 days, and earn 25,000 bonus points after spending $10,000 within the first 12 months. 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. |
Rewards |
|
|
|
Anniversary bonus points | 7,500 points after spending $15,000 on purchases | 7,500 points (automatic, no spending required) | 15,000 points (automatic, no spending required) |
Automatic Wyndham status | Gold | Platinum | Diamond |
Cell phone protection | None | None | Yes (must pay wireless bill with card each month) |
No free night certificate
While cardholders earn 7,500 points for each anniversary with the card (enough for a free night at the lowest-tier hotels), it’s not enough for a stay at a mid-tier or higher-end property.
Other hotel cards with annual fees — such as the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card and the World of Hyatt Credit Card — offer an automatic "free night award" every year that you can apply to a wide range of properties.
Still, points do have one advantage: Unlike many free night certificates, which expire after one year, Wyndham points expire four years after you earn them (or in 18 months with no account activity).
Wyndham-specific hotel rewards
Yes, you can transfer points to travel partners, but it's a poor value. If you aren't loyal to Wyndham and would like greater flexibility, you might be better off with a general travel card that earns points you can use at any hotel or airline. The Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card, for example, earns 1.5 points per dollar spent on purchases (you can earn more with a qualifying Bank of America® account).
If you're willing to pay an annual fee, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is also a good choice. You'll earn bonus rewards on popular spending categories like travel and dining. This card also has multiple hotel and airline transfer partners, but unlike the Wyndham cards, points transfer at a ratio of 1:1. Or, if you choose to redeem directly via the Chase Ultimate Rewards® travel portal, points are worth 1.25 cents each. The annual fee is $95.
The card earns bonus rewards in popular categories like travel and dining. Those points are worth 1.25 cents each if you redeem for travel directly via the Chase Ultimate Rewards® travel portal. But you can also choose to transfer points to multiple hotel and airline transfer partners, all at a 1:1 ratio. The annual fee is $95.
How to decide if it's right for you
If you frequently stay at Wyndham properties, you could benefit from the high rewards rates this card offers on Wyndham-related spending, not to mention the perks of Wyndham Platinum membership.
But if you prefer to stay at a range of hotel brands and want to earn (and redeem) rewards beyond the Wyndham umbrella, you'll be better off with a more general travel credit card. Or, you may find that the ultimate flexibility of a cash-back credit card may suit you better. Check out NerdWallet’s list of the best credit cards to explore your options.
