Wyndham Rewards Gift Me Promotion offers members in U.S., Canada and Mexico the opportunity to earn over 20,000 bonus points with six hotel stays from November 17 through February 1, 2012. There is another promotion for European Wyndham Rewards members to earn up to 30,000 bonus points after six stays that I will discuss in a separate post.

The basic offer is 6,500 bonus points after the 2nd, 4th and 6th stays during the promotion period for a potential 19,500 bonus points. There is also the option to earn 1,000 airline miles instead of 6,500 bonus points, however, the excellent exchange rate for Wyndham Rewards points-to-miles means members who desire miles will earn more miles by choosing the points bonus and then converting points to miles at a later date (6,500 points = 2,600 miles in most programs).

There is also an online booking bonus of 1,000 points for your first three bookings after promotion registration. And if you have a Wyndham Rewards VISA card there is an additional 500 points bonus on your first three bookings for a maximum 1,500 bonus points with VISA payment.

Wyndham Rewards Hotel Brands:

• Wyndham Hotels and Resorts®,
• Ramada®,
• Days Inn®,
• Super 8®,
• Wingate by Wyndham®,
• Baymont Inn & Suites®,
• Microtel Inns & Suites®,
• Hawthorn Suites® by Wyndham,
• TRYP by Wyndham™,
  Howard Johnson®,
• Travelodge®
• Knights Inn®

Loyalty Traveler Analysis

Assume you book six one-night hotel stays online and do not pay with Wyndham Rewards Visa during the promotion period. Wyndham has some of the lowest rates around with its economy brand hotel chains. Assume you choose hotels with an average nightly rate of $60. All Wyndham brands earn 10 points per dollar with the exception of Hawthorn Suites at 5 points/$1.

• Stay 1 = 600 points ($60 x 10 points/$1) + 1,000 online booking bonus points = 1,600 points.
• Stay 2 = 600 points ($60 x 10 points/$1) + 1,000 online booking bonus points + 6,500 Gift Me bonus points = 8,100 points.
• Stay 3 = 600 points ($60 x 10 points/$1) + 1,000 online booking bonus points = 1,600 points.
• Stay 4 = 600 points ($60 x 10 points/$1) + 6,500 Gift Me bonus points = 7,100 points.
• Stay 5 = 600 points ($60 x 10 points/$1) = 600 points.
• Stay 6 = 600 points ($60 x 10 points/$1) + 6,500 Gift Me bonus points = 7,100 points.

Total Points earned = 26,100 points for $360.

26,100 points can be converted into 10,000 airline miles or one to four hotel nights depending on where you choose to stay with your Wyndham Rewards points. I rank this offer as a good value 50% rebate potential if you plan your stays to maximize the promotion value of this offer. There are over 7,000 hotels in Wyndham Rewards and many hotels will offer savings over $100 on a 10,000 or 14,000 points reward night.

Redeeming Wyndham Rewards points

Most hotel rewards in Wyndham brands in the US and Canada are divided into four tiers:

• Tier 1 = 6,000 points
• Tier 2 = 10,000 points
• Tier 3 = 14,000 points
• Tier 4 = 16,000 points

These reward tiers cover most of the hotel brands except Wyndham Hotels and Resorts rewards which are as low as 10,000 points per night for Wyndham Oklahoma City up to 45,000 points per night for one of the two Wyndham Hotels in New York City (the other is only 25,000 points). Most Wyndham Hotels in the US are 15,000 or 20,000 points per night.

Wyndham Rewards Gift Me Promotion is a high value hotel stay rebate.

Wyndham Rewards fall promotion offers double points or double miles and up to $60 cash back on hotel stays from September 15 to November 18, 2011. The double points or miles offer is limited to first three stays.

The “Cash Back every Two Stays” component of the promotion provides a $20 Visa gift card for every two stays during the promotion, up to $60 cash back after six stays.

Wyndham Rewards $20 Cash back with every two stays terms:

• Wyndham Rewards members must register for promotion at wyndhamrewards.com/cash or call 1-866-996-7937 to register.
• Complete two separate stays between September 15 and November 18, 2011.
• Earn a US$20 VISA gift card after the second (2nd), fourth (4th) and sixth (6th) stays.
• Member will receive an email after each qualifying stay with instructions to complete an online redemption form for $20 VISA gift card.
• VISA card online redemption form must be completed within 60 days of email.
• Maximum $60 in VISA gift cards per member.
• Checkout date after November 22, 2011 will not count for this offer.
• Double points or miles can be earned for up to three rooms for each of first three stays.
• Only residents of the U.S., Canada and Mexico are eligible for this offer. See below for a separate European residents promotion.
• Super 8 China properties are not participating in this offer.
• Double miles are only available with select airlines: American, Aeroplan, Aeromexico, Amtrak, Continental, Delta, Frontier, Southwest, Spirit, Sun Country, United, US Airways.

Wyndham fall 2011 US-Canada-Mexico promotion for Double Points or Miles and Cash Back.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis:

Wyndham Rewards has more hotel members than any other hotel loyalty program with over 6,500 hotels in the following brands:

• Wyndham Resorts
• Wyndham Garden
• Wingate
• Days Inn
• Ramada
• Super 8
• Baymont Inn & Suites
• Microtel Inn & Suites
• Howard Johnson
• Travelodge (Hotels in Canada do not participate in Wyndham Rewards)
• Knights Inn
• Hawthorn Suites

Too bad this offer is limited to double points or miles for only three stays and a cash back rebate for six stays. The ability to earn double points for up to three rooms on the first three stays is probably the most valuable feature of this promotion.

