How long have you been following Wyndham?

The gimmick of all hotels always being 15k points only existed for a couple years. Before that, they had varying points even more than now. I stayed at a Travelodge in Canada that was 16000 points in 2013. I still have the confirmation email that explains that it was 16000 points because it was a "Free Night Level 5".

So before they had all hotels at 15k, they had many levels (I'm pretty sure it was more than 5, but I don't remember for sure).

So the 15k for all hotels was just an experiment and/or advertising gimmick, as far as I can see. It's just that it wasn't officially labeled as such.

And I bet there used to be hotels in the program at less than 7500 points, in which case the original making of all hotels 15k points would have more than doubled the points requirements for some of their lowest-Level hotels, while getting rid of "always 15k" only doubled.

Meanwhile, they still cap at 30k, which is lower than almost any other hotel program (Red Roof Inns' program has a lower cap I think).