Wyndham Rewards has been sort of like the gang that couldn’t shoot straight, for instance the Starwood account balance match offer they cancelled and the highly limited availability 89% discount on redemptions that their customer service agents knew nothing about.

However they’ve become really lucrative at the same time. They introduced elite benefits a year ago, and new benefits on award nights. An award redemption costs 15,000 points per night regardless of property, and that now includes timeshares and individual homes.

Firestone Estate Vacation Rental Palm Springs, credit: Wyndham

For people who travel to places without significant chain presence, or prefer to stay in unique residential accommodations, they have one of the best deals going at ‘15,000 points per bedroom per night’. Those with legacy Wydnham co-brand credit cards that earn 2 points per dollar spent get an amazing deal.

Wyndham Rewards Now Partners With Caesars Total Rewards

Starwood and Caesars ended their partnership with just two weeks’ notice and the end of 2016. To show just how strange the lodging world can be, Starwood Hotels and Resorts actually owned Caesars in the 90s.

Now Caesars and Wyndham have launched a tie-in.

Copyright: quackersnaps / 123RF Stock Photo

Platinum and Diamond members in each program receive the same status in the other program. (Caesars Seven Stars members get Wyndham Diamond as well.) Status matches between the two programs are available here. Total Rewards elite benefits are here.

They’re also going to be introducing one-to-one points transfers between programs (up to 30,000 points per year) and earn and burn late in the summer. (15,000 Wyndham points will book a capacity controlled Caesars room night.)

Participating properties on the Caesars side are Nobu Hotel at Caesars Palace; Bally’s Las Vegas; Caesars Palace Las Vegas; The Cromwell Las Vegas; Harrah’s Las Vegas; Flamingo Las Vegas; Rio; Paris Las Vegas; Planet Hollywood.

Wyndham Launching a Soft Brand – Trademark Collection

Hotel chains have been looking to grow, because more hotels under management mean more management fees. And since a plurality of hotels in the world are independent and may be reluctant to either make the investment to conform to a brand’s standards or to join a conversion brand global chains have offered a low cost path into participation: soft brands or un-brands. For example Starwood has Tribute, Hyatt has Unbound Collection, Hilton has Tapestry.

Wyndham is launching its own ‘un-brand’, The Trademark Hotel Collection. My question though is since the participating properties won’t have anything in common except Wyndham Rewards, what is there to trademark? You’d think it would be closer to The Open Source Hotel Collection.

They claim “more than 50 hotels and interested owners of both existing hotels and new construction opportunities in top urban markets around the world.” Interested owners means they don’t have significant firm plans. The Trademark Collection will focus on independent hotels a notch down from the other soft brands — “upper midscale and above” versus luxury and upscale.

What soft brands do for customers is give them more hotels where they can earn and redeem points. And it’s the loyalty program that’s the platform of consistency and the marketing driver bringing chain customers to participating properties, just as Marriott will use its loyalty program to drive customers to 30 brands (post-Starwood acquisition) rather than any sort of logical brand differentiation.