The high exchange rate of points-to-miles transfers with Wyndham Rewards generally makes earning points the better value during promotions.

Earning Double Miles vs. Double Points Comparison

Assume you spend $400 for three stays during this promotion. Wyndham Rewards members earn 10 points/$1 at all Wyndham hotel brands, except Hawthorn Suites at 5 points/$1.

• $400 in hotel spend with double points earns 8,000 points = 3,200 miles.
• $400 in hotel spend with double miles earns 1,600 miles.
• Choosing double points and exchanging points-to-miles earns miles at twice the rate of double miles.

Wyndham Rewards points to miles exchange rate is static meaning the rate is the same regardless of the number of points transferred to miles. 10 points = 4 miles in most programs. Points-to-Miles transfers must be made in 8,000 or 17,500 or 30,000 blocks of points. Wyndham Rewards has the best exchange rate for points-to-miles transfers of any hotel loyalty program for smaller points transfers.

17,500 Wyndham Rewards points = 7,000 miles for American, Continental, Delta, United, US Airways.

European Version of this offer

European residents of Wyndham Rewards have a slightly different offer during the same promotion period of September 15 – November 18 for 8,800 bonus points after every two stays and bonus may be earned three times. The promotion advertises this as bonus points that may be exchanged for a 20GBP or 30EUR VISA gift card.

As shown above the points have better value for points-to-miles exchange or hotel stays. A European member in the states can get six stays at inexpensive Wyndham hotel brands for under $500 and earn over 30,000 points. Wyndham brands in New York City like Wingate and Ramada often have rates over $300 per night and the points can be redeemed for one or two nights at these locations.

Register at wyndhamrewards.com/freegift or wyndhamrewards.de/freegift.

Wyndham Fall 2011 European member promotion for 8,800 bonus points every two stays.

Hotel value for this frequent guest

Some people plan out every aspect of their vacation prior to leaving home. On this road trip I tended to book hotels on my iPad while sitting in some roadside McDonalds a few hours before arrival. Or in the case of Ely, Nevada and the Ramada Copper Queen I booked the hotel five minutes before arrival.

McDonalds free internet is a great marketing scheme. Those $1 McChicken sandwiches and $1 drinks provided cheap stops for food, hotel reservations, ice and toilets. I found the internet connections in McDonalds more responsive than several of the hotels where we stayed.

Fortunately, I accumulated hotel loyalty points and free nights over the past few months to apply for the major expense of travel lodging for several weeks of summer excursions recently with my road trips from Monterey to Vancouver, B.C. and Denver, Colorado. The Vancouver trip was nearly three weeks and the Denver road trip was 11 days.

Hotel loyalty programs reduced the cost of ten hotel nights on this Denver trip to about $300 for three nights of paid rooms.  The other nights were paid with points accumulated over the past year. These are the future hotel rebates I refer to in Loyalty Traveler posts when analyzing hotel promotion value.

Buy Low, Redeem Later

Over the past year I have purchased some 60,000 to 80,000 points from Priority Club when booking Points & Cash reward nights. I almost always use Points & Cash reward nights when redeeming hotel rewards with Priority Club for the opportunity to buy 10,000 points for $60. These purchased points help me maintain sufficient points for the option of booking nights at InterContinental Hotels Group properties like Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Crowne Plaza hotels.

We stayed three nights this trip in Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels on one standard reward (15,000 points) and two PointBreaks reward nights (5,000 points each) spending 25,000 Priority Club points in all ($150 in points for three hotel nights).

DiscoverUSA Daily Getaway Points Sale in spring

In May 2011 I spent about $300 for 114,000 Wyndham points from the DiscoverUSA Daily Getaway sale in May offering discounted points in several hotel loyalty programs. Even the most remote towns we passed through tended to have a Wyndham Rewards hotel option at the 14,000 points or 16,000 points level. I ended up using 16,000 points for the Ramada Copper Queen Casino in remote Ely, Nevada.

Starwood Free Resort Nights

Two nights in Starwood Resorts rounded out the free nights redeemed this trip with stays at Westin Monache Mammoth Lakes, California in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains and St. Regis Aspen in Colorado. Denver consisted of paid nights at three Denver suburban Starwood Hotels on cheap rates to earn another free Starwood Resort night.

Day 1 - Westin Monache Mammoth Lakes, California = Free Starwood Resort night equivalent to 12,000 points.

• Upgraded to one bedroom suite with preferred view. (Room value = $250)

Westin Monache, Mammoth Lakes, California elevation 8,000 ft.

High elevation of the day = 9,945 ft. at Tioga Pass, Yosemite National Park (Highway 120 across the Sierra Nevada.

Google Maps: Monterey to Mammoth Lakes via Yosemite National Park (300 miles).

Day 2 - Ramada Copper Queen Casino, Ely, Nevada = free night for 16,000 Wyndham Rewards points.

• Hotel room value = $120 (many of the highway motels in Nevada and Utah cost as much as a major city upscale hotel.)
• Hotel elevation = 6,437 ft.
• Unique aspects of hotel: First time I ever saw a swimming pool surrounded by slot machines. After checking us into the hotel, the receptionist’s other duties included calling BINGO numbers. Kelley loved this place for Americana Nevada kitsch.

Indoor pool surrounded by slots at Ramada Copper Queen Casino, Ely, Nevada

High elevation of the day – Sagehen Summit (Highway 120 California) 8,139 ft.

