Wyndham Rewards Earner® Plus Credit Card Review

The Wyndham Rewards Earner® Plus Card is a hotel rewards credit card with a $75 annual fee. It has a relatively simple rewards program that favors cardholders who frequently stay at Wyndham hotel and resort properties. 

Although it’s not necessarily as well known as competitors such as Hilton and Marriott, Wyndham is a huge hospitality company with more than a dozen brands represented across thousands of hotel and resort properties. Popular Wyndham names include Microtel, Howard Johnson, Travelodge, Super 8, Wyndham Grand, TRYP, and Dolce.

Whenever you swipe your Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus Card, you earn Wyndham Rewards points, Wyndham’s loyalty currency. You generally need at least 7,500 points to redeem for a completely free night at the most budget-friendly Wyndham properties. However, if you’re willing to fork over some cash to make up the difference, you cash redeem for discounted stays with just 1,000 Wyndham Rewards points. 

Wyndham offers other redemption options, including airfare and merchandise, but at lower point values than redemptions at Wyndham properties. And, like many travel rewards cards, Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus has a fairly generous sign-up bonus worth up to four free nights.

Key Features

These are the key features of the Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus card.

Sign-Up Bonus

This card’s two-part sign-up bonus offers up to 90,000 bonus Wyndham Rewards points. That’s good for up to 12 free nights at participating Wyndham properties.

Here’s how it works:

• Earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days.
• Earn 30,000 additional bonus points after spending a total of $2,000 on purchases in the first six months.

Earning Wyndham Rewards

Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus earns unlimited 6 Wyndham Rewards points for every $1 spent at Wyndham hotel and resort properties, and on qualifying gas purchases as well.

Eligible dining and grocery store purchases earn unlimited 4 points per $1 spent. Purchases made at Target and Walmart aren’t included in this category. 

All other eligible purchases earn 1 point per $1 spent, excluding Wyndham Timeshare resort down payments.

Redeeming Wyndham Rewards

Wyndham Rewards points can be redeemed for free nights (Go Free awards) at any participating Wyndham property — virtually every property in the portfolio, save for a handful of extremely high-end resort properties. 

Wyndham has three redemption tiers for full award night redemptions: 7,500 points, 15,000 points, and 30,000 points to earn a free room night. Higher-quality properties generally occupy the two higher rungs of the redemption ladder.

Importantly, Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus cardholders always qualify for a 10% redemption credit on Go Free award nights. That means a 15,000-point redemption requires just 13,500 net points.

To redeem points even faster, you can combine 1,000 points and a variable amount of cash (Go Fast awards) for a free night at participating Wyndham properties. Low-end properties such as Days Inn and Super 8 require less cash, while high-end properties such as Wyndham Grand and the company’s all-inclusive resorts require upwards of $150 per night. 

Non-Wyndham Redemption Options

Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus cardholders can also take advantage of some non-Wyndham redemption options. These include general merchandise, airfare, gift cards, magazines, and rental cars. Redemption minimums vary widely by redemption type and may not be available at all times.

Automatic Wyndham Rewards Platinum Membership

Cardholders in good standing automatically qualify for Wyndham Rewards Platinum Membership, whose benefits include a higher point-earning rate on paid stays, early check-in, late checkout, preferred room selection where available, and upgrades on Avis and Budget car rentals.

Anniversary Bonus

As long as your account remains open and in good standing, you receive 7,500 Wyndham Rewards points after your cardmember anniversary. That’s enough for one free night at participating Wyndham properties.

Introductory APR

Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus cardholders enjoy 0% APR on Wyndham timeshare purchases made within six months of account opening. However, there is no intro APR on regular purchases.

Additionally, cardholders who complete balance transfers within 45 days of account opening pay no interest for 15 months from account opening.

Additional Travel Benefits

Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus has some additional travel benefits, including complimentary rental car insurance, travel emergency assistance for travelers stranded far from home, and the best available rate on bookings with participating Wyndham properties.

General Benefits

This card has some useful nontravel benefits. These include:

• Purchase protection, which provides cardholders with redress — usually replacement or reimbursement — for lost, stolen, and damaged purchases
• Return protection, which compensates cardholders when merchants refuse to accept returned items

Important Fees

This card has a $75 annual fee. There is no foreign transaction fee.

