The ability to book Vacasa Vacation Rentals with Wyndham points is one of the best deals in points & miles. If you’re at all interested in booking vacation rentals, it’s essential to learn about this opportunity. This post has everything you need to know…
Intro to booking Vacasa rentals with Wyndham points
In 2019, Vacasa (a vacation rental management company) bought Wyndham Vacation Rentals. And in February 2021, Wyndham Rewards made it possible to redeem points for any of Vacasa’s more than 15,000 vacation rental properties.
Wyndham prices vacation rental free nights at 15,000 points per bedroom per night. That’s awesome because it’s often possible to get anywhere from 2 to 3.5 cents per point value when redeeming points this way. If you consider that Wyndham often sells their points for around 1 cent each, it’s clear that this is a great opportunity.
The best deal is when you can find an amazing property that is listed with only 1 bedroom. Some of these actually have separate bedroom lofts and extra bathrooms and so are ideal for families. When these properties rent for, say, $300 per night, you’ll get 2 cents per point value. That’s excellent. And, the actual value is even higher because you do not have to pay fees or taxes when paying with points. In this four night stay example, the room rate averaged $315, but after taxes and fees came to $427 per night:
In the above example, you would pay a total of 4 x 15K = 60,000 Wyndham points for a $1,708.35 rental. That’s a value of 2.8 cents per point.
Booking Vacasa Vacation Rentals
Finding Rentals
You can directly use Vacasa’s website to find available rentals. Start your search here: www.vacasa.com/search?maxbeds=1&place=/usa/. This link filters to rentals in the U.S. with a maximum of 1 bedroom. If you want more than 1 bedroom, change the filter, but keep in mind that 2 bedroom units cost twice as many points. And, of course, change the location and dates to where you want to go and when you want to travel.
A trick for finding big units that are listed as 1 bedroom is to set the following filters:
- Max Bedrooms: 1
- Min Bathrooms: 2 (or whatever number you think you’ll need)
- Number of guests: 6 (put in a number slightly larger than the number of people in your party). This is the key to weeding out small units.
Cost: 15,000 points per bedroom per night
To figure out the points required for a stay, multiply the number of nights times the number of bedrooms times 15,000 points. If you find a 3 night stay in a 2 bedroom home, for example, you can expect to pay 3 x 2 x 15,000 = 90,000 points for the stay. There are no other taxes or fees to pay.
Wyndham Earner 10% Discount
If you have a Wyndham Earner card, you’ll automatically get a 10% discount on all award stays, including when booking Vacasa Vacation Rentals. With a card, therefore, the cost goes down to 13,500 points per bedroom per night. You can read about Wyndham Earner cards here. My favorite Wyndham card is the $95 per year Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Card. It offers 15,000 points each year when you renew (which more than offsets the annual fee), plus Wyndham Diamond status, plus the ability to earn 8 points per dollar at gas stations and at Wyndham properties (and 5x for marketing, advertising, and utilities).
Which rentals are bookable with points?
While Wyndham hasn’t made their criteria public, it seems that it’s possible to book a unit with points as long as the total cost after taxes and fees works out to less than $500 per bedroom per night. So, for example, the 3 bedroom Hawaiian house shown above costs $4,585.18 after taxes and fees for a four night stay in March. That’s an average cost of $382 per bedroom per night. That’s less than $500 per bedroom per night and so it should be bookable with points. You can expect to pay 15,000 x 4 nights x 3 bedrooms = 180,000 points for this stay. That’s a value of 2.5 cents per point. If you have a Wyndham Earner card, you save 10% and the cost goes down to 162,000 points, netting a value of 2.8 cents per point.
Call to book
Call: 1-800-441-1034.
Wyndham has a dedicated phone line for Vacasa reservations and no longer accepts reservations by email. In my experience it is very easy to book over the phone: a friendly agent picked up the phone immediately when I called.
Cancellation Policy
Cancel 30 or more days before your stay for a full refund of points. Within 30 days all of your points are forfeit.
