Wyndham Rewards Insider: Is this $95 per year subscription worth it?

Wyndham launched a new feature as part of its loyalty program today called Wyndham Rewards Insider.

It’s a $95 per year subscription which offers a number of features, along with a limited time bonus of 7,500 bonus points and two additional months free. Are those bonuses and the benefits worth $95 per year though? Let’s take a look.

Here’s a list of the benefits you’ll receive for subscribing to Wyndham Rewards Insider:

• Minimum 10% discount off the Standard Rate
• 50% more bonus points on paid stays (but not really)
• Gold status
• 7,500 bonus points for joining
• Savings on other travel booked through the Wyndham Rewards Insider site (up to 15% off international flights, up to 5% off domestic flights, up to 10% off car rentals, & up to 30% off cruises)
• 2 points per dollar on Ticketmaster purchases, plus ability to redeem points for Ticketmaster purchases
• Savings at theme parks
• Access to a concierge
• Discounts on AMC Theatres & Cinemark tickets
• Shopping benefits (details TBC)
• Health benefits (details TBC)

Here’s a deeper dive into each of those benefits.

Minimum 10% discount off the Standard Rate

The important thing to note with this discount is that it’s coming off the Standard Rate which means that this benefit will likely save you a grand total of zero dollars and zero cents.

To give an example as to why, here’s a randomly picked search result. This is for the Wyndham Virginia Beach Oceanfront from November 7-9.

There are all kinds of rates, but you’ll notice that the most expensive rate right at the bottom is the Standard Rate. Even if the discount offered for a Wyndham Rewards Insider was 25% off the Standard Rate, it would still be more expensive than the regular Wyndham Rewards member rate or the BenefitHub rate (see this post for more on that free-to-access BenefitHub rate.

There might be times – such as when booking last minute – where the other available rates are much closer to the Standard Rate. For example, here are the rates for that same property tonight:

The price differential is far less. However, a 10% discount off the Standard Rate would still only match four of the other available rates, while also being more expensive than that first BenefitHub rate.

While this benefit might occasionally save you money, I’d personally assign a zero value to it.

50% more bonus points on paid stays (but not really)

Wyndham awards 10 points per dollar on paid stays. I’d initially thought that this benefit would therefore mean you’d effectively earn an additional 5 points per dollar, but that’s not the case at all.

It’s so much worse.

Thanks to Jason in the comments for flagging this, as I’d missed this in the full terms of the program. The 50% bonus isn’t awarded based on the base points you earn. Instead, it’s earned on the bonus points you earn for having status with Wyndham.

The fact that Wyndham is marketing this as earning 50% bonus points is appalling. Here’s why. If you have status with Wyndham, you earn the following bonus points on paid stays:

• Gold = 10% bonus points (i.e. 1 additional point per dollar)
• Platinum = 15% bonus points (i.e. 1.5 additional points per dollar)
• Diamond = 20% bonus points (i.e. 2 additional points per dollar)

The 50% bonus is calculated on those bonus points. That means a 50% bonus for a Gold member equates to 0.5 additional points per dollar, Platinum members would earn 0.75 additional points per dollar, and Diamond members would earn 1 additional point per dollar.

That’s a simply absurd way of calculating the bonus and renders this benefit of the subscription virtually worthless. Let’s say you value Wyndham points at 1 cent per point. As a Gold member (the status that comes with this subscription), you’d need to spend $19,000 on Wyndham stays in order to earn an additional 9,500 points worth $95 at that 1 cent per point valuation. If you value Wyndham points at our Reasonable Redemption Value of 0.7 cents per point, you’d need to spend a whopping $27,144 to earn the 13,572 additional bonus points needed to offset the $95 annual fee.

The calculations will obviously be different if you have Platinum or Diamond status. Nevertheless, the spend requirements will still be extremely high.

All of that is assuming that all your stays cost at least $100 too. If your stay costs less than $100 before taxes and fees, Wyndham will bump up your earnings to 1,000 points for the stay. That means a $75 stay will earn zero bonus points from this 50% bonus benefit because Wyndham will automatically increase the earnings from 750 points to $1,000.

Gold status

Gold status with Wyndham is an almost nothingburger. You get the following on top of the standard benefits just for being a regular member of the Wyndham Rewards loyalty program:

• Dedicated member service (‘For more personalized service, your calls will be handled by a representative specific to your member level. Visit My Account to find your Member Services phone number.’)
• Preferred room choice (‘Let us know your preferences and we’ll do our best to place you in your favorite type of room.’)
• 10% bonus on base earnings on paid stays
• Non-guaranteed late checkout

While there could be some small amount of incremental value from the 10% bonus on base earnings, Gold status is earned after staying five nights. If you’re willing to invest almost $100 in a Wyndham Rewards Insider membership, I’m going to guess that you’re staying at least five nights a year anyway and so you’d earn that status organically.

