In the afterglow of being acknowledged as offering the Best Payback among leading hotel loyalty programs, officials for Wyndham Rewards wanted to extend a generous and exclusive opportunity to Starwood SPG members, whose reward value return was more than two times lower.
Wyndham Rewards’ unprecedented promotional attempt to offer a 12-hour window (noon EDT to 11:59 EDT on Tuesday for SPG members to swap their points at a 4 to 1 ratio, plus receive a status level match, ultimately failed due to fraud activity.
Officials for Wyndham Rewards released the following statement during the early afternoon on Tuesday:
“Today’s Wyndham Rewards trade up was offered in the spirit of generosity,” the statement reads. “Before the offer even began, there were obvious and significant examples of fraud. Much to our dismay and disappointment, we have to cancel this promotion. We will, however, make a donation of 5 million Wyndham Rewards points to charity as the work they do on behalf of others is real magic.”
Wyndham Rewards were trying to lure SPG members with a much more attractive loyalty program offer, particularly based on payback numbers. What’s more, a charitable component existed in this unprecedented offer.
Besides offering 4 to 1 points tradeup to SPG members, the 12-hour Wyndham Rewards offer included a status level match when members donated their “other” points to charity.
These were the guidelines for the promotion:
To participate, members simply need to donate their entire SPG point balance to their preferred, approved charity, and then send proof of their donation to Wyndham Rewards by sending screen shots to wyndhamrewards.fulfillment@wyn.com.
Two (2) screen shots are required – one showing confirmation of the point donation; and a second showing the member’s account activity page with a zero balance upon completion of the transaction.
There is no cap on how many points members may donate or earn. Members can expect to receive the points and match within 10 days.
Wyndham Rewards is the only program in the world to offer its members a free-night stay at any of its nearly 8,000 hotels for a flat 15,000 points with no blackout dates.
Wyndham Rewards officials were saddened by the cancellation.
“We know some had the best intentions, and we want to reward them with what they’ve earned,” the statement reads. “Anyone who believes they’ve met all of the terms and conditions may reach out to us at wyndhamrewards.fulfillment@wyn.com and we will arrange a time to contact them for additional verification. We’re sad to have to cancel this promotion, but remain dedicated to winning travelers’ loyalty.”