Wyndham Rewards Earner® Card review: A budget-friendly travel card

Both the Wyndham Rewards Earner Card and the Hilton Honors American Express card are entry-level cards that have no annual fee, but that is where the similarities end.

With the Hilton Honors, your rewards stretch further. For one, it’s much easier to redeem free nights and you have more redemption options than with the Wyndham Rewards Earner. Your options are also enhanced by the automatic Silver Elite status you receive by being a cardholder. With these perks, every vacation gets an automatic upgrade.

But one advantage that the Wyndham Rewards Earner has over the Hilton Honors Amex is its balance transfer APR offer for 15 months for transfers made within 45 days of account opening (then an ongoing variable APR for 20.24%-29.24% Variable). So if you’re looking to move over a balance and get a break from interest, this card is still a good pick to consider.

The Choice Privileges® Mastercard® is a good option if you want a travel rewards card geared towards budget-friendly hotels. You can earn a higher rewards rate on grocery store purchases than with the Wyndham Rewards Earner, but you would have to skip out on a higher rate on gas and opt to earn on home improvement purchases and phone plan services instead of dining. And even though you get automatic Gold level status with both cards' rewards programs, you don’t get as many perks with the Choice Privileges Card as you do with the Wyndham Rewards Earner, such as an annual cardmember bonus and booking discounts. 

The Choice Privileges does, however, have a leg up with its welcome bonus, as you can earn enough points to redeem for up to seven rewards nights at select Choice Hotel properties, while with the Wyndham Rewards Earner, you can only earn enough to redeem for up to six free nights. 

When comparing these cards, it comes down to which hotel property you prefer, the sort of rewards you want to earn and the benefits you'll enjoy.

For flexibility, travelers may want to add a general travel card to their wallet. For example, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card offers 2X miles on all purchases, which you can use for any spending that would only earn 1X points with the Wyndham card. And since Wyndham is a transfer partner, you can transfer your miles to Wyndham Rewards for Wyndham Rewards points. The Capital One Venture Rewards card comes with a $95 annual fee (See Rates & Fees), but this could be offset quickly with a free stay at a Wyndham hotel or resort.

The Wyndham Rewards Earner Card can also easily pair with any airline rewards or cash back credit card to cover all of your potential travel costs. The Discover it® Cash Back, for example, earns 5 percent cash back (after activation) on rotating categories each quarter (up to $1,500 in purchases, then 1 percent), allowing you to build rewards in even more areas toward your next trip.

The Wyndham Rewards Earner Card may be the right fit if you’re a Wyndham hotel loyalist due to its exclusive benefits and rewards tailored for frequent guests. You can earn points on everyday purchases that can be redeemed for stays at Wyndham hotels, making it a perfect choice if you frequently stay at Wyndham properties. The card also offers automatic elite status within the Wyndham Rewards program, providing additional perks such as room upgrades and late checkout. The card also offers bonus points for spending at Wyndham properties, accelerating the accumulation of rewards. 

If you frequently travel, the Wyndham Rewards Earner Credit Card could be the right fit for you due to its numerous travel-related benefits and rewards. The card offers generous points for stays at Wyndham properties and boosted rewards for both gas purchases and dining, which are common expenses during traveling. Plus, the card's lack of foreign transaction fees makes it particularly advantageous for international traveling. 

The primary criteria for a rewards or cash back card’s rating is its rewards value. This includes the card’s average rewards rate, estimated annual rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value and reward redemption value.

To estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings, we first calculate its average rewards rate based on how much it earns in different bonus categories and how closely its categories align with the average person’s spending habits, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The most recent BLS data estimates average total spending in 2022 was $72,967 per consumer. We then narrow our focus to which purchases are likely to be put on a credit card and earn rewards, subtracting expenditures like housing, vehicle purchases and education. This gives us a total “chargeable” annual spend of around $22,500.  

Some of the major spending categories that contribute towards the annual spend include:

• Groceries: $5,700
• Dining out: $3,600
• Entertainment: $2,400
• Gas: $3,100
• Apparel and services: $1,900

Using this data, we assign a weighting to each of a card’s bonus categories. For example, a card’s grocery rewards rate receives a 22 percent weighting based on how much of the average person’s budget is spent on groceries. We also estimate the redemption value of points or miles from various issuer, airline and hotel rewards programs.

This weighting and rewards valuation allows us to estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings — how many points or miles you’d earn with a given card if your spending was about average and you used the card for all of your purchases, as well as what those points are worth. We also use point valuations to determine a card’s sign-up bonus value.

With these calculations complete, we assign each card a score based on how its average rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value, rewards rate and redemption value stack up against other rewards cards.

We also rate cards based on how much it costs to keep them in your wallet or carry a balance. 

To start, each rewards or cash back card is scored based on whether it offers an intro APR and how its ongoing APR compares to the rates available on other rewards or cash back cards. 

We also score each card based on how its annual fee influences its overall value. 

We consider a card’s annual fee in two ways — how it ranks relative to the fees you’ll find on other cards in the category and how it impacts a card’s overall rewards value. Cards with an annual fee will always be at a slight disadvantage in our scoring system since annual fees inherently cut into your rewards value, but if a card offers terrific value via its ongoing rewards and perks, it can earn a high score even if it carries a high annual fee. 

With this in mind, we rate a card based primarily on how its ongoing rewards value and ongoing perk value (such as annual credits or bonuses) stack up against other cards in the category when you subtract its annual fee.

We rate each card’s flexibility based on the restrictions it imposes on earning and redeeming rewards and factor this rating into a card’s overall score. 

Flexibility factors include whether a card only allows you to earn a high rewards rate on a small amount of spending or requires you to meet a certain earning threshold before you can redeem rewards. We also examine whether your points are worth less when you redeem for some options versus others and whether a card gives you the flexibility to transfer rewards to airline and hotel partners. 

We also score each card’s set of features – its perks and benefits — against five tiers of features to provide a rating. 

We break down these tiers as follows:

• Tier 1 has less than standard card features (an ultra-streamlined card that offers basic utility and next to nothing in the way of ancillary benefits. 
• Tier 2 includes the benefits you’d expect on standard Visa or Mastercard credit cards, such as free access to your credit score, car rental insurance and $0 liability for fraudulent charges. 
• Tier 3 includes “prime card” or better-than-average card features like cellphone insurance, lost luggage insurance, concierge services and purchase protection. 
• Tier 4 includes luxury features such as airport lounge access, elite status with an airline or hotel and credits for expedited security screening membership programs. 
• Tier 5 includes the sort of exemplary benefits you’ll find on top-tier luxury cards, such as high-value travel credits, cardholder memberships and other unique and valuable perks.

The Wyndham Rewards Earner and Wyndham Rewards® Earner Plus cards are issued by Barclays.

Wyndham Rewards expire four years after the checkout date of the stay those points are earning from. You can also lose your points if you have 18 months of inactivity on your card account. If you don’t have enough for a free or discounted night at a Wyndham property, you can also redeem for experiences, gift cards, merchandise, charitable donations and more.

For a free night at the Wyndham hotel and partners, you need to earn 7,500 points and up per room. If you want discounted rates, you need 1,500, 3,000 or 6,000 points per room. This means that if you receive the welcome bonus, you could receive six free nights.