Wyndham Vacasa booking process: step by step
Here’s the step by step process that I recommend:
- Start your search here: www.vacasa.com/search?maxbeds=1&place=/usa/
This link filters to a maximum of 1 bedroom. If you want more than 1 bedroom, change the filter, but keep in mind that 2 bedroom units cost twice as many points. - Use the Vacasa website to find properties that are available for cash rates for your dates of interest.
- Make sure that the average cost for your stay of interest is less than $500 per bedroom per night.
- Call 1-800-441-1034 to book the stay (they no longer accept bookings via email)
- Put a reminder on your calendar 31 days or more before your stay to remind you to cancel if it doesn’t look like the stay will work out. Bookings are non-refundable within 30 days.
Wyndham Vacasa FAQ
Where are Vacasa Vacation Rentals located?
Vacasa offers rentals in the United States (including Hawaii and Alaska), Canada, Mexico, Belize, and Costa Rica.
Is it possible to put an award stay on hold?
No.
Do I have to pay any taxes or fees when paying with points?
Nope. All of those annoying fees, including cleaning fees, are included when you pay with points.
Is it possible to use points from multiple guests for a single stay?
Surprisingly, yes. I was able to book a single stay where the agent used my wife’s Wyndham account to pay for 3 nights and my account to pay for the fourth night. I don’t know if it’s possible to combine points in a more refined way. For example, I don’t know if they could have pulled points from my wife’s account to cover 3 and a half nights and then pulled the rest from my account.
How can I get points quickly to cover a stay?
There are a couple of ways to add points to your Wyndham account quickly:
- Buy points. Wyndham usually charges 1.3 cents per point, but they frequently put points on sale for just under 1 cent per point. There is usually a cap to the number of points you can buy and so it may make sense for more than one person in your party to buy points to cover a stay. If you go that route, make sure that each point-buyer has enough points to cover 1 or more nights.
- Transfer points 1 to 1 from Citi ThankYou Rewards, Capital One Miles, or Caesars Rewards.
If you have more time you can wait for a sale on points, or sign up for credit cards that offer big welcome bonuses. Wyndham cards that sometimes have big bonuses are: Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Card, and Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus Card. Cards where points can be transferred to Wyndham and which often have big bonuses are: Citi Premier, Capital One Venture Rewards, Capital One Venture X, Capital One Spark Miles for Business, Capital One Venture X Business.
Do Wyndham Earner cardholders get a 10% discount?
Yes! Wyndham Earner cardholders get a 10% discount on award stays, including Vacasa Vacation Rentals. As a result, they pay 13,500 points per bedroom per night. See: New Wyndham Earner credit cards review – Surprisingly strong.
Can I book a stay for someone else?
Yes, when booking the stay let the reservation agent know who’s name the stay should be in.
What is the cancellation policy for award bookings?
Cancel 30 or more days before your stay for a full refund of points. Within 30 days all of your points are forfeit.
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Thank you FM team! I was able to book 7 nights in Hawaii at an incredible value for the July 4th weekend at 3.03 cents per point value.
Quick DP share – there was another property that was coming out to $533/night. It was an incredible multi-story condo with 1 bedroom w/ Kind bed, 1 loft w/ 2 queen beds and 3 bathrooms! On paper, it would cost just 15,000 points per night since it was marked as 1 bedroom. Sadly not available to book via points.
The policy does indeed seem to be $500 a night after taxes, some where they were <$500 a night after taxes. The property was only available when it was <$500 per room per night after taxes. (Note – this particular property was always <$500 per room per night before taxes.)
When I asked why it was only available as a redemption certain dates, the agent wouldn’t say the $500 cap outright, but rather told me it was because of a “variety of factors including demand.”
I am looking for a Hawaii Vacasa Property, beachfront, i.w. steps from a beach.