Loyalty Traveler post – Highway 6 Nevada, Even Lonelier than the Loneliest Road in America (July 15, 2011).

Google Maps - Mammoth Lakes to Ely, Nevada via CA-120 and US Route 6 (320 miles).

Day 3 – Holiday Inn Express Green River, Utah = free night for 15,000 Priority Club points.

• Hotel room value = $120 at a sold out hotel.
• Hotel elevation 4,079 ft.
• Hotel receptionist went on and on about my upgrade as a platinum member. My observations over the past year indicate major effort by IHG staff at hotels to promote Priority Club. I’d put Best Western as number two this past year for hotel  loyalty talk by staff in hotels. Not really sure about the upgrade since the room size looked fairly standard, but bottled water in the middle of the flooding desert was appreciated. Green River had been under a flood watch as recently as four hours before our arrival at this hotel in a small town 100 miles from anywhere except the popular outdoors location of Moab, Utah some 50 miles away south of the I-70 interstate and the Green River some 200 yards away with visibly high water. Photographers walked the town concrete bridge near the Holiday Inn Express to photograph the actually greenish color swiftly flowing river pushing high up the riverbanks.

Holiday Inn Express Green River, Utah

High elevation of the day = 10,167 ft. Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive in Great Basin National Park, Nevada

Loyalty Traveler post – Earth’s Oldest Trees in Great Basin National Park (July 17, 2011).

Google Maps - Ely, Nevada to Green River, Utah via Highways 50 and Interstate-70 (330 miles).

The fourth day of our trip we reached Denver.

High elevations of the day: 10,617 ft. at Vail Pass where we stopped and hiked around a little and photographed some mountains.

Vail Pass Trail sign at 10,617 ft. in Colorado

Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70 is the actual high elevation we drove in our car at 11,158 ft.

Google satellite maps Green River, Utah - Denver, Colorado (343 miles)

Brokeass Mountain Road Trip, July 2011

Monterey, California – Denver, Colorado

• Yosemite’s Tioga Pass Road across the Sierra Nevada Mountains
• Westin Monache Resort Mammoth for year round vacations
• Even Lonelier than the Loneliest Road in America
• Earth’s Oldest Trees in Great Basin National Park Nevada
• Less extreme than 127 Hours in Utah
• Brokeass Mountain Tour eastbound – Hotel Value at High Elevation
• Brokeass Mountain Tour visits Starwood in Denver
• Driving by the 14ers South Park to Aspen, Colorado
• Top of the Rockies on the High Road to Aspen – Independence Pass 12,095 feet.
• St. Regis Aspen – Too Late to Cancel
• Aspen, Colorado to Park City, Utah: Ghost lands of Buffalo Soldiers, Utes and Dinosaurs
• The California Trail across Nevada
• Homeward Bound – Carson Pass Highway 88 over the Sierra Nevada to Monterey

U.S. Route 6 used to be the longest transcontinental highway in the U.S. from Long Beach, California to Provincetown, Massachusetts. Route 6 now starts in Bishop, California on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Yesterday I drove from Mammoth Lakes to Ely, Nevada on Route 120 past Mono Lake. The 13,000 and 14,000 ft peaks are a beautiful sight on a clear day.

Boundary Peak NV at 13,147 ft. is highest peak in Nevada

My camera broke yesterday morning at Mammoth Lakes so few pictures to show. Learning how to use my phone camera and after taking 60 or so photos and then emailing them to myself, I saw that only five photos successfully attached to the emails. I deleted all my phone photos so few visuals to share from the drive.

There are only three places to get gas along the 300 mile route that took us by Mono Lake on Highway 120 in California to Highway 6 past Tonapah to Ely, NV.

Several miles of pine forest are located near the southern side of Mono Lake before continuing into the desert. Highway 120 is literally a roller coaster ride for several miles where the road dips deeply causing our car to ride up to the crest of the road at such an angle that there is no road visibility, only sky, and then quickly drop down the other side so steeply that our stomachs felt like we were riding on a rollercoaster. This is some serious dipping that goes on for several miles and is rather unnerving with the lack of forward road visibility when cresting each road wave.

Mono Lake, California

Tonapah is a mining town. Tonapah looks like a mining town. This was only a gas stop for us. Seeing a sign just east of Tonapah ’167 miles to next gas’ is rather alarming. There were only a couple of places between Tonapah and Ely where structures exist and there are no services at all.

Wild horses and shades of desert green entertained our eyes for the next 167 miles. Having spent the past decade only seeing the Las Vegas area of Nevada I was reminded during this drive that Nevada actually has remarkable natural beauty in its remoteness and wilderness. I was surprised to see such intense color with various shades of grays and greens as we passed through each desert valley between the north-south mountain range crossings. There is plenty of life in these valleys and hills.

The road of Highway 6 is well paved. We had hours of driving with rarely another car in sight. I said to Kelley at one point that we were probably farther away from another human than we ever have been in our lives.

The road was so deserted that we nicknamed this one bird species the “suicide birds” for their habit of sitting on the road pavement and flying up in front of the car as we approached. Hundreds of these birds flew up in front of our windshield as we drove through the desert around Warm Springs midway between Tonopah and Ely.

Three suicide birds of Highway 6 flying up from pavement (left side of photo)

About 60 miles from Ely a roadrunner bird swooped down on the road and then ran in front of our car. Fortunately that roadrunner was fast. I read these birds are so fast that they actually are rattlesnake predators.

