Wyndham Earner credit cards review: Surprisingly strong

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Barclays and Wyndham recently unveiled three new “Wyndham Earner” rewards credit cards.  While I don’t consider any of them to be “must have” cards, they’re better than I expected and I’m actually kind of excited about the business card…

a laptop on a table

Those who want a nice welcome bonus plus the ability to save 10% off award stays will do well with the fee-free Wyndham Rewards Earner Card.  Many will find the $95 business card more attractive because it includes the same 10% discount plus 15,000 bonus points each anniversary and Wyndham Diamond status which matches to Caesar’s Diamond status.  The $75 Wyndham Rewards Earner Card is less attractive, in my opinion, because it offers only 7,500 points each anniversary and Wyndham Platinum status.  If you have the ability to pay $20 more per year for the business card, I think it’s totally worth it.

What if you aren’t interested in staying at Wyndham properties?  How about staying in vacation rentals instead?  Wyndham makes it possible to book vacation rentals with points in multiple ways.  The best value option at the moment is undoubtedly Vacasa Vacation Rentals.  See this post for full details: Wyndham Vacasa: Great Value is Real!

Here’s my review of the three Wyndham Earner cards:

Perks available to all three Wyndham Rewards Earner cards

Go Free Faster (10% award discount)

Cardholders automatically get a 10% discount on free night (Go Free) awards.  Normally, free nights cost either 7.5K, 15K, or 30K per night.  With this discount, free nights will cost 6.75K, 13.5K, or 27K per night.

Note that this sounds similar to the 10% rebate on the JetBlue cards and on the old IHG Club card, but it’s better than that because it’s not a rebate but a discount — with Wyndham you get a discount at the time of booking so you do not need to have the full points in your account the way you do with JetBlue or IHG.

Cardmember Rate (paid stay discount)

Cardholders save 7% or 12% off the Best Available Rate, depending upon the property. This is slightly better than the Member Rate which is either a 5% or 10% discount off the Best Available Rate.

No foreign transaction fees

That’s good!

Wyndham Rewards Earner Card

Card Offer and Details
75K points after $2K spend in first 6 months
No Annual Fee
Recent better offer: None, this is best we've seen.
FM Mini Review: Sign up for the bonus. Keep for the 10% award discount.
Earning rate: ✦ 5X Wyndham & gas ✦ 2X restaurants & grocery ✦ 1X everywhere else
Base: 1X (0.88%)
Dine: 2X (1.76%)
Gas: 5X (4.4%)
Grocery: 2X (1.76%)
Brand: 5X (4.4%)
Card Info: Visa Signature or Platinum issued by Barclays. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees.
Big spend bonus: 7,500 points each anniversary year after $15K spend
Noteworthy perks: Gold status ✦ 10% discount on free night awards ✦ Cardmember discount on paid stays ✦ No foreign transaction fees

Review Summary: Sign up for the bonus. Keep for the 10% free night discount.

For a fee-free consumer card, this one offers a very good welcome bonus (at least at the time of this writing it does) and it’s worth keeping for the 10% discount on free night awards.  I wouldn’t necessarily recommend spending $15K per year to get the 7,500 point bonus, but it does have strong earnings (5X) at gas stations and Wyndham properties.

Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus Card

Card Offer and Details
100K Points ⓘ Non-Affiliate
100K points after $2K spend in first 6 months
$75 Annual Fee
Recent better offer: None, this is best we've seen.
FM Mini Review: Not bad, but the business version is better.
Earning rate: 6X Wyndham & gas ✦ 4X restaurants & grocery ✦ 1X everywhere else
Base: 1X (0.88%)
Dine: 4X (3.52%)
Gas: 6X (5.28%)
Grocery: 4X (3.52%)
Brand: 6X (5.28%)
Card Info: Visa Signature or Platinum issued by Barclays. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees.
Noteworthy perks: 7,500 points each anniversary year ✦ Platinum status ✦ 10% discount on free night awards ✦ Cardmember discount on paid stays ✦ No foreign transaction fees

Review Summary: Decent card, but most would be better off with free version or business version.

