I recently wrote about A Hilton Grand Vacations Timeshare Offer We Couldn’t Refuse.
With this offer, the Michael W Travels family will have 4 days 3 nights in Orlando, Florida. The thing is that we still need one more hotel night!
I’d like to use points for the last night, so I narrowed the options down to an IHG property booked as a Points Break or a booking with Wyndham Rewards
I have enough Wyndham Rewards points for 6 nights plus some extra.
The Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek looks like a very nice property and one that would make for a great redemption if not for one problem- availability!
I did a search for the night we were looking to book. The property is available to book when paying with cash or cash + points, however it is not available as a Go Free award!
This didn’t seem to make a lot of sense! If the room was available with both methods of payment mentioned above, why could it not be booked for 15,000 points for free?
I decided to call Wyndham customer support to try to get some more details.
After explaining the situation and the frustration I was having, the rep did a search and confirmed that it wasn’t available as a Go Free night. He also told me that he did not have a specific answer as to why I couldn’t book with points for a free night. He went on to say that it was a decision of the property when they offer Go Free nights.
You’d think that Wyndham Rewards would have set criterion as to when rooms are bookable as a Go Free award. Apparently, its up to the discretion of the property! Strange.
The rep also mentioned that I could call the property’s front desk and ask about the booking issue. I somehow doubt that the front desk staff will have a clue or that I’ll get anywhere with this, so I didn’t bother to contact the hotel.
I decided to send a tweet to @Wyndham on Twitter, I’m currently waiting for a response.
Have you had success booking Go Free nights with your Wyndham Rewards points or have you been frustrated by a lack of availability?
Im having the same problem. Trying to book 2 nights in either Chicago or Santa Monica, and no matter what i do there is no availability.
These points are appearing almost useless except for low value properties.
Angela- Hopefully, we all can find some good value in these free nights but it seems like they might be more of a headache than anything… I hope that is not the case.
JohnJ- So far, Wyndham has not responded to my tweet. Not cool!
Scott- That sucks! I had high hopes for these free nights but it seems like we all might have to set the bar low.
I’m interested as well. There is a Wyndham property in San Juan, Puerto Rico (TRYP by Wyndham Isla Verde), that is blacked out every day.
MW,
I’d be interested as to what Wyndham’s response, if any, will be.
I have used several Go Free nights at regular Wyndham properties (Wyndham Boston Beacon Hill and Days Inn in London) but I had the same issues as you, booking Days Inn in London. Wyndham Rewards terms for Go Free used to say if a standard room is available, you can book with Go Free and there would be no black out dates. That has changed. I had to argue with them quite a bit 3 years ago to get the room booked in London. If you think it is hard to book a hotel, try finding a condo, cottage, or house. I gave up. We have enough points for seven free nights and I don’t know where we will end up using them.
Angela,
Don’t hold on to your Wyndham points too long as they expire 4 years after posting. Check their T’s & C’s for details —-