Wyndham Is Changing Back Its Loyalty Program to Be More Like Everyone Else’s
Does this mean that Wyndham’s experiment in creating a simple, straightforward loyalty program for the everyday traveler failed? Maybe, but not necessarily. It just means that there are some laws in travel loyalty programs that are there for a reason.
In 2015, Wyndham retooled its loyalty program to be simpler and more straightforward and to appeal to what the company often referred to as "the everyday traveler." The highlight of this new program would be a radical departure from what every other hotel loyalty program did (and still does): Instead of having multiple redemption tiers or categories for certain hotel brands, there would be a single 15,000-point redemption to stay at any hotel within the Wyndham portfolio of brands.
This meant that 15,000 points earned by staying at a Days Inn or Super 8 could be used toward a free night at a Wyndham Grand or a Howard Johnson — and vice versa. It meant that the most expensive hotels in the program were cheaper to earn free nights for, and the least expensive hotels were now more expensive.
In short, it was an easy-to-understand, flat-rate redemption model that didn't require a masters' degree in loyalty points strategy, and it was designed to appeal to the non-Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) or Marriott Rewards or Hilton Honors elites — even if, at one point, Wyndham tried to woo those SPG members, if unsuccessfully.
