Wyndham Rewards® Earner℠ Card
Rewards rate
1X–5XAnnual fee
$0Intro offer
30,000 pointsRegular APR
16.49%, 20.74% or 25.74% variableRecommended Credit Score
Good to Excellent (670 - 850)Wyndham Rewards® Earner℠ Card review
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Snapshot
2.6
Wyndham Rewards Earner Card Overview
One of the major barriers to a family vacation is finding the right hotel. Although hotel credit cards often promise big rewards, the reality of complex reward charts and finding dates can make those dreams evaporate quickly.
This is where the Wyndham Rewards Earner Card excels. With a three-tier award chart, a generous sign-up bonus and practical bonus categories, this card seeks to make travel accessible for families. With Wyndham’s focus on resort and vacation destinations, this card can help you get the right-size room at a price you can afford.
The Wyndham Rewards Earner Card is a Barclays credit card, which means you will need good to excellent credit to qualify for this good credit card offer. But with no annual fee and unlimited points earning every year, the points make this card very worthwhile.
What are the pros and cons?
Pros
- No annual fee
- Unlimited points earning in bonus categories
- Easy-to-understand award chart with two reward options
Cons
- Welcome bonus is smaller than other cards in the category
- Award nights can be difficult to find, depending on the destination
- Wyndham Rewards points don’t cover resort fees
A deeper look at the current card offer
Quick highlights
- Rewards rate: Earn 5X points per dollar on eligible purchases made at Hotels by Wyndham as well as on qualifying gas purchases; 2X points per dollar on eligible dining and grocery purchases (excluding Target and Walmart); 1X point per dollar on all other purchases (excluding Wyndham Timeshare resort down payments)
- Welcome offer: Earn 30,000 bonus points, enough for up to 4 free nights after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days
- Annual fee: $0
- Balance transfer intro APR: Enjoy a 0 percent introductory APR for 15 months on balance transfers made within 45 days of account opening
- Regular APR: 15.74 percent, 19.99 percent or 24.99 percent (variable) based on your credit worthiness
Current welcome offer
Under the current Wyndham Rewards Earner Card welcome bonus, qualified cardholders can earn 30,000 bonus Wyndham Rewards points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days. Compared to other hotel cards, the Wyndham Rewards Earner Card offers one of the lowest spending requirements to earn a sign-up bonus.
The value in the sign-up bonus depends on where you use those points. The Wyndham Rewards reward chart has three tiers, with free rooms available at 7,500 points per night, 15,000 points per night or 30,000 points per night. If you are traveling with family and staying at a lower-tier hotel—think Days Inn, Howard Johnson, TraveLodge, or Super 8—the sign-up bonus points can extend to up to four free nights.
Although this is a generous bonus, one of the noted downsides of Wyndham Rewards is the lack of reward night availability across their properties. One way to get around this is to use their cash-and-points Go Fast rewards, which only requires one-fifth of the points to get a discount on room nights.
Rewards
With refreshed bonus categories to reflect where families spend the most, the Wyndham Rewards Earner Card offers regular opportunities to earn a lot of points for routine spending.
Earning Wyndham Rewards points
Spending on the Wyndham Rewards Earner Card earns 5 points per $1 on hotels by Wyndham and qualifying gas purchases. The card also earns 2 points per $1 spent on dining and grocery purchases (excluding Target and Walmart) and 1 point per $1 everywhere else.
The bonus category is generously skewed to families looking to earn points toward a future vacation. What makes it even better is that there is no limit to the points you can earn in each category throughout the year.
Redeeming Wyndham Rewards points
Wyndham Rewards points are arguably the easiest to use, because there are only three award categories: 7,500 points per night, 15,000 points per night and 30,000 points per night. To redeem points, log in to your Wyndham Rewards account, search for the hotel you want and pay with points or a combination of points and cash.
The 30,000-point category includes some of Wyndham’s best properties, including suites at Dolce Hotels and Resorts, Wyndham Grand resorts or the Trademark Collection by Wyndham. For families who need extra room for traveling with little ones, Wyndham Rewards points can be an easy gateway to stress-free hotel nights.
How much are points worth?
On average, Wyndham Rewards points are worth 0.6 cents per point. However, your ultimate value is determined by how you use the points. If you use points for large rooms or suites at resort properties, your per-point value will be significantly greater compared to the lesser award categories. At a top-tier category of 30,000 points per night, it’s relatively easy to find good rewards options when award space is available.
Other cardholder perks
Travel credit cards are valuable for their benefits, and the Wyndham Rewards Earner Card is no different. Cardholders immediately get upgraded to Gold elite status by holding the card and get a discount when they use their points for award nights.
