Originally Posted by
danielv22
There's gotta be a catch, right?
Sure there is. This change raises the rates more often than it lowers them, at least based on the data I have.
It makes Wyndham Rewards points less valuable on average.
The 14k and 16k rooms I exclude because the numbers are close enough, both in points required and number of nights/searches for each in my data set. Looking at the other results, however, shows at least 3,200 hotels increasing in redemption cost while only 425 are reduced. The change actually reduces the average cents/point valuation of a Wyndham Rewards point from 0.5610 cents to 0.4773 cents, a cut of ~17%. The median point value drops from 0.5946 to 0.4666 cents.
As long as you only redeem at one of the handful of properties which was a 50k night maybe this is great news. But, on average, I see it as a tough sell.
n.b. The link above is to my blog or to one which I am a regular contributor. FT rules require that I disclose that in the post.