12 Hours Only: Wyndham Will Quadruple Your SPG Balance…with a BIG Catch

Update: Wyndham has pulled the offer, citing fraud.

Today, Wyndham is looking to steal some loyal SPG customers away with the latest “promotion.” For 12 hours only, they will quadruple (4x) your SPG balance, in Wyndham points. They will also throw in a status match for good measures. In return, you will have to donate all your SPG points to charity.

The Deal

For example, if you are a Gold SPG member with 100,000 points, you can donate all of it to charity, and Wyndham will give you 400,000 Wyndham points, plus their Platinum status. SPG partners with three charities: Clean the World, Red Cross, and Unicef.

This offer is valid from noon to 11:59 pm EST today. SPG members hoping to take advantage will need to submit two screenshots to wyndhamrewards.fulfillment@wyn.com.

• One screenshot showing confirmation of the point donation
• A second screenshot showing the member’s account activity page with a zero balance

Once they have verified your information, they will provide the points and status match within 10 days. The status (SPG Gold to their Platinum tier; SPG Platinum to their Diamond tier) will last until December 31, 2017. There is no cap on how many points you can donate and earn. However, you account cannot have had a transaction within the last 24 hours, so you won’t be able stash away a portion to Marriott, or transfer extra in to take advantage of this offer.

All transactions (including donations) must be completed within the offer period, so wait until noon to donate if you’re hoping to take advantage of this offer.

Offer details here.

Overview of Wyndham Rewards

Wyndham doesn’t have the most aspirational brand portfolio, and they are arguably in the lower end as far as hotel chains go. However, Wyndham Hotel Group does have the most locations out of any hotel chain. Their award program is extremely simple: 15,000 points get you a free night, regardless of location. Whether it’s a rural Super 8, or a Wyndham in Midtown Manhattan, it’s 15,000 points a night.

These are their brands:

Wyndham Rewards brands

Meanwhile, by giving up your SPG points, you will lose access to the following brands in the Marriott and SPG portfolio:

Marriott & SPG brands

Wyndham Rewards has a few elite status tiers, and their benefits aren’t exactly the most exciting out there. As a SPG Gold, you will get matched to Wyndham Platinum, which gives you late check-out and early check-in (2 hours max, pending availability). If you are SPG Platinum, you will get their Diamond level status, which also confers a welcome amenity and suite upgrades on all qualifying stays.

Wyndham Rewards elite tiers

Why is Wyndham Doing This?

This is a pretty strategic time for them to be launching such a promotion. Following SPG’s merger with Marriott, there are now tons of new locations for SPG members to redeem rewards. At the same time, it’s undeniable that at least some SPG members are turning elsewhere. SPG members are likely used to staying at nicer properties than Wyndham brands, so Wyndham needed some added incentives to draw them over.

Marriott Will Triple Your Points AND Give You a Status Match!

Ok, not really a special offer, because Marriott and SPG have merged. But the heading is in fact accurate: you can covert your SPG points to Marriott points with a 1:3 ratio, and match your status.

Granted, Marriott doesn’t have a flat rate redemption chart, but I’d argue that overall their properties are much nicer. Additionally, Marriott won’t make you give away your points, and the conversion is completely reversible.

So…Should You Do This?

With this offer, you can basically book any hotel in Wyndham’s portfolio with 3,750 SPG points. That’s pretty good, at least with higher end properties. But if it’s quantity of hotels you’re after, keep in mind SPG free nights  start with just 2,000 points, and you can always use less via cash + points.

If you can see yourself staying at higher end Wyndham hotel, their flat rate redemption could work in your favor. In that case,  you should crunch the numbers to see if it’s worth it. But also realize that you will say goodbye to the opportunity of redeeming points at St. Regis, Sheraton, W hotels, Ritz Carlton properties, etc.

For most people who have been loyal to SPG for years because they love what the brand stands for, however, this offer doesn’t make too much sense.

(HT: Business Traveller)