Humboldt National Forest 50 miles west of Ely was an unexpected pleasure of woods and mountain streams after 200 miles of no trees since leaving the Mono Lake area of California. This is an area of great beauty filled with the small desert Utah juniper trees deep in the Nevada wilderness. In the evening sun of the Nevada Great Basin desert, the forest looked to be a National Park quality region. My biggest disappointment of the day was losing my photos of the forest with the missing email attachments.

US Highway 50 is nicknamed “The Loneliest Road in America”. Highway 6 and Highway 50 join up in Ely to become the same lonely road to Great Basin National Park at the eastern edge of Nevada and then on to Delta, Utah another 150 miles to the east of Ely.

Highway 50 Nevada poster at the Ramada Copper Queen Casino in Ely, Nevada

US Highway 6 is a more southerly road than Highway 50 and the road even less traveled than Highway 50.

Highway 6 is even lonelier than the loneliest road in America.

Brokeass Mountain Road Trip, July 2011

Monterey, California – Denver, Colorado

• Yosemite’s Tioga Pass Road across the Sierra Nevada Mountains
• Westin Monache Resort Mammoth for year round vacations
• Even Lonelier than the Loneliest Road in America
• Earth’s Oldest Trees in Great Basin National Park Nevada
• Less extreme than 127 Hours in Utah
• Brokeass Mountain Tour eastbound – Hotel Value at High Elevation
• Brokeass Mountain Tour visits Starwood in Denver
• Driving by the 14ers South Park to Aspen, Colorado
• Top of the Rockies on the High Road to Aspen – Independence Pass 12,095 feet.
• St. Regis Aspen – Too Late to Cancel
• Aspen, Colorado to Park City, Utah: Ghost lands of Buffalo Soldiers, Utes and Dinosaurs
• The California Trail across Nevada
• Homeward Bound – Carson Pass Highway 88 over the Sierra Nevada to Monterey

Wyndham Rewards has a summer promotion for residents of Europe offering 15,000 bonus points after two stays at any of ten Wyndham hotel brands from 1 July-30 September 2011. This bonus may be earned up to four times (8 stays) for 60,000 bonus points.  There are probably 4,000+ hotels globally eligible for this offer.

Participating Wyndham Rewards hotel brands for this promotion.

• Ramada
• Days Inn
• Baymont Inn & Suites
• Hawthorn Suites
• Howard Johnson
• Knights Inn
• Super 8   (China excluded)
• Travelodge   (U.S. only)
• Wingate by Wyndham
• Wyndham Hotels & Resorts  (Europe, North America, Caribbean, Latin America and China only)

Wyndham Rewards ‘Stay Twice and Earn a Free night” Promotion.

1. Promotion for residents of Europe (LT Note: T&C do not define Europe by country.)
2. Register at WyndhamRewards.com/freenight or wyndhamrewards.de/freenight using a valid email address.
3. New members enrolled at property locations are automatically enrolled in promotion.
4. Booking period 1 July – 31 August, 2011.
5. Stay period from 1 July – 30 September, 2011.
6. Stay must be completed by 30 September to qualify for promotion bonus of 15,000 points after two stays at any participating hotels.
7. Members earning miles instead of Wyndham Rewards points are still eligible for 15,000 bonus points after two stays.
8. 15,000 points bonus may be earned four times (8 total stays) during promotion period for 60,000 total bonus points.

Loyalty Traveler analysis:

This is a good deal for Europeans coming to the U.S. where many of these Wyndham brand hotels have rates under $60 per night. The cost of eight hotel stays is feasibly under $500USD all in for travel in the Super 8, Knights Inn, Howard Johnson and Travelodge brands. Baymont Inn, Ramada and Hawthorn Suites will run $60 to $120 in most places around the U.S.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts have some nice properties. Many of the other Wyndham Rewards brands are budget and midscale hotel segments. Baymont Inn and Ramada are the upper midscale segments for Wyndham brands. Hawthorn Suites extended stay hotels were formerly part of a Hyatt Hotels purchase, then sold to Wyndham.  

Wyndham Rewards hotel brand descriptions.

Wyndham Hotels and Resorts room rates range from $100 to $300 per night, depending on location.

The high value of this promotion is the ability to earn 60,000 bonus points for as little as $500USD and have sufficient points to redeem four to eight free nights at hotels all over the U.S.

Wyndham Rewards U.S. and Canada Hotel Rewards link.

Wyndham brands in the U.S., aside from Wyndham Resorts, are categorized in four tiers:

Wyndham Reward Nights for Howard Johnson, Super 8, Days Inn, Knights Inn, Travelodge, Ramada, Baymont Inn

• Tier 1 = 6,000 Points 
• Tier 2 = 10,000 Points 
• Tier 3 = 14,000 Points
• Tier 4 = 16,000 Points    

Wyndham Rewards Global Hotel Rewards link.

Germany has several Ramada brand hotels ranging in reward cost from 6,000 points with most being 10,000 points and rising up to 20,000 and 30,000 points for locations like Berlin.

Ramada Hotels in Köln, Germany are 50 to 60EUR for weekend nights in July depending on rate type.

Wyndham Hotel Rewards property by State and Country link.

This promotion offers the possibility to earn at least two to three free nights at most Wyndham properties in the 20,000 or 25,000 points range.  Some Wyndham Hotels and Resorts in a city like New York, Amsterdam and St. Petersburg are 45,000 points for a free night.

