synergistic

Heh, even within individual brands, the quality varies widely. I've stayed at fantastic Days Inn properties - one is on my regular rotation, in a city where the Choice options are universally bad. I've also been woken up by a hooker banging on my door at a dirty Days Inn that I thought we could tolerate for a few hours after an unexpectedly drunken night. I was mistaken and I'm pickier when looking at reviews now.

I've managed to accumulate too many Wyndham points again. I don't even know how, they haven't had that many promos. I might have bought some for the SF and Seattle trips that have since been canceled. We definitely prefer to use them on their timeshare partners when at all possible.

sdsearch

Another reason for the hate:

It's the only remaining hotel program with a "hard" expiration (no way to reset it) after 4 years. So if you earn a bunch of points, and can't figure out a good use for them in your travels over the 4 years, tough luck.

4 year expiration

There is no problem like that in any of the other hotel programs that have a forum here on FT.

TTT103

Wyndham also does not hold its franchisees accountable beyond very basic brand standards that owners can obtain waivers for. For example, we stayed at several Wyndham properties this summer while burning a few hundred thousand points that were going to expire by the end of the year, and in many of the hotels, they did not adhere to COVID state and franchise mandates. We stayed in one hotel where no staff member wore a facial covering, including the general manager. Had that been an IHG property, IHG would have hit the franchisee with a $5,000 fine. With Wyndham, they could care less, as long as franchise fees are paid.

purplenightskylovertv

I would agree. And you brought up a point about the masks.

milestraveler

This is very similar to my answer. My Wyndham hate can be traced to a specific experience where Wyndham corporate did not step up to take ownership of an issue with one of their franchisees.

Having seem some of Wyndham's material marketing themselves to hotel owners, I now think of them as a "brand of convenience" (comparable to a ship's "registry of convenience"). They're all about how they have lower brand standards and lower fees than other brands. And it shows.

Global1Flyer

Wyndham Rewards was nice program before. Reward nights were 5,500 to 50,000 points. I used to stay Ramada in Bangkok with only 5,500.
Wyndham management should realize, Wyndham hotels are located limited area in the world and most hotels are lower class categories. They can't compete Hilton, IHG, Marriott with mediocre program.
Wyndham should; eliminate 4 year point expiration, increase 7,500 point hotels, more benefits to elite members such as breakfast. These are easy program change and doesn't cost much in current world situation.
Otherwise, all hotel owners will move to other hotel brands.

https://blog.wandr.me/2015/04/wyndha...at-rate-award/

gburn07

I have been in a review of which chain to push my leisure travels to. Having been with Choice for the past several years, alongside their credit card, I have been more and more disappointed in their properties as of recent. It is even worse, given the pet friendly locations that we need when we bring our dog. We travel enough that we can obtain a high status with one chain. I sampled Best Western and felt disappointed, especially given the price. The rewards program is inconvenient and not all that 'rewarding'. Choice has, imo, the best budget chain rewards program. Wyndham is such a bi-polar chain, but their mid-range properties blow away the Choice and Best Western comparable at most locations I have looked at. La Quinta, Microtel and Wingates have enough locations to keep a decent option within a decent distance of where we are traveling. I personally have had far better experiences at Super 8 over Econo Lodges. What I noticed most, were the price differences as Wyndham properties were consistently cheaper. Would I take a Quality Inn for $35 more than a brand new La Quinta? I get it it, to all but avoid the lower level properties (Travelodge who?) for most cases, but you can really find nicer locations (and newer at that) for less prices compared to other budget competition with Wyndham. I just wish their rewards program threw out more bonus opportunities.

jebr

Yeah, many of the better Choice Hotels properties don't allow pets, or have an extremely limited number of pet-friendly rooms. It's hard to beat La Quinta on the pet-friendly aspect, since almost all of their hotels allow pets, and they're usually firmly in the mid-range category (versus the low-end such as Motel 6 or Econo Lodge.)

That said, I've had a different experience in terms of quality of the hotels, even on the mid range and higher level. I'm not aware of a single chain in Wyndham's portfolio where I'd feel comfortable staying at without reading the reviews - I've even had a stay at a Tryp hotel where there were missing covers on the electrical outlets, and that's supposed to be a high-end chain for Wyndham! The price difference, while there, generally hasn't been as drastic for me, and by the time I go through the reviews they're usually in the same ballpark price-wise.

The biggest problem with Wyndham is that they seem to enforce very few brand standards. If they could tighten up their brand standards on the mid-to-high tier (say, Microtel/La Quinta/AmericInn and up) that would be a huge advantage. Until then, I use them only when I need a cheap room, the reviews are good, and other chains don't have any good properties in my price/location range.

TTT103

We actually ran into a situation a couple of months ago where the LaQuinta we had reservations at in Kalispell, MT was rebranded as a Best Western. We were advised only a few days prior to arrival. The challenge with Choice and Wyndham is that their brands are very vanilla, which makes hopping around by franchisees not too difficult.

gburn07

In regards to the pet friendly properties of Marriott, IHG and Hilton, many times their room rates are not that much higher over the Choice, Wyndham and B.W locations nearby. What stops me is 'having' to pay $100 for one night pet fee for a 9 pound hypo dog. I cant fathom that, especially when the room was less than the pet fee, haha!

gkbiiii

Statuts match to CET Diamond and transfer all your points to CET, then you can use them for Lounge Access, meals, and other things.

synergistic

Unfortunately, by the time I think we'll be able to visit a casino again, I think we'll feel plenty comfortable booking a timeshare somewhere directly through Wyndham. Out of curiosity, though, what's the current annual transfer limit on that?

gkbiiii

$300 annual to CET or 30,000 Wyndham points.

purplenightskylovertv

There's no point in continuing the conversation, so can we have someone close the thread please?

sdsearch

Here's another reason for some to possibly hate them:

Transfer to Amtrak Discontinued?

No-notification changes to their program.