I did search vacasa, anyone with a url toa. beachfront vacasa rental
Thank you so much for this post! I built up a sizable stash of Venture points and was researching the best use for them. Vacasa is the definite winner! I just booked two separate stays at beautiful places in Hawaii and got 2.6 cents/point and 3.6 cents/point. Considering the Venture X cards gets 2x points across-the-board that means I’ve been getting 5-7% cash back on everything and my 100K sign up bonus was worth around $3,000! Note I also got the Wyndham Rewards credit card so I’d get the 10% off and fully agree that with the 15K annual deposit and generous bonus categories that the business card is worth the $95 annual fee. I also used the uncounted bedroom strategy you suggested and got a 3 bedroom for the price of a 2 – thanks! The other great thing about Vacasa is there is NO wait to talk to a representative – I’ve called 4 times and always got a rep immediately. As a side note on Venture points – despite a lot of searching I’ve had no luck with Avianca, BA, Turkish – essentially finding nothing on all their supposed great redemptions. More luck with Aeroplan but no high value redemptions. So super happy to have found this awesome Vacasa deal!
Poor use of Venture IMO. Wyndham points can be obtained for much cheaper (less than 1cpp) while Venture points should return a value well above 1 cpp.
However, you are “missing out on the point” (pun intended) : you can only buy 60,000 points in a year
Just booked a studio property (listed as 0 bedrooms) averaging $565.23 per night for two nights. 4.19 cents per point value
Is a 0 bedroom also 15k points, or is it less?
Yes, 0 bedroom counts as 1 bedroom for pricing so it costs 15K per night
Has anyone had any experience with additional fees due at check-in? Some of these properties will mention these on their listing, but some reviews are saying that some fees weren’t even disclosed until check-in. I called the Wyndham/Vacasa number and they said any additional fees will be paid by us. Some of these fees are huge!
I suspect there’s something other than sheer price (with or without fees) that accounts for whether they’re able to book. I wonder if it has something to do with the owner of the property. The two units we booked in Hawaii were $480/nt after fees (yielding over 3.5cpp!), but there was one cute unit that was actually priced lower, but could not be booked using points. And the rep didn’t even have to put in prices etc., she just said “that one can’t be booked with points.” I’m not complaining, we ended up in a nice place in Princeville with a view of the water, but that other place we wanted looked almost authentic, down a gravel road to the beach (across a road but whatever).
I think Wyndham has wanted to build some excitement about their program, vacasa has certainly grabbed my attention!
PS – I checked Destination by Hyatt – they wanted 80k per night (min stay 3 nights)!! I mean, I’m sure it’s nice, but that’s 6 times more than Wyndham!!
The more I think about it, the more I think this should be on your list of last-minute offers. It’s too good and getting too much attention. If I were still sitting on six figures of Wyndham points, I’d be nervous
exactly. people dont understand this is not a normal hotel brand where you can book based on “availability”. its YMMV. these are ABNBs fully controlled by their owners. there are black out dates and minimum stay requirements. definitely capacity controlled.
for me, due to expiring points last year, i had to stay at several. based on location and dates, it was a huge headache to book rooms because wyndham agents can not see which properties allowed for point bookings. we had to try all of them. all had various cash rates open but not allowed with points. their screen kicks back a simple “not available”. it doesnt say why or for which dates. for example: i tried to book 5 days. not allowed. but 2 days was OK. no way to tell based on cash.
i dont think people have had enough experience to see how painful booking can be when its super limited. its YMMV but i want to see more DPs. but im glad @Greg The Frequent Miler had no issues yet.
I totally forgot about that 4 year rule for Wyndham! (Even with Covid, I never had them in my account that long…) I know intellectually that every point program could change from one day to the next, it just feels like Wyndham is more likely than most to substantially modify. They began experimenting with the 15K / nt thing, then tweaked it… At some point, presumably they’ll get some software that lets them charge 30K/nt instead of 15…
A few days ago I saw a notification on the Wyndham website that they are changing some award prices on 2/22.
Where did that information appear? This would be a bummer if it affected Vacasa.
https://www.wyndhamhotels.com/wyndham-rewards
scroll down a bit, look on left:
On Feb. 22, we’ll be changing the number of points required to book award nights at some of our hotels.
Why have the Redemption Tiers for certain hotels changed?
Typically, all hotels’ go free and go fastRedemption Tiers are reviewed annually and adjustments may be made in accordance with this review.
No mention of Vacasa, but you never know, right?
This has nothing to do with Vacasa, happily.