This is a 5-key offer for European residents with the potential to earn a full rebate on hotel spend  in the next three months after 8 hotel stays. 60,000 bonus points is good for three to ten nights in free future Wyndham Rewards hotel stays.  

P.S.

Personally I found Wyndham Rewards free nights very easy to redeem at last minute during my 2,200 mile road trip last month through the Pacific Northwest of the USA.

Wyndham Rewards European promotion for 15,000 points after 2 stays 1 Jul-30 Sep.

Update July 6: [Note from Ric Garrido- This paragraph was written as a result of incorrect information posted on Wyndham Rewards sites for UK, Ireland, Germany which apparently caught the attention of Wyndham Rewards. See July 7 update].  Wyndham Rewards reduced the earn rate for hotels December 22, 2010. I just realized the earn rate for most Wyndham Rewards hotel brands dropped from 10 points/US$1 to 5 points/US$1 in December 2010 for all hotel brands except Wyndham and Hawthorn Suites remain at 10 points/US$1.

Interesting point is while European members still earn 10 points/US$1 for Hawthorn Suites, US/Canada members earn only 5 points/US$1 for stays at Hawthorn Suites as of December 2010.

Update July 7: Received an email from Wyndham Rewards today. Turns out their European website information is incorrect and the earning rates are the same for Europeans and Americans at 10 points/$1 for every Wyndham brand, except Hawthorn Suites at 5 points/$1. All you Europeans can thank me with a complimentary beer when you are visiting Monterey.

Or maybe Wyndham Rewards should give me complimentary top elite status. (That’s a hotel loyalty program joke some readers may get.)

Saturday, June 4 was the start of my two week road trip through the volcanic Cascade country of the Pacific Northwest to attend the Travel Blog Exchange annual conference — #TBEX11 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Hopefully the trip will get more exciting than Day 1.

MilePoint 0.0 – Rain has fallen through most of the night in Monterey, California. A full-scale rain storm is rare in June in this part of California. How rare is it? Since 1849 in San Francisco, there have been four times the entire month of June had rainfall over one inch in accumulation. An inch of rain fell on June 4 in six hours breaking the 77-year old record for rain in San Francisco.

Sand City, Monterey Bay on rainy June day

MilePoint 11.2 – Car overturned in the grassy median beside Highway 1 between artichoke fields of Castroville, California. Most drivers are doing 70 mph with no lights on and the roads are puddled with water. Physics trumps stupidity.

MilePoint 96  – Driving Interstate 680 with blind faith in white out conditions. Road spray creates a mist obscuring everything more than 100-feet ahead. Repeatedly I see arterial spray shoot up and over the barrier from the other side of the freeway as cars drive through puddled water.  Phoebe Hearst, WR’s mommy, would have thought this is Pleasanton in January rather than June with 57 degrees and heavy rain.

MilePoint 131 – The Benicia Bridge toll going north is $5. This bridge certainly hasn’t the view or beauty of the Golden Gate. Driving 580 from Dublin to Tracy and I-5 would bypass the $5 toll, but take $10 more in gas.

MilePoint 200 – Driving through the rice fields of the northern Sacramento Valley as the rain finally subsides to an intermittent sprinkle. I bet you didn’t realize California actually exports rice to Asia. Half a million acres of rice fields are within 100 miles of Sacramento. I pulled off I-5 to snap a photo and watched a Great Egret fly off into the mist. Obviously the blurry bird in my photo is not white or as big as a great egret.

Sacramento Valley rice fields

MilePoint 316 – Redding, California is nestled at the base of the Cascade foothills and is the northernmost city in the Sacramento Valley. This is where I-5 ends its 450 miles of flat terrain along the big Central Valley of California. The town is more geographically beautiful than I recall. The absence of a typical sweltering June afternoon when the temperature would normally be around 98 this time of year gives the appearance of a comfortable living location. This is typically among the sunniest locations in the U.S.

No sun today though. Rain in June just messes with our California sensibilities.

MilePoint 326 – Shasta Lake is at capacity this year. This lake is the largest reservoir in California and helps keep those rice paddies moist in summer and central valley lawns green.

Shasta Lake, California

This lake area is big on houseboat rentals in the summer. Shasta Lake is the third largest lake in California.

The winding road through these mountain stretches is a welcome relief from the flat central valley. A pot of tea I had for lunch at a Chinese Restaurant in Fairfield is keeping me awake.

MilePoint 389 – After dropping down into sage country I pull over at a rest stop. It is feeling rather cool when I get out of my car to snap a photo of Mount Shasta. Weed is a town in the Shasta Valley sagebrush steppe of Siskiyou County. This valley divides the volcanic Cascade Range to the east from the glacial carved valleys of the Klamath Mountains to the west.

The wind is blowing fiercely cold off the snowy mountains. Still miles to go before I reach Oregon. And miles to go before I sleep.

Near Weed, California

Here is a photo of Mount Shasta on my last time through the area in November 2008.

Mount Shasta, California 14,162 ft.

Mount Shasta is the second highest peak in the Cascade Range.  Mount Rainier, Washington at 14,411 ft. is a couple hundred feet higher. Prominence is a mountain term that describes how much higher a peak is compared to adjacent mountains and valleys. Mount Shasta is in the top 100 prominent mountains in the world at 9,822 ft., and Mount Rainier is #21 in the world at 13,211 ft. 

Here is Mount Shasta on June 4, 2011.