Credit Required

This card requires good to excellent credit.

Advantages

These are the top advantages of the Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus card.

1. Good Intro Deal for Balance Transfers. The Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus card has an unusually generous 0% APR balance transfer promotion. It’s good for 15 months from account opening. That’s longer than virtually any other travel card’s balance transfer promotion. In fact, most travel rewards cards lack balance transfer promotions altogether. If you’re in the market for a card that gets you closer to free hotel stays and helps with existing high-interest credit card balances, this is one to watch.
2. Solid Sign-Up Bonus. Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus’ sign-up bonus totals 90,000 points, enough for up to 12 Go Free award nights. It’s also super attainable, with just $2,000 in total spending required during the first six months. 
3. Straightforward Rewards Program. Compared to many hotel rewards programs, which can have confusing tiers and restrictions, Wyndham Rewards is pretty easy to grasp. You always need at least 7,500 points for a totally free night, no matter where you’re redeeming. This makes it a lot easier to plan free and paid travel ahead of time.
4. Automatic Wyndham Rewards Platinum Membership. Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus cardholders automatically qualify for Platinum status, whose benefits include a higher point-earning rate on paid stays, early check-in, late checkout, preferred room selection where available, and upgrades on Avis and Budget car rentals.
5. Excellent Value on High-End Hotel Redemptions. Wyndham Rewards offers excellent redemption values at higher-end and all-inclusive properties, whose nightly rates can easily exceed $300 and often range much higher. By contrast, most other hotel credit cards require vastly more points for high-end room redemptions — sometimes 10 or 20 times as many — relative to their cheapest options. That can severely impact their points’ redemption value. With a little foresight, you can increase the value of your Wyndham Rewards — and offset this card’s annual fee — by earning points at low-end properties and redeeming at pricier hotels and resorts.
6. Wyndham Has Tons of Participating Properties. Wyndham’s portfolio has nearly 8,000 properties. That’s more than some competitors with superior name recognition, such as Marriott. With so many properties in the Wyndham arsenal, you’re likely to find plenty of choices — and plenty of earning and redemption options — wherever you go.
7. Anniversary Bonus Offers a Nice Boost Each Year. This card’s 7,500-point anniversary bonus is enough to cover the entire cost (in points) of a free night award at the lowest-tier Wyndham properties. Many competing cards don’t bother with anniversary bonuses at all.
8. Wyndham Rewards Points Don’t Expire Under Normal Circumstances. As long as you earn or redeem points within an 18-month period, your points remain active indefinitely.
9. No Penalty APR. Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus never charges penalty interest. If you sometimes miss payments due to liquidity issues, this is a big relief. Most penalty APRs remain in effect indefinitely. Note that missing payments may still hurt your credit score.

Disadvantages

These are the most noteworthy drawbacks of the Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus card.

1. Annual Fee. This card has a $75 annual fee. For frugal and infrequent travelers, that’s a big drawback relative to the no-annual-fee version of this card — which offers similar but less generous benefits — as well as to fee-free travel rewards cards such as the Expedia+ Card from Citi.
2. Non-Wyndham Redemptions Have Poor Value. There’s little reason to redeem your Wyndham Rewards points for anything other than free or reduced nights at Wyndham properties, unless you’ve accumulated more points than you can realistically use. However, if that’s the case, this might not be the best card for you anyway. Non-Wyndham redemptions generally value points at less than $0.005 apiece, far lower than typical Wyndham redemption values. What’s more, many competing cards, including Chase Sapphire Preferred, let you transfer your accumulated points to other travel loyalty programs at 1-to-1 ratios. That lets you shop around for points and redemption options that maximize the value of your travel spending.

Final Word

The Wyndham Rewards Earner® Plus Card is a reasonably priced travel rewards card made for people who regularly stay at hotels and resorts in the Wyndham family. 

If you can earn enough points to offset the $75 annual fee and travel frequently enough to at least redeem your 7,500-point anniversary bonus each year, you’ll find this card a solid addition to your travel spending repertoire.