That’s not to say they won’t tweak Vacasa redemptions too. But “gofast” and “gofree” awards refer exclusively to hotels under the Wyndham masthead.
I’ve completed 5 Vacasa stays now – 3 on points and 2 as Marriott Homes AMEX offers. They certainly have some aspirationally located properties, but can’t say the service is aspirational. Still a great deal, and if everything goes right, it’s fine. Have had issues with the e-locks twice, once it took 2 hours for the ‘local agent’ to get back to us while we sat in the parking lot (needed to get key from random backup lock box instead). An older couple across the way had a similar issue on my last stay. Vacasa was like a 4 letter word to them, as they paid full price. Other issues went days without a response, so luckily they weren’t major, but they weren’t trivial either. Vacasa seems to be trying to replace local service with ‘big tech’ efficiency, which ends up lacking. You call or chat into a centralized office, then it’s escalated internally to a local person, who I’m guessing is way overworked and underpaid. And you can’t contact them directly. I know resort towns are having problems paying enough to get quality workers, so maybe all property management is suffering.
Vacasa is also bleeding money. Can’t see this lasting much longer. These seem to be real $$$ losses they are incuring on the wyndham points exchanges, unless that’s somehow passed on to the local condo/house owners, or maybe Wyndham is partially funding it too? Or is this funded by VC money to get market share? I just don’t get it, but I certainly will use it!
My rec: only buy points if you see a place to book immediately, or are good with orphaned Wyndham points. But it sure is fun searching around for some really expensive places I’d never go to otherwise.
I also had some service issues with a Vacasa stay last Spring. If everything goes right, it’s wonderful! If not, you’re kind of on your own to figure out a solution.
When you mention buying points, it might be worth noting points have a hard expiration date. That’s the main reason I haven’t built up a stash. I looked into Vacasa after first hearing it in your podcast but have struck out so far finding properties.
In a similar way, I was able to book a 2 bedroom home in the Scottish Highlands via cottages.com. It’s the same 30k Wyndham points per night for a 2br (27k with Wyndham business card). Cottages.com has rental properties in the UK.
I hope to make a similar booking soon. In the recent “Ask us Anything” video Greg said that Cottages.com may occasionally just “spring” a higher cost on you (such as 30K per bedroom per night) dependent on the property. Hope that isn’t an issue!
If you pool points and only one of the contributors has the Wyndham Earner Business Card, does the card’s 10% discount apply to the pooled amount?
Yes. The source of the points does not matter. If one of the Earner cards is linked to your account, you get the 10% bonus.
You mentioned this, of course, Greg but when plans are the slightest in the air I go ahead with other options. I had to unfort cancel a Vacasa booking within 30 days & they do NOT negotiate the return of points!
I think occasionally there are additional fees to pay out. For example —
I wondered if Vacasa is somehow getting around the mandatory HI 3% short-term rental tax – maybe they aren’t?!
i assume they pay it
Sure…I just meant maybe they’re passing taxes along now under other categories?
13.25% in ttl taxes is so crazy. We’re over here now for a month total on 4 islands & the taxes have added up to say the least considering we’re using points for almost all our lodging while here!
just came back from a stay in HI using Vacasa. love it.
this is my 7th redemption and have 2 more in the wings.
Greg, thanks for the update. I booked my first Vacasa rental over Labor Day in Charleston a couple weeks ago! An interesting data point though, the base rate for 4 nights was like $1401 (so slightly over $350 per night), but after all the taxes and fees, the total was OVER $2000, but I was able to book it over the phone without any problem. I thought for sure I would be rejected by the rep and had a backup option, but for whatever reason, it worked! I don’t know why or how it worked, but maybe one of the additional fees was not calculated in the price for Vacasa?
Woh… that’s weird. How many bedrooms was the unit? If it was 2 bedroom then I’d expect the limit to be $4,000
It was a 1 bedroom. I tried to replicate the reservation using different dates, but the pricing appears to be all over the place, and all of the nightly rates are now lower than what they were when I booked….strange.
Hi Greg, Everybody is in this game for different reasons. Mine is staying at aspirational properties. Does Vacasa rentals have any aspirational properties in the US? My only familiarity with Wyndham is that they seem to be a middle of the road type properties.
