Earn over 50,000 Wyndham Reward Points (or Aeroplan miles as low as $0.008)

OCT 18 12:48pm MST UPDATE: Apparently a representative from Wyndham has posted on FlyerTalk stating the 16,000 bonus points offer was meant to be targeted and chances are the T&C's for it will change soon. So if you want to get in on the offer you can try booking right away, take screen shots of everything and hope that you get the points but in all honesty this offer is pretty much dead


If you follow some of the U.S. frequent flyer blogs you may have seen this offer make the rounds over the past 24 hours but I wanted to share it directly with my Canadian readers as some of you may not follow these US bloggers (I give credit to Ric at Loyalty Traveler but that credit also gets extended to many other bloggers that Ric mentions at the bottom of his post)

Depending on whose blog you read, you'll see this as a way the get a lot of Wyndham Rewards points for a few stays or as a really cheap way to buy airline miles. Both are the exact same just titled differently. You can earn well over 50,000 points for three stays using a combination of promotions which can then be transferred to their various airline partners, all without completing a stay which is good for us Canadians as one of the promotions to be utilized is only for locations in the U.S..

Here's how it works:
1. Book a stay at one of 20 new Wyndham Hotel properties to earn 16,000 bonus per stay up to maximum of 3 stays (so 48,000 points) and no registration is required. This offer runs until Dec 31.

2. Register for Wyndham Rewards' systemwide promo that awards 5,500 bonus on your second stay for stays until Nov 26.

These are the 20 hotels participating in this round of 16,000 points bonuses:
Wyndham Irvine Orange County Airport
Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Denver Tech Center
Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Hartford Meriden
Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Orlando Altamonte Springs
Wyndham Atlanta Galleria
Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Chicago-Hoffman Estates
Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Northbrook-Wheeling
Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Chicago-Schaumburg
Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Louisville
Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Detroit Auburn Hills
Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Detroit Farmington Hills
Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Omaha
Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Charlotte-Coliseum
Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Greensboro
Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Raleigh
Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Cincinnati Blue Ash
Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Dallas Park Central
Wyndham Dallas Suites – Park Central
Wyndham Houston West Energy Corridor
Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Salt Lake City – Fort Union

So how do you get the points without completing the stays but still paying for them? In Wyndham Rewards terms and conditions (Earning, Section B Rule 8): "If the property requires a credit card for a reservation, the Member is a no-show, and the hotel charges his/her credit card for the first night of the no-show stay, the Member will receive points for such night as if he/she had stayed."

Then you can choose how to use the points, if you book three separate stays you should earn 48,000 points (16,000 x 3) + the 5,500 points for your second stay + 10 points per dollar for the Wyndhams or 5 points per dollar for the Hawthorn locations. Assume an average of $80 per night (the US blogs are finding rates in the $50-$60 range) you would can add up to 2,400 more points for a total 55,900. Those Wyndham Rewards points can redeemed for miles in 14 airline programs including Aeroplan (so most of us will probably use this one) at a rate of 1,000 points=400 miles. If you get the stays for $80 a night that will cost you $240 for 22,360 miles or only 1 cent per mile (of course if you can find lower rates the cost per mile goes down with some of the reporting 0.77 cents) Considering that Aeroplan sells miles at 3 cents a piece + GST this is a pretty amazing deal! Now you have to transfer in blocks of 8,000 points or 30,000 + a few 8,000 blocks so you will want to optimize this offer to earn 54,000 or 56,000 points so you don't strand too many points. Of course you can always keep the points in Wyndham rewards to redeem for free hotel nights!

To make sure you earn the points you have to book a qualifying rate that earn Wyndham Rewards points (such as AAA, Best Available, etc.) even the Best Available + 1,000 bonus points rate (for eve more points!) and make sure you use mileage earning credit card (I'm going to use my American Express Gold Rewards Card for 2x Points on Travel Purchases which translates to 2 Aeroplan Miles per dollar). You can book via that Best Available+1000 link above or directly at wyndham.com or hawthorn.com (Rewards Canada earns a commission on the Hawthorn link, so I thank you in advance for your support!)

As is usually the case with offers like this there is always the possibility that points will not post or the terms and conditions of the program can be changed. An offer like this went around in August and most comments on the U.S. blogs state that people did get there points but it may not be a bad idea to spend a touch more on the hotel bookings to get a rate that can be canceled should the promo be pulled or the T&Cs changed. There are reports that some hotels during the August version of this promo were cancelling the no-shows and refunding/not charging cards but that, in reality, goes against the T&Cs so people called or emailed to ensure they get the points and in the end they did.

Another thing to keep in mind if you don't need the Aeroplan (or other airline) miles right away is to keep the points in Wyndham just in case Aeroplan (or other programs) run transfer bonuses like they did earlier this year.

I would love to hear if any of you took part in the August rendition and/or will be taking a shot at this one. I know I will be!