Wyndham Backtracks on Award-Winning Loyalty Program

In 2015, Wyndham, the parent to almost two dozen hotel brands, retooled its loyalty program to simplify its booking tiers and bring the same price to every award night across every hotel property in its network. It was a bold move at the time and made an award night at the Wyndham Grand, the most expensive hotel in the network, the same price as one at the Howard Johnson.

Now, the hotel group is dialing back that strategy and introducing three tiers to its award chart. In Wyndham’s words, the move was made to bring better accessibility to its lowest-tiered hotels, which are now significantly less expensive than the earlier, one-size-fits-all rate. But it’s also not unlikely that too many award nights were going to the Wyndham Grand and not enough were making it to the Howard Johnson — a direct impact on the latter’s bottom line.

Wyndham won’t say. But it is now clear that the new Wyndham Rewards — which raked up a cabinet full of awards during the socialized years — will no longer have the same value for some members who liked to rack up points at the HoJo in Dubuque and spend them at the Grand in New York City. Perhaps others who stuck to the Howard Johnson circuit will find relief.

— Grant Martin, Business of Loyalty Editor

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Skift Business of Loyalty Editor Grant Martin [gm@skift.com] curates the Skift Business of Loyalty newsletter. Skift emails the newsletter every Monday.