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Wyndham Rewards is offering a 25% discount on the purchase of points which brings the price per point down to 0.975c per point. While there are many situations where that wouldn’t make sense, this offer may be particularly interesting for those eyeing Vacasa vacation rentals since it means you could buy enough points for a one-bedroom vacation home rental for $146.25, which could be a great deal.
The Deal
- Wyndham Rewards is offering a 25% discount on the purchase of points, which brings the price down to 0.975 cents per point if buying at least 3,000 points
- Direct link to buy points (our affiliate link)
Key Terms
- Expires May 7, 2021
- Must buy at least 3,000 points to get the discount
- Can buy a max of 45,000 points per year
Quick Thoughts
There are several things to keep in mind for those who might consider buying points:
- Wyndham allows the purchase of a maximum of 45,000 points per year
- Points expire 4 years after being earned regardless of activity (or after 18 months of inactivity)
- Wyndham has 3 award tiers for hotel free nights, so hotel free night awards cost 7.5K points, 15K points, or 30K points per night (cash & points redemptions start from 3K points + $)
- Vacasa vacation rentals booked through Wyndham Rewards cost 15K points per bedroom per night.
- Points purchases are processed by Points.com and thus will not count as hotel spend (though you may be able to go through a shopping portal).
While there are sometimes opportunities to get excellent value out of Wyndham points for hotel award nights, the use most interesting to me at the moment is for Vacasa vacation rentals. I recently wrote about booking an entire cabin in the Smokey Mountains with a bedroom, a loft, a hot tub, and a great view for 15K points per night (see a link below). With this sale, I could have purchased the 45K points I needed for my 3-night reservation for $438.75, which would be a significant savings over the $1400+ sticker price of the rental I booked.
For more about Vacasa vacation rentals, see these posts:
- Wyndham Vacasa: Great Value is Real!
- Vacasa success: Entire cabin booked for 15K Wyndham points per night (transferred from Capital One)
I certainly wouldn’t recommend purchasing points speculatively. On the other hand, I’m certainly considering taking some of the cash I’ve earned from cash back credit cards or bank bonuses to buy the points for a vacation rental later this year and maintaining the flexibility of my Capital One points. We’ll see.
H/T: One Mile at a Time
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As a Wyndham-points FYI for anyone who might be in a similar boat as me: I had ~37K points that expired due to the 18-month clock in Oct 2020. Based on info from somewhere in the blogosphere, I asked and got them reinstated in Feb 2021. The app shows me that they have a new 18-month clock (expiring 2022-08-02 without any activity) and a new 4-year clock (expiring 2025-02-28 regardless). I could not find this info on the website, but it is at the bottom of the Android app of the “My Account” section.
A couple of questions….
-Is it okay to purchase with an Amex? I’m assuming so, but with their clawbacks and sensitivity to MOs, you never know…
-Since I have the Wyndham Business card, do I get the instant 10% off with Vicasa? Currently have about 50k points, and trying to determine if I need to get to 54k or 60k for a 4-night one bedroom vicasa redemption.
Thanks!
1) Yes, absolutely. It’s a purchase and not at all a cash equivalent. There have even been times in the past where Amex offered a special bonus when buying points (back in the SPG days). No worries there.
2) Yes, you get an instant 10% off with the Wyndham business card according to Grant’s experience at Travel With Grant, so you should only need to get to 54K for a 4-night stay as per his post: https://travelwithgrant.boardingarea.com/2021/04/14/my-experience-booking-vacasa-vacation-rentals-with-wyndham-rewards-points/
Wonderful! Thanks Nick!!
This is going to be devalued by end of year with all this publicity. Mark my words
I don’t think that would surprise anybody, but it’s a great deal that I’d rather see readers hear about here and book while it lasts than see only readers of the other blogs that will talk about it get a chance to take advantage.
I agree. The whole purpose of FM is to help people get the best travel values and money saving/making deals. Better that your readers, who really care about travel, get in on these opportunities ahead of the masses. Frankly, those who find out about these special situations, once they are gone, won’t miss them anyway.
It’s not being widely covered outside FM. And the awkward booking process will definitely limit how many people book.
I sure hope the Vacasa deals hold up in the future for those who want them. It’s not my style of travel, so I won’t be chasing these oversized values, but they do seem to good to last. Devaluation patterns being what they are, it seems like booking sooner than later would be prudent. Property owners surely can’t take this kind of hit for too long if 15,000 point, single room Vacasa redemptions ramp up. Which, of course they will with the help of numerous travel blogs.