Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is almost done! The last two weeks Greg, Nick, and Stephen competed to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines. But who completed the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
| Sorry, this deal is no longer available. Do you want to be alerted about new deals as they’re published? Click here to subscribe to Frequent Miler's Instant Posts by email. |
La Quinta Returns is offering an easy, free 1500 points (which can be transferred 1:1 to Wydnham Rewards. All you have to do is link a mobile phone number to their La Quinta Returns Redeem Away program (a program designed to allow you to redeem your points for purchases, though no purchase is required to receive these points). The system prompts you to link a Visa card, though I think I got the text message before I had even done that.
The Deal
- Get a free 1,500 bonus points from La Quinta (which can be transferred to Wyndham Rewards at 1:1) by linking a mobile number and responding to an SMS message
- Direct link to this promotion
Key Terms
- Must reply to the “Welcome” message with “BONUS” upon receipt (within 12 hours to receive the bonus offer).
- 1,500 bonus points should post within 48 hours
Quick Thoughts
This is a really easy 1500 points. While that’s not huge, it’s low-hanging fruit. You can transfer these points to Wyndham Rewards and Wyndham Rewards charges 15,000 points per night everywhere, so this bonus is worth 1/10th of a free night. Not bad for very little effort.
You simply need to click the link above and find the “enroll” button. That will prompt you to log into your La Quinta Rewards account. It will then ask for your mobile number. I don’t typically give out my actual cell phone number to anyone outside of the family — I prefer to use Google Voice for stuff like this as it tends to block the robo-calls. To my surprise, when I tried to use Google Voice, I got an error:
Not really keen on giving La Quinta my cell phone number when many of my friends don’t even have it, I wouldn’t quite give in. I have a mobile hotspot Internet device, and those can receive text messages. I gave La Quinta that number and the text came through and confirmed easily.
The cut off part of the text message notes that I’ll get the 1500 points within 48 hours. After entering my phone number successfully, I was promoted to link a Visa card number. The premise of this “La Quinta Returns Redeem Away” bit is that you can use your La Quinta Rewards points to get a statement credit for purchases made with a linked Visa card. I’m sure the value is poor — and in hindsight, I’m not sure I had to do it. I think the text message above might have come in as soon as I linked the phone number, so YMMV on needing to add a Visa card.
All-in, this promo takes less than 3 minutes to do and it’s easy points that can help you top off for an award you need at some point. It’s always good to be prepared for when opportunity strikes with Wyndham.
H/T: Angelina Travels
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
Did not work for my husband, I am not sure we had already done it, so we unenrolled then got a message that he had unenrolled. Went back to enroll again and on the website directed him to answer the SMS but he never got it. I sent a customer help message.
Do you have to buy something to get the points?
Can you unenroll after you receive the points?
Worked great except I can’t figure out how to transfer La Quinta points to Wyndham. I see how to transfer the other way. Any help? I can’t find anywhere online or on La Quinta site.
https://www.lq.com/en/wyndham
Signed up for this ages ago. Now it texts me to ask if I want to redeem points for the most random purchases, including, like, airports that aren’t even in the US. Should probably unenroll now that I’ve got my points. La Quinta does allow you to earn points via twitter/instagram last I checked, so 500 points can be relatively easy to get. I have literally zero use for La Quinta, though, so I transfer them to Amtrak – not a super great points value, but again, to me La quinta points have zero value, so..
Eventually, I expect all of the points will end up in Wyndham (much like with SPG/Marriott, but it probably won’t take so long).
Indeed. I’ve been doing this since before Wyndham bought La Quinta, though (both Twitter and, I believe, Redeem Away signup) so back then it was a marginal number of amtrak points or nothing.
Says account does not allow enrollment and to call
No such offer or prompt when I put in registration info in the link provided. Is offer over?
Try the desktop version of the site. I just pulled it up and it’s right there. Terms state it ends 12/31/18.
hell i put in an actual cell number and it’s claiming it’s not one
For what it’s worth, if you keep the points in the Last Quinta program it’s anywhere from 1/4th to 1/8th of a free night because free nights with La Quinta generally range from 6,000 to 12,000 points per night.
They’re also the only chain where every property is pet friendly with not extra fee.
Just stayed at one last weekend while bucket listing a few states en route to hitting all 50. Room rate was about $115 but only 8,000 points.
Wasn’t glamerous but it was a room when and where we needed one, our pet was welcome without any out of pocket cash, and we saved our more valuable points for use in big cities or at resorts.
Worked as you said but no text message until you add your Visa card number…..
No text message for me w/a real cell number
Same message as Ken. No go.
I get this crap:
Your La Quinta Returns account status does not allow enrollment in Redeem Away!, please call 1-800-642-4258 for assistance.
me too
Note that you must transfer in 1000 point increments, so if you don’t have any LQ points you are only getting 1000 Wyndham points and 500 LQ points
i figure eventually those points will transfer when the two programs fully merge.
do you have a link to transfer? I can’t find.