Mount Shasta in rain clouds

MilePoint 433 – Crossed the California border. There is no large ‘Leaving California’ sign, although there is a small ‘Welcome to Oregon’ sign. Amazingly I only traversed the northern half of the state. Reaching Mexico from Monterey on Interstate 5 is 457 miles south. I tried to snap a photo of the I-5 Siskiyou Summit marker at 4,310 ft., a couple of miles inside Oregon and the highest point on Interstate 5. My camera only captured the ‘ou’ in the sign. The travails of snapping photos at 60 mph.

MilePoint 449 – Ashland, Oregon is home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I’ve never been to the town to see a play, although I did stay at the Holiday Inn Express Ashland on my last drive through the area back in 2008 on a Priority Club 5,000 points PointBreaks night. The rate Saturday night June 4 was around $150.

MilePoint 462 – Medford, Oregon is home to all the chain motels and my resting place for the night. Tip for travelers is pick up the roadside motel coupon book at gas station stops. Holiday Inn, Homewood Suites, Hampton Inn and all the Marriotts were well over $100 per night.

The coupon brought the rate down from $80 to $50 for the Ramada and Quality Inn motels in Medford. Choice Privileges elite members even get free night promotion credit for rates booked using coupons. I didn’t pick up the coupon book, even though I told myself to do that for the last three hours of my drive.

Instead I sat in the lobby of the Ramada Medford and used their computer to book a Wyndham Rewards night at 14,000 points. Those points cost about $45 in last month’s Discover America sale.

Ultimately the redeemed points were not used wisely from a Loyalty Traveler advice viewpoint, but from a Loyalty Traveler business viewpoint I learned that a hotel night can be booked instantly through Wyndham Rewards. I redeemed my points using the Ramada lobby computer and stepped over to the reception desk and picked up my room key.

Pretty cool.

Ramada Medford, Oregon indoor pools

Earn 1,000 bonus points per stay at Wyndham Rewards brand hotels in U.S. and Canada from June 1 – September 5, 2011. No registration required. All Wyndham Rewards brands regularly earn 10 points per $1, except Hawthorn Suites at 5 points/$1.

Members with earning preference of miles are also eligible for the 1,000 bonus points per stay. The good points-to-miles exchange rate of 10 points = 4 miles for most frequent flier programs means points are generally the better earning choice for Wyndham Rewards members who want miles, unless there is a miles bonus. The normal miles earn rate is only 2 miles per $1 when earning preference is set to miles rather than points.

Wyndham is a necessary choice sometimes when traveling rural America. There are many places where Best Western, Choice Hotels and Wyndham will be the only hotel loyalty program options and this 1,000 points bonus promotion provides some kind of hotel stay rebate.

Free nights with Wyndham Rewards for most hotel brands in U.S. are assigned to four tiers at 6,000 points, 10,000 points, 14,000 points and 16,000 points. Four $50 hotel stays during this promotion can be sufficient for a free 6,000 points award night. 

Also, keep in mind this summer that Best Western has three stays for one free night from June 19-August 14. I’ll write up this offer once the details are online, probably next week. The link gives the Best Western promotion details from FlyerTalk and Best Western representatives have confirmed details of this offer to me. 

Choice Hotels is offering 8,000 bonus points for two stays from May 19-August 11. Loyalty Traveler post May 16.

The last sentence of the Wyndham Rewards 1,000 bonus points per stay promotion terms raises concern for me: 

“Each individual hotel must elect to participate in the Promotion.”

That is way too vague for my comfort level when making hotel stay plans.

Do I need to call each hotel and ask?

There are too numerous to count brands in Wyndham Rewards. They seem to create new brands in their dreams at night. No wait…they actually added Dream and Night as two new hotel brands in Wyndham this year. 

Wyndham Hotel Group brands

Wyndham Hotel Group

• Wyndham Hotels and Resorts
• Wyndham Grand Collection
• Wyndham Garden
• Wingate by Wyndham
• Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham
• Ramada Worldwide
• Days Inn
• Super 8
• Baymont Inn & Suites
• Microtel Inn & Suites
• Howard Johnson
• Travelodge
• Knights Inn
• Planet Hollywood
• Dream
• Night
• Tryp

You can buy up to 190,000 Wyndham Rewards points at 12 noon ET Wednesday, May 4 through DiscoverAmerica.com Daily Getaways offers. These are great discounts on Wyndham Rewards points for hotel nights or points-to-miles exchange.

$117 for two nights at a Wyndham Hotel is a deal you’d be hard to match with Priceline or Hotwire hotel buys.

Wyndham Rewards is one of the best hotel loyalty programs for low level points-to-miles exchanges with airlines. Wyndham Rewards has a fixed rate of exchange at 8,000 points = 3,200 miles with most major US airlines.

Buy 48,000 points for $135 (AmEx) or even $150 and convert to 19,200 miles in American, Air Canada Aeroplan, Continental, Delta, Frontier, United and US Airways and a few others.

Hotel Rewards in U.S. for most Wyndham Rewards brands like Ramada, Super 8, Days Inn, Howard Johnson, Travelodge, Knights Inn, Microtel Hawthorn Suites and Baymont are assigned to four tiers.

Wyndham Rewards for one hotel free night at most Wyndham brands:

• Tier 1 = 6,000 points
• Tier 2 = 10,000 points
• Tier 3 = 14,000 points
• Tier 4 = 16,000 points

Wyndham Hotels and Resorts are a separate category of rewards at 15,000 to 45,000 for properties around the world. In the U.S. most Wyndham hotels are in the 15,000 to 25,000 points range.

