Wyndham Rewards Finds 1-in-5 Couldn't Vacation Without Travel Loyalty Points

By: Wyndham Hotels & Resorts | 0 Shares 75 Reads

July 01, 2009 // Franchising.com // Parsippany — Twenty percent of Americans polled in a survey commissioned by the Wyndham Rewards loyalty program said they would be unable to take their next vacation without cashing in rewards points, indicating that the current economic climate has increased the importance of travel rewards points in vacation planning.

Rabin Research conducted the survey of 1,040 Americans on June 16, 2009.

The survey found that nearly one-third of Americans (31 percent) belong to one or more travel industry loyalty or rewards program, and almost half of them (47 percent) plan to redeem travel rewards points for their next vacation.

"Knowing that travelers are still taking vacations, but watching their overall spend more carefully, we wanted to find out exactly how important rewards points are to Americans," said Jill Noblett, Wyndham Hotel Group senior vice president of Loyalty and Direct Marketing. "This survey tells us reward points are rather significant."

According to the survey, nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of Americans say rewards points are either "very important" or "extremely important" given the state of the economy. Twenty-nine percent responded "very important" and 35 percent responded "extremely important".

"As the world's largest hotel loyalty program, based on the number of participating hotels, we've noticed a significant, upward trend in our members using Wyndham Rewards points for free nights across the Wyndham Hotel Group's 11 brands," commented Noblett. "The increase in redeeming Wyndham Rewards points for airline miles and tickets has also grown this year compared to last year."

In an effort to help summer travelers stretch their vacation dollars further, Wyndham Rewards has launched "Save Summer", a promotion that features 15 to 50 percent off at participating brands, the opportunity to win up to 750 free hotel nights and the possibility of walking away with one million Wyndham Rewards loyalty points.

Consumers may download a widget to their Facebook, MySpace and other social networking profiles that allows them to register for the "Save Summer" promotion and share it with online friends. Every time a friend enters the promotion the originating consumer automatically gets another chance to win. Membership in the Wyndham Rewards program is not required to enter, and no purchase is necessary. The promotion is available now through Sept. 10, 2009.

Rabin Research is a full-service marketing research company headquartered in downtown Chicago, and has conducted about 5,000 studies for hundreds of major companies worldwide.

The Wyndham Rewards loyalty program is the largest in the lodging industry based on the number of participating hotels. Points can be redeemed at www.wyndhamrewards.com for hotel night stays at participating Wyndham Hotel Group properties in North America, Europe, China, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Points can also be redeemed for other rewards including airline tickets, resort vacations, name-brand merchandise, rental cars, rail points or services at many popular restaurants and stores.

The program allows members to accumulate points by staying in participating hotels and purchasing everyday products and services. An online system allows members to check their point balance and redeem for rewards.

Wyndham Hotel Group, one of three principal components of Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE: WYN), encompasses approximately 7,000 hotels and 588,500 rooms in 66 countries under the hotel brands: Wyndham Hotels and Resorts®, Ramada®, Days Inn®, Super 8®, Wingate® by Wyndham, Baymont Inn & Suites®, Microtel Inn & Suites®, Hawthorn Suites®, Howard Johnson®, Travelodge® and Knights Inn®.

All hotels are independently owned and operated excluding certain Wyndham and international Ramada hotels which are managed by our affiliate or through a joint venture partner.