Yet another award program is introducing new higher award pricing for luxury properties–this time it’s Wyndham Rewards’ turn.

Wyndham Rewards will have four tiers come mid-September 2026

One nice thing about Wyndham Rewards is that it’s one of the few remaining hotel loyalty programs that have fixed award pricing. That makes things predictable for members and helps keep the program honest–they can’t just change the price without some kind of notice. Currently, Wyndham Rewards has three award levels for its hotels: 7,500, 15,000, or 30,000 points/night.

However, Wyndham Rewards is perhaps taking a page out of the World of Hyatt 2026 handbook by increasing the number of hotel award levels from 3 to 4. Starting September 15, 2026, the program will have four award levels: 5,000, 15,000, 30,000, or 45,000 points/night. Award nights booked before September 15, 2026 for stays after that date will be honored at current rates. If the property goes down in price, the difference in points will be automatically refunded to you.

As Hyatt did, some of the cheapest hotels may get even cheaper. However, the hotels you’re most likely wanting to stay at aren’t at those cheapest levels.

Exactly how much this impacts average pricing will be seen when the new program arrives. We’ll have to wait to reassess how valuable we consider the Wyndham Rewards points currency.

Wyndham tries to downplay this change in their communication

Why is Wyndham looking to make this change? Their communication to members makes the following points:

• The Wyndham Rewards program evolved since the three-tier system was first introduced
• Wyndham has since added ‘hundreds of luxury, lifestyle, and all-inclusive hotels’
• The award tier change reflects that growth
• They further stress that they are not introducing dynamic pricing or seasonal fluctuations in award pricing.

Wyndham Rewards first went to the three-tier award system in 2019. Prior to that time, Wyndham charged a flat 15,000 points/night. While at the time it hurt to go from 15,000 to 30,000 points for the more expensive hotels, quite a few cheap properties benefitted from the award price getting cut in half from 15,000 to 7,500 points.

While we don’t yet know exactly how many hotels are moving in award price, we can infer. By Wyndham’s own explanation, it seems clear that ‘hundreds’ of hotels will move into the new 45,000 price per night. From Wyndham’s website, more than 8,000 hotels participate in Wyndham Rewards. Without knowing anything more than that, it perhaps suggests somewhere between 5% and 10% of properties will move into that new tier. That feels pretty substantial.

The award pricing spread also seems awfully skewed. For 45,000 points, would you prefer 9 nights in a cheap hotel or 1 night in a lifestyle property? Our hunch is that 9 times the cash rate for a cheap hotel is more expensive than 1 night at the expensive hotel. Thus, we think the better play might be to go cheap with Wyndham.

Luxury hotel pricing continues to get pummeled

If there’s any trend in the last ~2 years, it’s that hotel pricing continues to skyrocket for the most expensive properties. We’ve seen devaluations addressing this from practically all the major chains. Marriott, Hilton (multiple times), Hyatt (in more ways than one), and now Wyndham. Somehow IHG has managed to stay out of the news… for now?

Yes, cash pricing has spiked since the pandemic and continues to surge in the current economic environment. While that’s true across the board, luxury properties in particular have seen dramatic cash price increases. In some ways, you can attribute this to the rich getting richer but there has also been more of an emphasis on experiences and a change in preferences from the average traveler.

As the cash price for luxury hotels go up, hotels have been quick to react on the award pricing side. Hotel programs chased the quick buck by raising award rates correspondingly. While that might make sense from an accounting perspective, luxurious benefits were always a loss-leader previously. It was used as a way to get members on a treadmill, remain loyal to the program, earn elite status, and use their points at nice properties. Stay with us for weeks at our run-of-the-mill properties and we will reward you with a wonderful vacation,

With the surge in award pricing from virtually all hotel programs, will there be a substantial change from the average award traveler? Is there less of a likelihood of collecting hotel points going forward and thus less loyalty from members? We’ll see if this ends up being the case if hotels introduce new promotions to earn points faster.

How do you feel about Wyndham Rewards’ new award pricing?

Suggested reading:

• Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach: A Great Resort by the Beach
• Case in Point: The Way I Value Wyndham Rewards Points
• Chase Ultimate Rewards Now Transfer to Wyndham Rewards 1:1