Wyndham Rewards points on Discover America Daily Getaway Wednesday May 4, 2011

16,000 points = $50 ($45.00 if payment with American Express). 725 sets available. Maximum purchase is two per member.

28,000 points = $69 ($62.10 if payment with American Express). 125 sets available. Maximum purchase is one per member.

32,000 points = $100 ($90.00 if payment with American Express). 400 sets available. Maximum purchase is one per member.

48,000 points = $150 ($135.00 if payment with American Express). 150 sets available. Maximum purchase is one per member.

50,000 points = $130 ($117.00 if payment with American Express). 298 sets available. Maximum purchase is one per member.

Oddly the price is not the same rate for these Wyndham Points packages. 28,000 points and 50,000 points are best buys with a rate around $2.50 for 1,000 points compared to $3.12 per 1,000 for the other three sets.

A member may purchase a maximum of six sets of Wyndham Rewards points from these five offers for a total of 190,000 points for $494.10.

This is really an excellent deal. 190,000 points can be converted to 76,000 airline miles (plus any bonuses like US Airways) or buy a whole lot of hotel nights or even a one week Wyndham Resort beach vacation. This deal certainly beats Starpoints at 20% off or $28 per 1,000 points for someone wanting frequent flyer miles.

Loyalty Traveler surveys world’s Top 20 Hotel Brands for loyalty program affiliation and hotel benefits.

The hotel industry generally ranks the world’s biggest hotel brands by different criteria than Loyalty Traveler. The hotel industry ranks hotel brands by the total number of rooms worldwide. That is the hotelier’s viewpoint since more rooms creates the potential for more money.

My viewpoint as a traveler is whether I will be able to find a hotel in a particular hotel brand in the location I am visiting.  I generally only need one or two rooms for my hotel stay. As a traveler I care less about whether a hotel has 100 rooms or 1,000 rooms and more about the number of hotels in my preferred brand for geographic coverage.

Therefore, Loyalty Traveler ranks hotel brand size by the number of hotels rather than the number of rooms. This results in a different hotel brand ranking order than will be found for most hotel chain size surveys.

When it comes to the number of hotels in a hotel brand you can forget about your upscale Hyatt’s and Hilton’s and Marriott’s being the leaders. There are no upscale market segment brands in the top 20 global hotel brands when ranked by number of hotels.

Marriott Hotels (550 hotels) and Hilton Hotels (540 hotels) just miss the Top 20 cut coming in at #21 and #22 respectively with the distinction of being the highest ranking upscale brands worldwide.

The Benefits of Economy and Mid-scale Hotels

Free internet and complimentary breakfast are the two most desired benefits for upscale hotel travelers. In recent years there has been a move among loyalty programs to add these benefits for elite members of Marriott Rewards, Hilton HHonors, Starwood Preferred Guest and Hyatt Gold Passport.

Travel in the economy hotel market segment pretty much guarantees you will have access to free internet and most of the top brands also offer a free breakfast as a benefit for all hotel guests. Downsizing your hotel brand may upsize your savings in more ways than room rate.

Family-Friendly Hotel Brands  

One of the biggest value benefits of the major economy/mid-scale hotel brands is a policy at six of the Top 20 Hotel Brands to let kids stay free in the room with an adult family member. This policy is extended to a high age limit of 19 years old for Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express which offers some interesting possibilities for taking Mom, Dad or Uncle Bob on spring break.

Children Stay Free Policies can be big savings for big families. Bring the sleeping bags.

Holiday Inn/Holiday Inn Express = Children 19 and under stay free in same room with adult guest.

La Quinta Inn = Children 18 and under stay free in same room with adult guest.

Super 8 = Children 17 and under stay free in same room with adult guest.

Motel 6 = Children 17 and under stay free in same room with adult guest.

Premier Inn (U.K.) = Children 15 and under stay free.

“Honey, I Just Fed the Kids!”

Some hotel brands even offer free restaurant meals to kids when an adult orders off the regular menu. The age limit is a bit lower than 19 for this benefit.

Holiday Inn (U.S. and Canada only) – ‘Kids Eat Free’ policy allows up to four children age 12 and under to eat free from kids menu any time of day when adult guest pays for meal from regular menu.

Premier Inn (U.K.) – free breakfast for up to two children (15 or under).

Loyalty traveler note on hotel numbers and Choice International hotel brands count:

The source of hotel numbers is primarily hotel brand website checks February 8-10, 2011 and data from the most recent financial reports. Choice Privileges only reported domestic properties in its Sep 30, 2010 financial statement. There were 1,140 international Choice Hotels Sep 30, 2010. This is the only detail on international franchised Choice Hotels properties I located without making a hand count by country.

My website checks indicate these 1,140 international hotels are primarily Comfort Inn & Suites and Quality Inn & Suites properties with about 150 Clarion and a handful of EconoLodge and Sleep Inn properties. Australia and New Zealand have more than 200 Choice Hotels.

Choice Hotels total hotel numbers for Days Inn and Quality Inn are from TopHotelChains.com Sep 2010. Hotel numbers for U.S. properties are taken from Choice International financial statements for Sep 30, 2010.

Loyalty Traveler Survey of the Top 20 Hotel Brands in the World

Loyalty Traveler Top 20 Hotel Brands by Number of Hotels Feb 11, 2011

Tip: Click on the spreadsheet picture to open in a new window and see in full size. (You may need to click on picture again in new window to magnify size).

