Opportunity to Buy Miles at $0.008 in Your Choice of Airline Programs Thanks to Wyndham Rewards

A reader pointed out to me that Wyndham has a new promotion to highlight 20 of their new hotel properties, offering 16,000 points per stay as a bonus on top of the usual points earned. The bonus is valid on up to 3 stays through December 31, no registration required.

That promotion is stackable with Wyndham’s fall promotion (that does require registration) of 5500 bonus points on your second and fourth stays between September 26 and November 3026.

You’re thinking, the 16,000 point bonus applies at only 20 hotels and I’m not headed to Greensboro and really don’t want to stay at the Hawthorne Suites there anyway, right?

But according to the terms and conditions of Wyndham Rewards, no show stays earn points.

If the property requires a credit card for a reservation, the Member is a no-show, and the hotel charges his/her credit card for the first night of the no-show stay, the Member will receive points for such night as if he/she had stayed.

This has always been my experience as well. And some of the hotels on the list are really quite cheap.

I’m seeing the prepaid rate at the Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Orlando Altamonte Springs for $50.99, a total of $56.60 all-in with taxes.

So if you book 3 stays there — you don’t even have to show up — it will cost $169.80.

And you’ll earn:

  • 48,000 bonus points from the new hotel promotion
  • 5500 bonus points for on the second stay for the fall promotion
  • 1530 points for the cost of the rooms (10 points per dollar on the $51 base rate three times)

That’s 55,030 Wyndham Rewards points earned earned (and doesn’t factor that you will earn miles for your credit card spend).

And Wyndham Rewards points transfer at 2.5 to 1 airline mile (minimum of 8000 Wyndham points to transfer). So you earn 22,000 miles in your choice of airline program (per account, you can repeat this for each of your family members) at a cost of $0.0077 per mile.

Of course you can book free room nights with these points or move them into miles now or whenever you wish later (such as when you know what miles you need to top off an account, or if you need to drop a few miles into an account for ‘partner activity’ as part of a promotion or when there is a bonus for transferring hotel points into miles).

Wyndham’s points transfer partners are:

  • Aeromexico
  • Aeroplan
  • American
  • Amtrak
  • Delta
  • Frontier
  • Southwest
  • US Airways
  • United
  • Air Berlin
  • Czech
  • Saudia
  • China Southern
  • Air China
  • China Eastern
  • Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Club

That’s an interesting list since it includes some of the more obscure programs that don’t seem to partner with anyone else. Transfers from Wyndham to Hainan Airlines, for instasnce, can be especially useful for upgrades to business class on their Toronto or Seattle to Beijing flights.

I think it’s well worth transferring US Airways miles under the current share miles promotion, and this is about 40% less expensive and applies to a number of airline programs. So a very very good deal.

Register for Wyndham’s fall promotion then book three one-night stays at any of the participating new properties. Book the cheapest rate you can, and the points are supposed to post even though you don’t actually check-in.

Wyndham ran a similar promotion that ended October 6, the Deals We Like blog wrote about it and I’m not sure how I missed it. Hopefully this is a recurring offer for new hotel properties and we can buy miles inexpensively each time as a result.

Thanks, Wyndham!

Update: as far as which property to use for this promotion, Deals We Like emails me that the property in Orlando I suggest above “was canceling reservations for those who did not show up and not charging the credit card.” So another property might work better.

Update 2: The Salt Lake City property is a good one for cheap stays. Also I made a small calculation error in the number of points you receive, I noted that you earn 10 points per dollar spent on the base room rate — and that’s standard for the Wyndham Rewards program — but when you book a Hawthorne Suites property it is only 5 points. So calculate the number of points you want and if you need to jump over a threshold then consider booking a rate that includes 1000 bonus points.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  1. @Mariana — Did you get points for the stay itself initially, or did that too require a call/e-mail?

  2. @Chas were you able to register? I’m having the same issues as you with the “Register Now” button…

  3. I may just book the local (Raleigh) one, go check in and then check out on day 4 to avoid any roadblocks. Sweet!

  4. Re: “That’s 55,030 Wyndham Rewards points earned earned (and doesn’t factor that you will earn miles for your credit card spend).

    And Wyndham Rewards points transfer at 2.5 to 1 airline mile (minimum of 8000 Wyndham points to transfer).”

    Is it 8k minimum or 8k increments? My understanding is that you can redeem 48k, 56k, but nothing in between, which nullifies the bonus from the Fall promo unless you cross 56k. Anyone with knowledge of the matter? I can’t see the redemption rates as my balance is 0.

  5. Something to consider: if you intend to transfer the points to US Airways Dividend Miles, it might be worth waiting to see if US Airways runs another 50% bonus on points transferred from hotel programs. This deal would be even sweeter if it generated 33,000 miles.

  6. @flood

    I was able to do it eventually by clearing my browser cache, disabling add-ons like Adblock and Disconnect, then clicking “register now” with all the fields empty, then filling in the fields and clicking register now again. That said, I have no idea which of these steps solved the problem. 🙂

    I successfully created an account for a family member, but I’m now getting auto-generated duplicate account emails every minute or so (guessing for every time I tried to click the register now button before, but who knows)

  7. And to the folks asking about stranded Wyndham points that they can’t trnasfer to miles, what I didn’t put into the calculation is the 1000 point online booking bonus per stay..

  8. @Robert the terms and conditions say no shows earn points, you ask if it is POSSIBLE, sure I suppose they could violate their terms and conditions..!

  9. For those of you looking for a portal to go through:

    If you go to the Ultimate Rewards portal, it offers an extra 2 UR/$ on Days Inn. You can search for a location that is on the list and then in the results, check the box to show the appropriate brand that you’re looking for.

    So, that would be a total of 7 UR/$ if you’re using the Freedom card to book these.

