Bottom Line

If you plan to get a Wyndham-specific card, we recommend the Wyndham Rewards Earner Business card or the Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus card before the Wyndham Rewards Earner card. If you’re new to points and miles, you may be drawn to the no annual fee on this card, along with a 30,000-point sign-up bonus for a low spending requirement of $1,000 in 90 days. However, once you look more closely, the benefits on the other two cards—both of which have annual fees—are worth it because they come with higher sign-up bonuses. If you want to keep a Wyndham card beyond the first year, it’s a clear choice to go with one of the other cards that offers anniversary bonuses without additional spending requirements.

Why You Might Want This Card

For a no annual fee card, the 30,000-point sign-up bonus on the Wyndham Rewards Earner credit card is appealing, especially since free nights can cost as few as 6,750 points (the base level at Wyndham is 7,500 points, and you can redeem 10% fewer points for free nights). This means the sign-up bonus alone could get you up to four free nights, and you only need to spend $1,000 in the first 90 days. The card also has decent earning rates, with 5x points on Wyndham and gas purchases, plus 2x points on dining and groceries. You receive automatic Wyndham Gold Status as well.

They advertise 7,500 bonus points on your anniversary, but you must spend $15,000 to qualify. That $15,000 could be far more valuable if put toward other cards with better sign-up bonuses, so that perk is weak.

Exceptions To The Rule

Here are some exceptions where the card might not be good for you:

• You want to keep the card beyond the first year, but the Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus and Business cards have better benefits (despite their annual fees).
  
• You already have one or more hotel-specific cards and don’t have room for another.
  
• You prefer other hotel brands over Wyndham.
  
• You find Wyndham Gold status less valuable than complimentary statuses offered by other hotel cards.

About Wyndham Rewards

Wyndham may not be Mr. Popular during lunch period, but its subtle redemption program holds a mysterious appeal. Earn points through the Wyndham Visa cards, which are both very simple to understand, options include a 15,000 or a 30,000 welcome bonus, using your cards to get gas, pay utility or buy groceries gets you 2x point per $1 on both cards and with the annual fee card you get extra, thank you anniversary points every year. As for transferring, thankfully Capital One has added them in with a transfer rate of 2:1.5, as a nice option if you're short on points. Redemption time is as simple as 1, 2, 3, because those are the tiers, hotels at 7,500, 15,000 or 30,000 points. Also, look into a discounted “go fast” night where you can book a room for low points + cash, this option generously stretches your points and caters entirely to us, the customers. Wyndham offers over 9,000 hotels worldwide, including all-inclusive vacation club resorts and vacation rentals all bookable with points, so while it’s sometimes disregarded, we think Wyndham rewards has definitely grown into a very attractive option.

Where Wyndham Rewards Earner Fits In This Point Ecosystem

Wyndham offers three credit cards, and the Wyndham Rewards Earner card is the least appealing of the three. Its biggest selling point is that it doesn’t have an annual fee, but we believe the other two cards are worth their relatively low annual fees.

Both the Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus and the Wyndham Rewards Earner Business cards come with 45,000-point sign-up bonuses. The spending requirement for the business card is $3,000 (and a $95 annual fee), compared to $1,000 for the Earner Plus. Along with higher sign-up bonuses, both cards offer anniversary bonus points without additional spending requirements—15,000 bonus points each year for the Business card (vs. its $95 annual fee) and 7,500 bonus points for the Earner Plus (vs. a $75 fee). The Wyndham Rewards Earner card requires spending $15,000 to earn an anniversary bonus.

You’ll also receive better status with the other two cards: Diamond Status on the Business card and Platinum Status on the Earner Plus, along with higher points multipliers.

Personal Experience