There definitely are aspirational properties. Vacasa doesn’t own these — they just manage rental properties — so the quality is all over the map. Some are aspirational and some are dumps. I just booked an incredible two story oceanfront condo in Hawaii. Amazing places are out there if you look!
@Greg care to share which condo?
Please share location 🙂
Which city ?
Are these just in the US?
I’ve seen at least a few in Mexico. Not sure if there are other international locations.
They have properties is North America (US, Canada, Mexico) and Central America (Belize and Costa Rica)
I’m guessing the limit is based on total cost (fees and taxes) per night, not advertised price per night. We just booked a Vacasa in Hawaii and most places were not available, even places going for $300/night. We ended up booking a place that was advertised for $270/night but worked out to $1480 total. We’ve booked other Vacasas for $330/night in other places.
This will be the third Vacasa we’ve booked using Wyndham points! Thanks for the info!!!
I priced out a few options and I strongly believe that the places are eligible based on the total cost per night. The magic number seems to be $500/night.
I just priced out a few options. Here are my DP’s (prices listed are total cost):
Property A
5 night stay $2538 – not available
6 night stay $2961 – available
Property B
3 night stay $1673 – not available
4 night stay $2166 – not available
5 night stay $2483 – available
Thank you (and to others who have reported the $500 limit as well). I’ve updated this post with that limit
I thought the magic number is a pre-tax number, close to $350/br, though I’ve also seen properties below that that are not bookable and properties above that that are.
A piece of info to include in your write-up: you can make Wyndham Vacasa reservations for somebody else. I just did. 🙂
Tried Taos Ski Valley. 4 nights in Feb. 1br @ $349/night and 2br @ $643/night and both were a bust. Was hoping at least the 2br @ 322/night would work :-/
Datapoint: 1-bedroom property for Memorial Day Weekend on the Cape (high cash prices!). All prices are before fees/taxes.
For 3 nights, avg. price was $367. As expected, not available with points.
For 4 nights Th-Mon, avg. price was $320. Available with points.
For 4 nights Fri-Tu, avg. price was $348.25. Not available with points.
Does that mean $325 is the limit? Not sure, but it appears $350/bedroom is not available with points.
Also, Cap One instant transfer to Wyndham.
Thanks FM team for the great info!
Thanks for the detailed datapoints! We’ve received some conflicting reports about whether the cap is closer to $350 or $325. Maybe it somehow varies by location. I don’t know.
We’ve booked above $350/nt in Aspen and been denied below $350 on the CA coast so it definitely varies by location and dates.
I read a comment somewhere (Reddit?) that the limit is actually after all the taxes and fees and is apparently $500/night/bedroom. That could explain why some places are bookable at $350/night before fees while others are not: taxes and fees differ between properties. Also, cleaning fees get amortized over more nights so booking more nights could make a specific property bookable.
I just called and they told me the same thing that with taxes and fees it must be under 500 per night, I just tried to book a rental that was 328 a night for 2 nights but the total was 1058 and they couldn’t book it.
Yeah, that’s why we see a big variance on what pretax rate is the limit: short stays cost more after taxes and cleaning fees.
Is it (as you understand it) $500 per bedroom per night with tax and fees? (which would mean $1,000 per for a 2 br)?
Exactly
Is this new? They have never disclosed a rate cut off, always saying it’s some special algo which depends on the dates and the property.
I don’t think it’s new. It’s just what others have found when trying to book. It’s not guaranteed that this is the actual limit as Wyndham is not publishing limits but it’s a good rule of thumb
Thanks. I called Wyndham again today and the agent said there is no pre-set limit and they just have to check each set of dates individually for each property. I did notice that a set of dates with a rate below $350/nt before taxes and fees but an all in rate above $500/nt was not bookable.
Can you find this comment please and post a link here? This $500 price cap all in sounds new.
