Wyndham Fails to Make a Play for Starwood Loyalty Members
Photo Credit: A promotional still featuring the Wyndham Rewards Wyzard. Wyndham Hotel Group attempted to make a bold play for SPG members with its latest promotion but had to cancel it after they realized there was room for fraud. Wyndham Worldwide / Wyndham Hotel Group
Skift Take
If Wyndham had succeeded in luring away SPG members who aren't necessarily elite or top-tier-level members, that would have been a big win for the company, whose portfolio skews more toward economy and midscale brands. But alas, this promotion was proof that even the best-laid plans may not always work--and it pays to pay more attention to how you set it all up.
Editor's Note: Shortly after announcing this promotion on the morning of Oct. 11, Wyndham cancelled it, citing widespread fraud.
It's only been a little over two weeks since Marriott announced its decision to link its Marriott Rewards program to the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) hotel loyalty program and already, another hotel company is attempting to swoop in and lure SPG members away, although things didn't go as they had planned.
On Oct. 11 from 12 noon to 11:49 p.m. Eastern Time, Wyndham Rewards had planned to allow SPG members to donate their Starpoints to charity and, in return, those SPG members would receive four times those points with Wyndham Rewards, including a status match. So, theoretically, if an SPG member had 100,000 Starpoints and decided to donate those points to charity, she would have received 400,000 Wyndham Rewards points in return. SPG Gold would have become Wyndham Rewards Platinum and SPG Platinum would have become Wyndham Rewards Diamond.
But tha
