Barclaycard has increased the welcome bonus on both versions of the Wyndham Rewards Visa Card.
This increased offer definitely makes Barclaycard more interesting. Apart from the Arrival Plus Card's 40,000 mile bonus and after losing the US Airways card last year Barclaycard's travel credit card line-up has been rather limited.
In the past a similar 45,000 point welcome bonus was released on the Wyndham Rewards Visa, the main difference is that now the card does not offer a 15,000 anniversary bonus as it did in the past. It's unknown if this benefit will ever return, but in either case it's nice to see this increased offer return.
Link: Wyndham Rewards Visa Cards (landing page for both premium and no fee card)
The premium card with a $69 annual fee is offering 45,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 within the first 90 days.
The no annual fee card has a 18,000 bonus points welcome bonus after spending $1,000 within the first 90 days.
Wyndham Rewards Visa Card Review
The Wyndham Rewards Visa Card is offered is both a premium and no annual fee version. The welcome bonus, annual fee, and card benefits differ between the cards so depending on your travel preferences one may fit you better.
Premium Card
- Sign-up bonus: Up to 45,000 bonus points. Earn 30,000 points after your first purchase, plus an additional 15,000 points after spending $1,000 within the first 3 months.
- 6,000 points on your account anniversary each year
- Earn 5X points per $1 spent at Wyndham hotels
- Earn 2X points per $1 spent on everything else
- Annual fee: $69 (not waived the first year)
- Link: Wyndham Rewards Visa Card
The bonus is tiered into two parts; you'll earn 30,000 points after your first purchase and an additional 15,000 points after making $1,000 in purchases within the first 90 days.
The bonus is marketed as 3 free nights at any Wyndham hotel since all Wyndham award nights cost 15,000 points per night.
Remember Wyndham overhauled their award chart in 2015 and made every hotel cost a flat rate of 15,000 points per night. Before the change Wyndham award nights cost 5,500 to 50,000 points per night.
The flat rate award night structure can actually work to your advantage when you redeem points at some of Wyndham's top tier hotels and certain all-inclusive Viva resorts. To name a few of the best value properties:
- Wyndham Koloa Landing at Poipu Beach Wyndham Grand Resort
- Dolce Silverado Resort and Spa
- The Mills House Wyndham Grand Hotel
- Wyndham Grand Orlando Bonnet Creek
- The Mining Exchange, A Wyndham Grand Hotel
- Wyndham New Yorker
- TRYP Times Square South
- Wyndham Hotel Melbourne
In the past cost these top-tier properties would cost 30,000 - 50,000 points per night and many run ~$200 or more per night, which means the 45,000 point bonus is well worth ~$600+ in value.
No Annual Fee Card
- Sign-up bonus: Up to 18,000 bonus points. Earn 15,000 points after your first purchase, plus an additional 3,000 points after spending $1,000 within the first 3 months.
- Earn 3X points per $1 spent at Wyndham hotels
- Earn 2X points per $1 spent on everything else
- Annual fee: $0
- Link: Wyndham Rewards Visa Card
This bonus on the no annual fee card is essentially worth one free night at a Wyndham hotel. You'll have 3,000 bonus points left over after you redeem the 18,000 points bonus for a free night.
Unless you regularly earn Wyndham points you may not get a lot of use from the extra 3,000 leftover points and it may not make sense to earn them above an beyond the first purchase bonus.
Where Can You Use Wyndham Points
When you think of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts hotel brands like Day Inn, Travelodge, Howard Johnson, and Super 8 may come to mind.
However, the hotel group also has some great luxury hotels around the world including their high-end DOLCE and Wyndham Grand hotels.
You can earn and use Wyndham Rewards points at any of the following 15 hotel brands:
- Baymont Inn and Suites
- Days Inn
- Dolce
- Hawthorn Suites
- Howard Johnson
- Knights Inn
- Microtel
- Ramada
- Super 8
- Travelodge
- Tryp by Wyndham
- Wingate by Wyndham
- Wyndham by Wyndham
- Wyndham Garden by Wyndham
- Wyndham Grand by Wyndham
Wyndham award nights cost a flat rate of 15,000 points per night at any hotel. This means it will cost the same to stay at a lower-tier Days Inn as a top-tier Dolce property.
Clearly, to maximize the value of your points you'll want to redeem only at upper-tier hotels!
The Bottom Line
The Wyndham Rewards Visa Cards could be a good option if you are looking for another hotel rewards credit card. The 45,000 points bonus on the premium version ($69 annual fee) of the card is worth 3 free nights at any Wyndham hotel and could easily be worth $600 in free hotel stays.
The no fee version offers a less impressive 18,000 bonus that is worth 1 free night at any Wyndham hotel.
I still reserve the 40,000 mile bonus on the Barclaycard Arrival Plus Card as my top pick for travel cards offered by Barclaycard. However, given that Barclaycard doesn't offer a wide array of valuable travel credit cards, grabbing one of these cards could be a good option if you are looking to apply for another Barclay card.
Hat tip: /r/ reader andrew181986
| Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card | |
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