I can’t. It was a while ago. You should probably use the $500 after fees as a rough estimate and try to book those under the limit
I just booked another Vacasa stay using Wyndham points. Two bedrooms for three nights that would have been $2600 all in (averaged ~$700 / night pre fees and taxes, though one night was around $500 and the other two were around $800). Would never have paid $2600 for this, but for 81,000 points it’s a steal, especially with the ability to load up on Amazon GCs are 7-11. And the place has 4 bathrooms and a loft with 2 more beds (that doesn’t count as a bedroom). And it’s ski-in / ski-out for next February. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite deals now that I’m traveling with 2 kiddos.
Very much appreciate this write-up – I’ve come back to it a few times.
That’s an incredible deal! Thanks for sharing! What ski resort was this?
Beech Mountain in NC.
The cancellation policy seems terrible in a covid world. You can’t cancel once it’s less than 30 days? Huge risk.
I found a three bedroom that was listed at $1200 a night before fees. I crossed my fingers and called the booking number, but no such luck. The agent told me that property was not available for a rewards booking. She told me it was based on demand and pricing, but would not give me an exact number.
What about 3br under 1050 per night from previous DP limot? Or 3br is not available and YMMV .
Interesting data point. I booked the same, 2-bedroom Vacasa unit for two separate, 3-night stays. For one stay, the agent charged me exactly the number of points I expected. On the other stay, she charged me exactly half as much (as though it were a 1-bedroom unit). I’ve confirmed that she booked the correct, 2-bedroom unit for the correct, 3-day duration in each case.
This experience suggests to me that the debiting of Wyndham points and the securing of the Vacasa unit are not intrinsically linked (hence, perhaps, the need for an agent) in such a way that it is, evidently, possible for an agent to debit the incorrect number of points when completing a booking, FWIW.
I continue to get outstanding value from booking Vacasa units (even when the agent charges the correct number of points :-). Thanks, again, Greg and Nick!
Update: Wyndham emailed today to say they redeemed the wrong number of points for the booking, and they’ve now debited my account the correct number of points. Fair enough!
Thanks for the article on Vacasa. Have been looking online at places. My question: you mentioned a Wyndham earner credit card. I have the Wyndham Rewards CC from Barclays. Would this one earn the 10% discount? If so, how do you get the discount if you are paying with points?
It sounds like you have the old Wyndham card from before they came out with the “Earner” line of cards. You would have to apply new for an Earner card (or you might be able to product change to one) in order to get the discount. The discount is automatically applied when booking with points. See this post for more about the Earner cards: https://frequentmiler.com/new-wyndham-earner-credit-cards-review-surprisingly-strong/
Phone number listed not working for me anymore.
Thank Greg, I did my first booking today, 3 nights in a 2 bedroom in Montana at $680 ($340) a night. No issues and the place looks amazing. Now I just need to buy more gas to reload those points.
dont know why is so easy for everyone. i tried over a dozen listings of 1&2 BR in Hawaii for next month and none worked. this in spite of reps initially telling me they’re available – based on date/ # of bedrooms/ $ price per night.
Yikes. Maybe during the holidays the phone is staffed by people who don’t know how to book these. Just guessing. Can you wait until early January to try again?
plan to, but nervous as there is only 1 listing left on entire Kauai for that time frame.
Awesome!! Thanks for this deal!! Purchase 90K points for $845 (91K actually), snagged a 2 Bd in Breckenridge during ski season for 3 nights! Cash price was $2400 all in.
DP: The max $ per night on Saturday was $696 and worked. I checked another unit in the same complex that had a max of $710 on Saturday that wasn’t eligible. So the $350 per bedroom per night max is probably a safe bet. ($700 in the case of this 2bd)
Great DP, thanks!
update : no more online bookings.
From Lizzie: “To review/ cancel or book a Vacasa location(s) using your Wyndham Rewards points, you now just need to call 1-800-441-1034.
Monday – Friday 9am-11pm EST
Saturday – Sunday 9am – 6pm EST”
That’s correct. We updated this post a while ago to put in the new phone number and removed the email option
Greg, would it be possible to include the days and times for the phone number in the post? I wasn’t sure if they were available 24/7 so I called just now, not knowing that they wouldn’t be available, so including the days/times in the post would make it easier to refer to in the future.