Please add a comment if there are other noteworthy features and benefits for these 20 brands; particularly some first-hand knowledge of Mercure and Ibis would be appreciated for these non-U.S. hotel brands.

Wyndham Rewards launches a new promotion today running February 3 through April 30, 2011.

• Earn 2x points or miles on 2^nd stay.
• Earn 3x points or miles on 3^rd stay.
• Earn 4x points or miles on 4^th stay.

Promotion registration is required.

Hotel stays must be completed by May 7^th to qualify for this promotion.

There are no additional bonus points or miles for more than 4 stays during the promotion period. You do not earn 4x points for every stay after the 4th stay.

Earn 1,000 additional bonus points for hotel stays paid with Wyndham Visa card on 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th stays. Maximum credit card additional bonus is 3,000 points.

Wyndham Rewards hotel brands include over 6,500 hotels in Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Wyndham Grand Collection, Wyndham Garden, Wingate, Hawthorn Suites, Ramada, Days Inn, Super 8, Baymont Inn & Suites, Microtel Inns & Suites, Howard Johnson, Travelodge and Knights Inn.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis

This promotion only offers a bonus on the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th stays during the promotion period. Unlike recent promotions from other hotel loyalty programs, this offer does not apply 4x points to all previous stays.

Basically the best strategy is maximize the dollar spend on the 4^th hotel stay. An expensive vacation or business stay or an extended stay could make this a high value points bonus.

My analysis below shows the best choice for members wanting to maximize miles is choosing bonus points. Wyndham Rewards points will likely result in more miles through points-to-miles exchange rather than choosing bonus miles for this promotion. Wyndham Rewards has the highest static exchange rate for points-to-miles of any hotel loyalty program. Static exchange rate means the rate is the same (2.5 Wyndham Rewards points = 1 mile) regardless of the number of points converted to miles.

High-end Wyndham Rewards hotels run 25,000 points to 45,000 points per night.

Assume $200 per stay for four stays.

• Stay 1 = 2,000 points ($200 x 10 points/$1)
• Stay 2 = 4,000 points ($200 x 20 points/$1)
• Stay 3 = 6,000 points ($200 x 30 points/$1)
• Stay 4 = 8,000 points ($200 x 40 points/$1)

$800 hotel spend over 4 hotel stays earns 20,000 points. You will have sufficient points for a Tier 4 award (16,000 points) or a low tier Wyndham Hotel (15,000), but you will have insufficient points for a high end Wyndham Hotel or Resort in locations like downtown  Chicago (25,000 to 45,000), New York (25,000 to 45,000) or Sugar Bay Resort, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands (45,000).

Earning Miles

Wyndham Rewards earns miles with 20 different airlines and Amtrak. Wyndham Rewards has one of the highest point-to-miles exchange rates among hotel loyalty programs. Programs like Marriott and goldpoints plus have higher exchange rates in their dynamic points-to-miles system, but that requires large numbers of points (100,000+) to get a better exchange rate than Wyndham Rewards.

Most airlines earn at the rate of 2 miles per $1 or 500 miles per stay at Wyndham Hotels and Hawthorn Suites. You will need to analyze earn rates to determine if more miles are earned choosing 2x, 3x and 4x miles or choosing points and making a points-to-miles exchange with a static exchange rate of 8,000 points = 3,200 miles or 2.5 points = 1 mile with most frequent flyer programs.

Here is a sample earning table:

Assume $200 per stay for four stays and United Mileage Plus.

• Stay 1 (Microtel) = 2,000 points or 400 miles (base earning rate).
•      ($200 x 2 miles/$1) Points are better = 800 miles.
• Stay 2 (Hawthorn Suites) = 2,000 points ($200 x 10 points/$1) or 1,000 miles (double miles 2 x 500)
•      (Miles are better choice since Hawthorn Suites has low 5 points/$1 earn rate. 2000 points = 800 miles).
• Stay 3 (Super 8 ) = 6,000 points or 1,200 miles (triple miles)
•      ($200 x 30 points/$1 or 6 miles/$1 = 1,200 miles) 6,000 points are better = 2,400 miles.
• Stay 4 (Wyndham) = 8,000 points or  2,000 miles (4x miles).
•      ($200 x 40 points/$1 or 500 miles per stay x 4). 8,000 points are better = 3,200 miles.

Bottom line: This promotion favors earning points rather than miles as long as you accrue 8,000 total points for a minimum points-to-miles exchange. The only time miles are the better choice is for Hawthorn Suites stays where points is based on 5 points/$1 earn rate. The earn rate for Hawthorn Suites quietly changed from 10 points/$1 to only 5 points/$1 in December 2010. This change does not even appear to have been mentioned by anyone on FlyerTalk to date.

Wyndham Rewards up to 4x points or miles Feb 3-April 30, 2011

Ramada Hotels has a 50% off Best Available Rate (BAR) sale in U.S., Canada, Caribbean and Latin America for stays through February 10, 2011. “Just for You” is an online booking promotion that must be booked by Tuesday November 30 through this Ramada Hotels “Just for You” special offer link.

These rates do not qualify for Wyndham Rewards points or miles.

Looking at New York City, Miami and San Francisco I found the rates were not available for many Ramada properties on dates I checked.  Rates are significantly lower than AAA and advance purchase nonrefundable rates at Ramada Hotels where this special offer rate is available.

An additional benefit to the big rate discount with the “Just for You” 50% off rate promotion is a liberal ‘day of arrival’ cancellation policy with no penalty for hotels I checked.