If you have any kind of Wyndham credit card, you already automatically get Gold status or higher anyway.

7,500 bonus points for joining

This benefit is one of the more compelling reasons for subscribing for at least a year, but even then it’s not a no-brainer.

At a valuation of 1 cent per point, this bonus is worth $75. At a valuation of 0.7 cents per point, it’s worth $52.50. Either way, you’d still need to get a decent amount of value from the other benefits to make it worth investing $95 for the first year.

Also bear in mind that earning 7,500 bonus points doesn’t appear to be an ongoing yearly benefit. Instead, it’s listed as a welcome bonus, so it’s one and done, therefore meaning you’d need to get substantial value after your first year to make it worth maintaining the subscription.

Savings on other travel booked through the Wyndham Rewards Insider site

The savings are listed as being up to 15% off international flights, up to 5% off domestic flights, up to 10% off car rentals, and up to 30% off cruises. The key wording here is “up to”. Perhaps you’ll get some genuine savings, but I wouldn’t count on it.

2 points per dollar on Ticketmaster purchases, plus ability to redeem points for Ticketmaster purchases

If you spend a lot on Ticketmaster purchases, this could actually be a decent benefit. The terms for earning Wyndham points in this manner are as follows (my bolding):

Wyndham Rewards Insiders are able to earn two points per eligible dollar spent. To earn Wyndham Rewards points, you must purchase eligible tickets from the official Ticketmaster website while logged in to your Ticketmaster account after it has been linked to your Wyndham Rewards Insider account. You will not earn on taxes, fees, service charges, or anything other than base ticket price. Earning is limited to 50,000 points per calendar year for Insiders. Without limitation, points can’t be earned on purchases of gift cards, verified resale tickets, or ticket insurance.

That bolded section is what makes it interesting. I’d initially assumed that it would function like some kind of shopping portal offer whereby you have to click through to Ticketmaster from a specific link. Those terms suggest that’s not the case though; that instead you link your Ticketmaster account with your Wyndham Rewards Insider account and earn points automatically on subsequent purchases from Ticketmaster.

Provided that’s how it actually works, it means you can stack the 2x earnings with earnings through a shopping portal, thereby not diluting the value of this benefit.

Savings at theme parks

The Wyndham Rewards Insider website states that you can ‘Unlock magical savings at Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort, Universal Orlando Resort, Universal Studios Hollywood, SeaWorld Parks, and so many more theme parks worldwide.’

Sounds great, but I’m dubious as to whether legit savings will be achieved this way.

Access to a concierge

The concierge service is administered by a third party provider. The website states that ‘The concierge service can assist with personal requests such as dining reservations, travel planning, entertainment tickets, lifestyle experiences and other personal services. Prices, rates, and inventory for any requested service are subject to availability and may vary by location, date, and time. Wyndham Rewards does not guarantee fulfillment of any request.’

Perhaps there’s an edge case where this will prove to be useful, but I’ve never made use of a concierge provided via my American Express Platinum Card®, so I highly doubt I’d ever try to use one that’s partnered with Wyndham.

Discounts on AMC Theatres & Cinemark tickets

Meh. You can often buy discounted tickets through Groupon, wholesale clubs like Costco and Sam’s Club offer discounts on ticket packages, GCX (formerly Raise) has discounts – as of the time of publishing – of 17.5%-20% on AMC and Cinemark tickets, etc. Savings of “up to” 25% therefore won’t offer substantial real savings.

Health & Shopping benefits

The Wyndham Rewards Insider website lists two other upcoming benefits for Health and Shopping.

It therefore remains to be seen as to whether these offer any decent benefits, although I’m not holding my breath.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the health feature is something akin to a white-labeled version of GoodRX, offering savings that are achievable for free through other programs.

Shopping could be an interesting one. If it’s simply that Insider members can redeem Wyndham points for a selection of additional products at appalling redemption rates, that’d be disappointing. What would be interesting is if Insider members get access to increased earning rates through the Wyndham shopping portal. If that’s what comes to pass, that could offer some good value seeing as the Wyndham shopping portal already offers decent returns at select retailers at times.

Is a Wyndham Rewards Insider membership worth it?

Based on all that, is it worth paying $95 for a subscription to Wyndham Rewards Insider?

For the right person, yes. Realistically, you’d need to spend a substantial amount on tickets purchased through Ticketmaster in order to make the $95 investment worthwhile as the other benefits have limited upside – or none at all. The fact that the 50% bonus points you’ll earn only equates to 0.5-1.5 additional points per dollar spent limits the value you can obtain through that element.

If you wanted to test it out for a year, the 7,500 point welcome bonus helps defray a good chunk of the cost. Just be sure to set yourself a reminder in a year’s time to cancel at renewal if you find that you’re simply not getting $95 of value from it.

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