apollo_liumin

or I should say not popular any more?

so "desolate"..

I just enrolled into the Wyndham rewards without any referring points..

aces

Wyndham Rewards claims 7 million members, and the number of participating properties is huge. I think the reason for the small Wyndham presence here is that Wyndham concentrates mostly on budget properties and leisure travelers who drive to their destinations. I think most FT posters are business travelers who fly to their destinations and expense their hotel stays. Businesses are willing to spring for fancier properties than Wyndham generally offers, and people who travel by car won't think to visit a site called FlyerTalk. JMO.

NYC_DFW_LAX

I can vouch for aces' take on things. I'm stuck in a Days Inn because I am visiting another university and they stuck me here when the only other nearby hotel (a Radisson) was full, probably because of the basketball games going on this weekend. This place is a total dump--if I come back and the Radisson is full again, I'm just going to stay downtown and make the longer schlep in every day. If this wasn't my first time in town, I'd have done this anyway, especially if I had stayed in a Days Inn before. It's loud, smelly, and the clientele is incredibly obnoxious--running around in the halls, shouting, and generally behaving like they want to make it on COPS this weekend.

Edit: Sorry, "Days Hotel." There appears to have been some sort of BS rebranding.

apollo_liumin

so can you explain a little bit more on the categorization of leisure program and biz program for hotels?
Wyndham is the former and some others like Hilton and Marriott are the latter?

aces

I was trying to explain why Wyndham doesn't get as many posts on this board as other chains. The Choice and Best Western programs also have lots of members but few posts here. AFAIK, programs don't decide to concentrate specifically on leisure or business travelers.

NYC_DFW_LAX

I would say that, among both business and leisure travelers with the means to choose, Hilton and Marriott will be far more popular than Wyndham. Hilton and Marriott have far better business services (Wyndham's are almost nonexistent), but also far better amenities for leisure travelers. The business/leisure distinction is that almost all business travelers can afford to avoid crappy hotels, but many leisure travelers cannot afford to do so or choose not to do so.

NYSpeedRacer

Wyndham needs to get their act together. I tried a bunch of Wyndham hotel during their stay 3 get 10k miles promo and have yet to receive 80k points. I just won't stay with a chain if they can't get their act straight.

Sweet Willie

+1

why did you enroll with Wyndham? just for the points or do you have a goal in mind?

bschaff1

What about the argument that Wyndham, Best Western, and Choice Hotels have crappy hotels that will be used by people who either aren't travel enthusiasts or are on a tight budget and the only thing they care about is the cheapest possible hotel. IMO, FTers in general care about having a decent hotel and a lot can afford better properties.

In my case, I would never consider staying some place like a Wyndham or one of their lesser chains because I consider them to be junk. When I can often pay $20 more for a Hyatt branded hotel and know I am getting a guaranteed level of quality, I'll stay there. In contrast, I've read horror stories about Super 8 hotels and Days Inns, etc and I'll write off the whole chain of properties associated with Wyndham based on that.

Sweet Willie

for a $20 price difference, I probably would take the Hyatt as well.

However as an example. I'm heading to Cincinnati tonight and need a room, in order of how I'd normally choose my hotel chain loyalty:

Cheapest Hyatt is $129 base rate (br)
Cheapest Starwood is $189 br (+ most likely parking also)
Cheapest IHG is $95 br
The Baymont where I'm staying <$50 br

Unless I really needed a stay for status or there was a great promo (like Hyatt's buy 2 get 1 free FFN's), and seeing as most of my travel is on my own dime, it is a no brainer for me where I'll be staying tonight, the Baymont.

Another example of how the economics of Wyndham works for us, is this summer. Mrs Sweet Willie is at a conference in Denver, she'll get done late in the afternoon, we'll have dinner with some friends in Denver, then head into the Rockies. We are staying at a Super 8 for the first night in the Rockies, it was $140 cheaper than the resorts where we are staying for the next few nights after this Super 8 stay. While it is nice to get to a destination, unpack & stay there, the savings for this first night goes a long way towards other trip costs (nearly pays for our car rental). Thankfully Mrs Sweet Willie understands this and packs accordingly for that first night. (It took many years of training for this to happen)

I used to do that as well, I wrote off the whole Wydham chain for nearly two decades of traveling, however after staying at more than few last summer during their stay 3 get 10k promo (which worked out quite nicely), Wyndham now holds a place for me in my hotel rotation when all I need is a clean bed to sleep in for the night.

Ispolkom

This is my strategy as well, especially since there are large areas of this country where the Wyndham or Choice property is the best in town.

I'll grant you that their execution of last year's 10k miles for 3 stays program was less than optimal, but I found it worthwhile, even with the extra phone calls I made.

DenverBrian

Wyndham's biggest problem IMHO is penetration. They simply don't have very many properties in upper upscale or moderate segments compared to Marriott/Starwood/Hilton/IHG.

They have PLENTY of properties in lower tiers - Ramada, Days Inn, all the way down to <shudder> Knights Inn. Far fewer Wyndhams and Wingates, which can be nice.

However, a FlyerTalker is normally someone who is maximizing points and miles. You simply can't do that with Wyndham if none of their good properties exist at 80% of the locations you travel to.

I agree that Wyndham and especially Choice Hotels (Comfort/Clarion/Quality) are probably more favored by the drive market - the John Candy shower curtain ring salesman comes to mind.

davidcalgary29

Just chiming in to out myself as a program member. Wyndham is one of the few brands with any presence in northern Canada, so I'm stuck with them and their program. I average 100K points/year with them, and prefer to the option of collecting with them to having no loyalty program at all.

Sweet Willie

What have been some good award redemptions that you've had with them?

sipes23

I've redeemed at a Day's Inn near the Twin Cities for 10,000 points. And another near downtown Chicago for 16,000. Makes for a nice night away while the kiddo is with Grandma and Grandpa.

I've got my eye on a 6,000 pointer near a National Park out west as well.

Over the last couple of years, I've probably earned 15 to 20k points a year with Wyndham, since I worked for a cheap company and am now on my own dime for business travel. Some places are grungy (Super 8 in Lansng, MI). Some are quite nice (Super 8 Bemidji, MN). But mostly in between (Microtel, Carolina Beach, NC) and always at the right price point.

My biggest gripe is that redemptions are over priced vis a vis the rate of earnings. 18 to 20 nights of grunge roulette for the redemption in the Twin Cities. I'm seriously considering hotels.com as an alternative. Or perhaps playing grunge roulette at priceline.com for even more savings.