In many ways Wyndham Rewards has impressed me since they overhauled their loyalty program in 2015. Since then they charge a flat 15,000 points per night for an award stay, regardless of what hotel you’re redeeming for. So whether you’re looking at their cheapest or most expensive hotel, a free night will cost the same number of points. That’s cool, and it’s certainly a “bone” that I appreciate them throwing to those of us who like to maximize our redemptions.
What’s disappointing, however, is how Wyndham Rewards has retroactively changed the terms of their promotions on multiple occasions. It’s bad enough to do so once, but they’ve done it at least three times now, and that’s just not cool. It certainly doesn’t do much to create a feeling of trust among members.
The most recent case of this involves the promotion they launched last November, in conjunction with Visa Checkout. Through this promotion they’re offering up to 15,000 bonus points after three stays, as follows:
- Earn 3,000 bonus points after your first stay
- Earn 5,000 bonus points after your second stay
- Earn 7,000 bonus points after your third stay
The promotion was supposed to be valid for bookings made through January 31, 2018, and for stays through February 28, 2018. However, The Gate notes that Wyndham retroactively changed the terms of this promotion, so that it’s now only valid for bookings made through January 18, 2018. Wyndham didn’t communicate this with members, so plenty of people booked stays between January 19 and 31, only to later find out that the bonus points didn’t post, as the terms had changed.
Technically just about any loyalty program promotion will have something in the terms about the promotion being subject to change without notice, though that doesn’t mean it’s a good business practice to do so. I certainly know that I’d never think to go back and check the terms of a promotion after I made a booking, because I’d assume that the terms remain the same as when I first registered.
Apparently Wyndham Rewards says that the promotion terms were changed because the promotion was so popular, though I’m not sure that logic adds up. At the beginning of February, Wyndham Rewards launched a promotion offering up to 15,000 bonus points after just two stays, which is even more generous.
So if they’re not going to honor that promotion as published, then why should we assume that they’d honor a more generous promotion as published under the current terms? Presumably that promotion will be even more popular, no?
Prior to this, Wyndham Rewards’ latest case where they didn’t honor a promotion was in 2016, where they offered to match your SPG status and quadruple the SPG points balance you have in Wyndham Rewards, but only if you donated all your SPG points to charity. They ended up canceling that promotion.
That sure seemed like a generous and creative promotion, though I really don’t get what they were thinking there. Maybe they need to put some more thought into their promotions before publishing them.
Shame on Wyndham Rewards for how they’re handling this. While they shouldn’t be changing the terms of a promotion after the fact, at an absolute minimum they should be emailing members who registered for the promotion to advise them that the terms have changed.
@connie. ur comment makes no sense. what do you mean 2 stays consecutively? you went back to back check in/out exactly the next day after the 1st stay? if so, u dont know how hotel promos work. if u left an open gap of 24HRS between each stay and they considered that "consecutive" then ur rite. thats BS and you should escalate to a mgr.
Wyndham did this to me also. I signed up for a the bonus of 15000 after 2 stays. Called 4 times to find out where my points were. They kept saying it takes 4-8 wks to show up on my account. Today was 8 1/2 wks & when I called them, all of a sudden the terms were changed to 2 stays NOT consecutively.
Unless this is made right, I will cancel membership, go...
Wyndham did this to me also. I signed up for a the bonus of 15000 after 2 stays. Called 4 times to find out where my points were. They kept saying it takes 4-8 wks to show up on my account. Today was 8 1/2 wks & when I called them, all of a sudden the terms were changed to 2 stays NOT consecutively.
Unless this is made right, I will cancel membership, go out of my way to not stay at their hotels & spread the word loud & clear so others won't stay at any either.
@Maria - clickbait only works on dingbats
Steve, who are we to say they shouldn't? It's not our call. If we do not like the devaluations, we are free to drop the programs. Believe me I have dropped from a few. Naturally we don't have to like it, but less face it, the laws of inflation apply. Too many people get involved, it costs the businesses more money, they are going to devalue.
That sucks that they changed the terms retroactively.
Luckily, I was able to get the most recent promotion deposited to my account within 2 days after completing the 2 stays, which is much faster than any other hotel chains. IHG is notorious for taking forever to deposit the points from accelerating promotions.
@Maria, perhaps you should run a blog yourself!! Your criticism of this blog only make yourself shallow and an entitled brat in front of others.
@Maria - honestly, if you dislike Lucky's headline or alleged clickbaity, feel free to offer a constructive criticism with suggestions on how you would word it, or move along!
I am surprised people like Maria take the time to write comments, or even read these articles, since Lucky is so dishonest and clickbaity... Give me a break, Maria.
@Emirates, really stupid comment. Nobody said they couldn't do it, only that they shouldn't. As lucky said, very dishonest.
In all fairness, it is in the fine print that these companies can change the terms at any time and without any notice.
I'm surprised nobody calls Lucky dishonest for his clickbaity, misleading or poorly-worded headlines.
My aunt works for Baymont which is owned by Wyndham, and she says they treat their employees very bad
If they don't get dinged financially or take a PR hit, they see it as a sign they can keep doing it.
#Thirdtimesthecharm.
Is this not the same corporation (bloodsuckers) that push the Wyndham time share promotions to unsuspecting families with high hopes and little means?
Why does this surprise you lucky?