  10. Like many of you, I took advantage of the last offer and received 48000 points. I used my Cap1 Venture Card to pay for the (no show) rooms and was able to use my Cap1 points to pay myself back for the cost. That means that I took approximately 20000 ($200 value) Cap1 points and turned them into 19200 airline miles of my choice. Not a bad way to cash in those points in my opinion!

  11. When I received my confirmation email it states:
    Rewards Number: Not Applicable
    Used For This Transaction: Not Applicable
    Remaining Balance: Not Applicable

    should I be worried if I am going to be a no show?

  12. Thank you for posting this!!!

    I see book a stay at any of the 20 participating properties at a *qualifying rate*, too.

    What does this “qualifying rate” mean?

    For Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Denver Tech Center, there is “Stay 3, and save 30%”, which ends up to be $142.09 for 3 nights (tried Nov.1 – 4)

    Does this “stay 3, and save 30%” rate count as a qualifying rate?

    Thank you!

  13. @Chaim

    “be careful– DO NOT book 3 nights at the same time–this will only count as one stay”

    Opppps, was going to book a three-night stay…

    Thank you for stating this! I didn’t know this…

  14. @john My e-mail has the account number and balance listed, but when I login and review the reservation, I also see Not Applicable.

  15. @Gary: “1000 point online booking bonus per stay..”

    I am quite unfamiliar with Wyndham so please excuse my ignorance and these two questions:
    1) Are you saying that each online booking earn 1,000 points in any case? and:
    2) is the 10x per $ applicable to any Wyndham rewards member, or is it some special offer?

    if the answer to my question 1) is yes then any 3 stay booking would earn at least 48+5.5+3 = 56.5k correct?

  16. I don’t know if this will work for people who’ve already done the promotion the last time; it didn’t show up on my WR page at all, though I could get the link through here.

  17. @redcat255. I got the points for the stay for the first stay in Florida automatically but not for the second one. I called Wyndham about it and they were very nice and responded that the promo will apply. For the second ‘stay’ I just emailed them and it worked.

  18. If i book the farmington hills, MI property for one night and the following night at Auburn hills, will that count as two stay or one?

  19. Great, I live 10 min from the Altamonte hotel LOL… Just booked 3 separate stays for next few weeks.

    Hope this goes through…

  20. IF it is possible, I am willing to check anyone into the hotel at Altamonte for $5 gas fee. ($15 total)

    Maybe my name must be on the reservation… not sure. And probably I can only check into one room per night…

  21. @john: I am getting the same thing (‘Not Applicable’). Not sure where to apply the rewards number (I did make sure to enter it when proceeding with the booking though!)

  22. @James Make sure you are logged in when you review the reservation on Wyndham.com. I was seeing Not Applicable before, but then I logged in and was able to see my Wyndham Rewards number and current points balance.

  23. @redcat255 thanks.

    @GARY and All: IMPORTANT HEADSUP. The Hawthorn Suites award 5 points per PRE tax dollar, not 10. Why is this important? Because it can make the difference when crossing the 56k mark.

    My recommended approach: 3 nights will yield say 3 x 5 x 50 = 750 pts.

    Bonus points will be 48 + 5.5

    Total so far is 54,250. That means that if you need to cross the 56k your best bet is to book 1 normal stay at best rates and 2 stays with the 1,000 bonus. This will ensure you cross 56,000.

    Perhaps the post should be amended Gary? In any case thanks for bringing this to us.

  24. does anyone know how long it takes for points to post to your account?

    I am planning a trip at end of Nov and want to make sure the Wyndham points will be in the account by that point.

    thanks

  25. @Marianna – you can transfer in 8K, 17.5K or 30K chunks. All at the same ratio. So regardless of how many points one ends up with it’s possible to get very close to transferring them all despite not having a multiple of 8.

  26. Seems like if you end up with 54k, you can still redeem 3x8k+30k. Also, there is a corporate code out there 8000000066 to get 20% off. Does anyone know if this is a “qualifying” rate?

  27. @Cylops12t and @ArizonaGuy: thanks for that, in this case it makes it much easier. Anyone will be at 54k w/ 3 stays during the fall promo no matter where they earn 5x or 10x. Total of 21,600 vs. 19,200 for the same price makes quite a difference, and one can dip under $0.80 per 100 mile that way.

  28. So if all works out, I should see a pending charge on my card tomorrow morning for one-night room and tax? Or does it take longer than that to hit your card?

  29. @smitty06: How long did it take for the points to post the last time? I know dealswelike said points posting is all over places but the more data points, the better… Thanks…

  30. The regular points from the stay posted after 2 weeks and the bonus points posted after 3 weeks. My stay was at the Illinois-Hoffman Estates

  31. Hi Gary,

    I just fully took advantage of the same offer which ended on Oct 6. I got the points without problems.(See Lucky’s post http://boardingarea.com/onemileatatime/2012/08/15/potentially-very-lucrative-mileage-opportunity-courtesy-of-wyndham-promotion/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boardingarea%2Fonemileatatime+%28One+Mile+at+a+Time%29).

    I am wondering if this one is the same one as that in Lucky’s post. May be it is just with the extended promotion period? If this was the case, I may be not able to get the points again as it was up to 3 stays.

  32. Hi all,

    I booked my 3 stayed at different location and got confirmation email However, it shows like this.

    Rewards Number:12XXXXXXXG
    Used For This Transaction: Not Applicable
    Remaining Balance: 500

    My Rewards number was there without any problem and I also could see my point balance. However, the category ‘Used for this transaction’ recognized as ‘Not Applicable’.

    I was not in this promo in round 1, so what it means ‘Not Applicable’ in my case? I booked with best rate, so I can cancel it if I’m not eligible with this promo. Thanks for your help!!

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