Automatic Wyndham Rewards Gold level benefits
Normally given after members stay three nights, Wyndham Rewards Earner cardholders get Gold status for free just by opening the card. Benefits of Gold elite membership include a dedicated member service line, preferred room choice at check-in (subject to availability) and a late checkout where available during qualified stays.
Annual cardmember bonus
Cardholders can earn an additional 7,500 bonus points on their anniversary every year when they spend $15,000 on eligible purchases. That’s enough for one free night at a low-tier hotel or it can go toward one night at a high-tier hotel with a cash-and-points award.
Cardmember booking discounts
At select hotels, cardmembers can take advantage of a better price than their published “Best Available Rate.” The discount varies between properties.
10 percent discount on Go Free Award Nights
When booking award travel, cardholders get a 10 percent Wyndham Rewards points discount when redeeming Wyndham Rewards Points for Go Free awards. This means low-tier hotels cost 6,750 points per night, mid-tier hotels cost 13,500 points per night and high-tier hotels cost 27,000 points per night.
Rates and fees
What makes the Wyndham Rewards Earner Card an anomaly among travel rewards credit cards is the lack of fees. This translates to even more gains for cardholders over time.
- Annual fee: The card features a $0 annual fee. If you can pay off the balance each month, your spending will turn into pure gains toward a future hotel stay.
- APR: Depending on your creditworthiness, you will be charged one of three variable APR rates for purchases: 15.74 percent, 19.99 percent or 24.99 percent. If you decide to buy into a Wyndham Timeshare, you can get a 0 percent intro promotional APR for six billing cycles.
- Foreign transaction fee: One of the key benefits of the Wyndham Rewards card is that there are no foreign transaction fees.
- Balance transfer fee: Another major advantage of this card is the introductory balance transfer promotion. New cardholders can get a 0 percent introductory APR for 15 billing cycles on balance transfers made within 45 days of opening the account (15.74 percent, 19.99 percent or 24.99 percent variable APR thereafter). Your transfer fee for each transfer is the greater of $5 or 3 percent of the transfer amount.
How the Wyndham Rewards Earner Card compares to other hotel credit cards
While the Wyndham Rewards Earner Card may be among the best deals for hotel credit cards, there are other options with no annual fee to consider. Other cards in the category may offer a higher sign-up bonus or more points per dollar in bonus categories.
Two alternatives you may want to consider are the Hilton Honors American Express Card and the Choice Privileges® Visa Signature® Card:
Wyndham Rewards® Earner℠ Card
Annual fee
$0Intro offer
30,000 pointsRewards rate
1X–5XRecommended credit
Good to Excellent(670 - 850)
Hilton Honors American Express Card
Annual fee
$0Intro offer
Earn 100,000 pointsRewards rate
3X–7XRecommended credit
Good to Excellent(670 - 850)
Choice Privileges® Visa Signature® Card
See Rates & Fees, Terms Apply
Annual fee
$0Intro offer
50,000 pointsRewards rate
15 points–5 pointsRecommended credit
Best cards to pair with the Wyndham Rewards Earner Card
The best pair to the Wyndham Rewards Earner Card is the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, because of the flexibility cardholders get from the bonus miles. Earn 2X miles on all purchases, which can be used in a couple of different ways. You can also transfer your miles to Wyndham Rewards for Wyndham Rewards points. The Capital One Venture Rewards comes with a $95 annual fee, but this could be offset quickly with a free stay at a Wyndham hotel or resort.
Those who want to avoid paying annual fees entirely can also consider the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card. Although you will only earn 1.25X miles on all purchases, the lack of an annual fee means cardholders can take advantage of pure gains for all their spending.
The Wyndham Rewards Earner Card can easily pair with any airline rewards or cash back credit card to cover all of your potential travel costs. The Discover it® Cash Back, for example, earns 5 percent cash back (after activation) on rotating categories each quarter (up to $1,500 in purchases, then 1 percent), allowing you to build rewards in even more areas toward your next trip.
Bankrate’s Take—Is the Wyndham Rewards Earner Card worth it?
With a footprint focused on vacation destinations and resort cities, the Wyndham Rewards Earner Card is a great option for families who want to spend toward their next vacation. Wyndham Rewards has an easy-to-understand award chart and multiple ways to turn points into discounted nights, making this a prime contender among travel cards with no annual fee.
The information about the Wyndham Rewards® Earner℠ Card and Choice Privileges® Visa Signature® Card has been collected independently by Bankrate.com. The card details have not been reviewed or approved by the card issuer.
For rates and fees of the Hilton Honors American Express card, please click here.
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