If the business card didn’t exist, I’d say that this card was worth considering for Wyndham fans.  The annual 7,500 point bonus is almost enough to offset the card’s $75 annual fee (at our Reasonable Redemption Value of 0.82 cents per point, 7,500 points is worth $61.50) and if you stay in Wyndham or Caesar’s properties often enough, Platinum status may be valuable.  The card also has slightly better earnings at gas stations and Wyndham properties than the free card (6X instead of 5X).  That said, if you find 7,500 points and Platinum status valuable, you should be willing to pay $20 more per year for for the business card in order to get 15,000 points and Diamond status.  Plus, the business card offers 8X rewards at gas stations and Wyndham properties!

Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Card

Card Offer and Details
100K Points ⓘ Non-Affiliate
50K after after $4K spend in first 90 days, additional 50K after a total of $15K spend in first year
$95 Annual Fee
Recent better offer: None, this is best we've seen.
FM Mini Review: Excellent earning rate at gas stations and Wyndham hotels. Diamond status plus 15K annual bonus makes this card a keeper.
Earning rate: 8X Wyndham & gas ✦ 5X marketing, advertising, and utilities (telecommunications, cable, satellite, electric, gas, heating oil and water) ✦ 1X everywhere else
Base: 1X (0.88%)
Gas: 8X (7.04%)
Phone: 5X (4.4%)
Biz: 5X (4.4%)
Brand: 8X (7.04%)
Other: 5X (4.4%)
Card Info: Visa Signature issued by Barclays. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees.
Noteworthy perks: 15,000 points each anniversary year ✦ Diamond status ✦ 10% discount on free night awards ✦ Cardmember discount on paid stays ✦ No foreign transaction fees

Review Summary: Surprisingly strong for gas station spend. This one is a keeper.

Dare I say that this card is almost exciting?  Let’s look at the features that make it well worth the $95 annual fee:

15K annual point bonus: Our Reasonable Redemption Value for Wyndham points is 0.82 cents per point, so we value 15K points at $123 per year.  In other words, I’d be happy to pay $95 per year for 15,000 points because I should be able to get at least $123 value from those 15,000 points (but would likely get much more value).  As a general rule, I always prefer earning points rather than free night certificates with hotel credit cards. Unlike free night certificates, points don’t expire after only one year (Wyndham points do expire 4 years after acquisition though!) and points are more flexible: You can use 15,000 points for 2 cheap 7.5K nights, 1 mid-tier 15K night, or towards a top-tier 30K night (by combining with other points).  Plus, thanks to the 10% free night discount, you’ll have points left over for the next stay.

Wyndham Diamond status: Wyndham offers some perks exclusively to those with Diamond status such as suite upgrades (including on free nights), welcome amenity, and ability to gift Gold status to others.  Even better, Wyndham Diamond status freely matches to Caesar’s Diamond which offers perks like waived resort fees, free $100 Celebration dinner (read Nick’s Celebration Dinner trip report here), and much more.  Wyndham Diamond status is a more important perk than it was in the past because Wyndham has stopped offering status matches from other hotel chains.

Strong earnings for gas station purchases, Wyndham hotels, and utilities: This card offers 8X rewards at gas stations and Wyndham properties!  With our Reasonable Redemption Value of 0.82 cents per point, that’s like a 6.56% rebate (which is excellent).  The card also earns 5X for marketing, advertising, and utilities (utility purchases are defined as telecommunications services, cable, satellite, electric, gas, heating oil and water).

Extra bonus at Marathon & Arco gas stations: If you sign up for Marathon Make it Count Rewards, you can save money & earn extra rewards in addition to the 8 points per dollar you’ll earn with your Wyndham card.  See: Wyndham Rewards — Save 10c per gallon at Marathon / Arco.

Visa Savings Edge: Visa Savings Edge is a card-linked program for business Visa cards.  By enrolling and linking your Wyndham business card, you can earn additional cash back on top of the strong rewards the card already offers. Visa Savings Edge offers automatic rebates for purchases with certain merchants including:

  • Wyndham Hotels: Get 4% to 5% back depending on the brand.  This means you can earn 8X Wyndham points plus up to 5% cash back at Wyndham hotels!
  • Chevron: Get 2% back.  This means you can earn 8X Wyndham points plus 2% cash back at Chevron gas stations!  Unfortunately it looks like this rebate is no longer available.

Do you think you’ll apply for any of the Wyndham Rewards Earner Cards?

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