FYI, the number you have listed is incorrect. I called and they referred me to 800-441-1034 which is the dedicated Vacasa Wyndham line. I was able to book a cabin with a base price of $344/night and an all-in price of $499/night for 13,500 points a night (with my 10% business card discount).
Thank you! I verified that number and updated the post.
Awesome award you booked!
After working with booking a 1 bedroom cabin, I would say the restrictions are at the $350 average night price. all cabins in the area were blacked out if average was over 350 per night. Was able to book one that had some nights at 364 and others lower- average price per night was 349.75(base price). Another cabin in the same complex was average 360 a night and could not be booked. Could be an interesting thought experiment to see if you could play around with length of stay to book a cabin that was really expensive a couple nights like the weekend, but cheap during the week. If that worked, then a 4 night stay might not work, but a 5 night might make it eligible by bringing the overall cost down. No time to try now, but have fun and try it out and report back.
If I want to book a 2 bed room property and pay 30K points, does that have to be available for $350 too or can it go up to $700 because of redeeming 30K? If the $350 limit applies for 2 bedroom property too, then its really hard to find and not much value using 30K points for a $350 room.
My bet is that it can go up to $700 but I haven’t tested this. If anyone has tried, please let us know!
Hi Greg, I don’t believe you addressed this in the article but I apologize if you did. Is the $325 per night maximum inclusive of all fees, or just the rental fee? Thanks.
The $325 or $350 cap is based only on the rental price, so the actual value you get from your points can be much more.
They no longer allow booking over email. Have to call. Called and booked this morning. Agent said I should receive an email in 10 minutes. It has been more than a few hours and still no email. Points were taken out of my wyndham account and the nights are gone for the property for cash on vacasa.com. Any idea how long it takes to get the confirmation/email? Need to book flights and running out of time lol
No, sorry, I don’t know.
Why do you say that they no longer allow booking over email? Did they tell you that when you tried?
Yep. Got a reply to my email that I have to call and cannot book over email anymore
That’s a bummer. Did they give you a specific phone number to call? And, did you ever get a confirmation email?
Just following up on this… Greg, did you ever hear back from anyone whether the $350 cap for “award availability” goes up $700 for a 2 bedroom? Also, just to be clear, when we talk about the “average price per night” in this context, whether it’s $350 or $325 (or perhaps $700), are we talking about the overall price–including taxes and fees?
Second question first:
1) When we talk about the limit being $325 or $350, we mean the average rate per night but not including taxes and fees. So the actual total cash rate can be higher.
2) We don’t know what the exact limit is on multiple bedrooms, but yes it was been proven that the limit is higher than $350 per night for a 2 bedroom rental.
Thanks!
This new information makes the Earner+ 4x grocery and 7500 annual points more interesting.
I spent 2.5 hours today trying to book, but I learned alot in the process. Hopefully this saves you some time. I’m pretty sure I spoke with every Wyndham department by the end! After speaking to 7 different agents(none who understood how to book) and being told to call 5 different numbers (or transfered) to 5 new different agents, I asked to speak with a supervisor (18669967937) You may have to push for that as the representative wasn’t too willing. According to the supervisor the process is that ANY representative can fill out a form ( with your info, dates desired, and name of property), which gets sent to a special department in Wyndham. Someone from that department then contacts you by email or phone to tell you if it’s available. Then you book it through them. Once I reached the supervisor the process was fast with very knowledgeable representatives. But save yourself the 2 hours of trying to explain to regular customer service what you need and ask for a supervisor. The supervisor told me that they are all supposed to know about the form…but in my experience that was not at all true. Hopefully this saves you some stress and time in your booking.
Thanks Rebecca. Did you try the phone number or email address listed in this post? I know that the email goes directly to someone who can book it for you and my understanding is that the phone number did the same
Hi Greg (Thanks for all you do, our family has travelled so well due to following your blog!). I did try the secret phone number listed in this post and it went to a voicemail. I left a message but no one called back. I ended up using the phone number listed on the Wyndham website under the “redeem points” listing for Vacasa. The “special department” they directed me to in the end is the SAME email that you posted in your post. They were VERY quick, and very knowledgeable once I was able to get to them. They even called me due to a complicated booking. The reason I called in the first place was that I had a complicated points issue/booking that was tough to describe over email. Everything went very quickly and efficiently once I reached the email (“special department”) so I suspect that emailing them directly would yield the same great results!
