I love when hotels compete for business, because it often means better deals and perks for folks in our hobby. But today’s events are quite strange!
Wyndham Rewards is trying to convince Starwood members to choose Wyndham instead of Marriott. With their flash promo, “Loyalty Intervention“, Wyndham WAS going to offer 4 Wyndham points for every 1 Starwood point when you donated your entire Starwood account balance to charity.
But it was cancelled before it even launched due to fraud.
Wyndham’s Starwood Promotion Was Scheduled to Begin at 12:00 pm Eastern Time
I’ll give you the details, and explain what happened.
Generous Wyndham Promotion Cancelled
Link: Wyndham “Loyalty Intervention” Announcement
Link: Wyndham “Loyalty Intervention” Cancellation Notice
Wyndham is competing hard with Marriott for its new Starwood customers!
Since Wyndham and Starwood are not partners, Wyndham created a roundabout way of converting Starwood points to Wyndham points. For 12 hours only, Wyndham WAS going to give Starwood members the option to donate their Starwood points to charity, and receive 4 Wyndham points for every 1 Starwood point donated. And an elite status match!
The Wyndham Rewards program allows you to book any Wyndham hotel for a flat rate of 15,000 points per night, from the cheapest hotel to the most expensive. So this promotion was essentially giving you a free night at Wyndham for 3,750 Starwood points per night.
The terms of the deal were:
You must donate your points TODAY, October 11, 2016, between 12:00 pm and 11:59 pm Eastern Time
You must donate your ENTIRE Starwood points balance to a Starwood charity
There is no cap on the number of points you can donate or earn
Your account could not reflect any other points transaction within the past 24 hours (you could not first transfer any Starwood points to Marriott for safe keeping)
Wyndham required 2 screen shots:
Confirmation of your points donation
A picture of your Starwood points balance as zero
But, according to Wyndham:
Today’s Wyndham Rewards trade up was offered in the spirit of generosity. 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.
So, folks were trying to cheat Wyndham, and the promotion was cancelled. There are lots of great tricks and secrets to earning more miles & points, but breaking the law is NOT one of them!
Bottom Line
In an effort to convert Starwood members from Marriott, Wyndham was planning to offer a status match and 4 Wyndham Rewards points for every 1 Starwood point donated to charity.
But Wyndham wanted you to donate all your Starwood points, making this not the best deal for most folks, unless you rarely stay in Starwood hotels.
The deal was cancelled before it began because of “obvious and significant examples of fraud.” Even though this promotion wasn’t a no-brainer, I’m sure several folks would have jumped on this deal.
Were you planning on donating Starwood points to earn Wyndham points today?
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