Another reason Wyndham should be on the prospect list the next time you have to choose a hotel …
Wyndham has been on a roll recently, bulking up with the acquisition of La Quinta’s 900 properties, revamping its Wyndham Rewards loyalty program, and treating its customers to a series of especially generous bonus promotions. For all that, the company remained uncompetitive with other hotel chains in one respect: It didn’t offer members-only rates, discounted hotel rates available only to members of the hotel’s loyalty program who book direct.
Members-only rates have become a fact of hotel-booking life, available at all other major hotel groups, and a base consumer expectation.
Wyndham finally plugged that gap earlier this month, offering Wyndham Rewards members a 10 percent discount when they book direct with Wyndham and are signed in as Rewards members.
Related:
What Wyndham is calling its Rewarding Rate is notably more generous than the discounts offered by its peers. Hilton’s members-only rate is “up to 10 percent, on weekends”; Hyatt’s is also up to 10 percent; Marriott’s varies between 2 and 5 percent.
In other words, where most other member-only rates are based on a range of possible discounts, depending on the day of the week or location, Wyndham’s is a flat 10 percent, every day, at all 8,000-plus properties in its network.
Better late than never, and well worth waiting for.
After 20 years working in the travel industry, and almost that long writing about it, Tim Winship knows a thing or two about travel. Follow him on Twitter @twinship.
This article first appeared on SmarterTravel.com, where Tim is Editor-at-Large.