Fascinating and encouraging. Yet this “one bedroom” restriction (if I follow you) is a problem. Is that really how the pricing is structure? (15k per bedroom/per night?) We at first were excited to see so many Vacasa condos listed for a hoped for vacation in Hateras/Outer Banks end of April…. But looks like just about all of the available properties are two to ten bedrooms….. If they’re really charging 15,000 “per bedroom,” then all the condos in that area will be 30k/night…. (disappointing) Maybe all the 1 bedroom condos just not available so soon…. Thanks for the post.
Yep, that’s how they price them. Even at 30K, there are good 2 bedroom deals, but that might not be very meaningful if you don’t have a lot of Wyndham points.
Question for Greg…you wrote “Do Wyndham Earner cardholders get a 10% discount? Yes! Wyndham Earner cardholders get a 10% discount on award stays. As a result, they pay 13,500 points per bedroom per night. See: New Wyndham Earner credit cards review – Surprisingly strong.”
Do you know if this same discount would apply if we hold any of the “old” Barclaycard Wyndham credit cards (either with or without annual fee)?
I don’t think that the old Wyndham cards would trigger the discount, but I don’t know for certain.
I assume we can hold both an old card and a new Wyndham Earner card? Or would I need to PC from my no annual-fee card (I’ve had it for more than 3 years).
Hi Greg,
Can points be combined for family members?
Thanks for the great tips, Greg. I played around with bookings when you first announced but unable to find availability. I’ll keep looking now that there’s a system for when I actually do find something!
DP – I completed the $1k spend on my Rewards card on 11.12.20 & 45k points posted to my Wyndham acct on 12.8. That is probably the quickest Barclays/Wyndham has ever gotten to anything.
I’d feel a lot more thrilled with the new card if it earned 8x on timeshare HOA (rather than just Wyndham hotels), I’m still having to keep my old personal card for 5x (6k points/yr covers the AF at least + excellent promos thruout the yr). Wyndham handily removed that feature on yhe new cards without really pointing it out. But along the same vein, doubtful charges at Vacasa properties earn 8x either.
Meant to also include a DP that I applied for the Rewards card on 9.29.20, first day offered, & received my email acceptance 10.12.20, 2 weeks later.
Looks like a great deal! Do you know if wyndham points are earned on vacasa stays?
A negative DP: When I booked my condo in Maui, they told me that if you cancel within 30 days of stay, you lose 100% of your points.
Isn’t that exactly what I wrote?
My bad!
1 BR or 2? cost per night before taxes? am trying now to book but unsuccessful on every listing.
I live near The Sea Ranch, CA and was just there last weekend. Given I visit that location multiple times a year, this seemed very interesting….until I just looked on Vacasa for availability. No matter what date range I selected in 2021, there appears to be a 4 day minimum stay for Sea Ranch rentals. Do you know if that’s the case with points as well? If this article holds true, 15k points would be a FANTASTIC deal, but I’m doubtful this will stick and/or inventory will hold up long enough to get the card, meet requirements, get points, THEN book 3 nights. As much as I’d love to have a more or less free stay in Sea Ranch, I’d rather not be stuck with 45k Wyndham points and burn a 5/24 slot (unless I get the business card).
I’m sure that the four day minimum at Sea Ranch applies to points bookings as well (although I haven’t tried to confirm it). My assumption is that being allowed to book with cash is a minimum requirement to being able to book with points.
I highly recommend going for the business card. It has the best features of the Wyndham cards. You could then book a 4 night stay next year when the 15k anniversary points post
I’m totally with you on the card, but the million dollar question is whether or not they’ll even have the offer available by then and if so, if it will still be 15k per bd/nt given their language that “Free nights can require up to 30,000 points per bedroom at participating properties and are subject to availability.” I emailed Wyndham on availability and based on what they say, even purchasing 45k points via Points.com for $559 for a 4 night stay would be a steal.