Tag Archives: wyndham earner credit cards

 

Wyndham Hotels has added two new All-Inclusive resorts in Mexico to its collection:

• Wyndham Alltra Playa del Carmen, Adults Only
• Wyndham Alltra Cancun

Alltra stands for “All-Inclusive Travel for All.” The resorts are managed by Playa Hotels & Resorts, which also operates Hyatt Ziva and Zilara, as well as Hilton AI resorts in Playa del Carmen and La Romana. The Alltra hotels are accepting reservations starting December 1.

The photos seem to be nice and look pretty upscale, although nowhere in the descriptions have I found the three words most important for any AI resort: “top-shelf liquor.” 🙂 Oh well! Expect an upsell for some Alltra Diamond-Platinum super-duper elite service if you’re hoping to avoid a morning hangover from “House Blends,” LOL.

Here are the highlights.

Wyndham Alltra Playa del Carmen, Adults Only

• 287 non-smoking rooms and suites, featuring a balcony or terrace
• Four à la carte restaurants, one coffee shop, one buffet, three bars, room service, and 24/7 self-served snacks and drinks
• Two pools with hot tubs

How much do the rooms at Wyndham Alltra Playa del Carmen cost?

You can redeem a room for two adults for 30,000 points, but Earners cardmembers get 10% off. and it’s actually decent value. Here are some illustrations.

This is what you pay in high season in cash. The taxes are already included in the price, and there are no resort fees at this property. Oh, and no, I have no idea what “Complimentary Premium Experience” means.

This is the award price. Earner cardmembers get the room for 27,000 points — at 1 point per penny.

You can also use the Points plus Cash “Go Fast” method, but that’s like buying 6,000 points for $73 in this case ($270 – $197). I don’t know why anyone would want to do that, unless you’re short of points.

Wyndham Alltra Cancun

• 458 rooms and suites, featuring a balcony or terrace
• Five à la carte restaurants, one 24-hour coffee shop, one buffet, one VIP lounge, three bars, and room service
• One pool and a pirate-themed splash park with waterslides
• Kids club

How much do the rooms at Wyndham Alltra Cancun cost?

The award price for this hotel is also 30,000 points (27,000 for Earner cardmembers). And this is the cash price in high season.

And this is the award price.

As you can see, $321 Junior suites are available for a 27,000-point redemption, which makes the value of a Wyndham point redeemed for this property on these days 1.2 cents.

Wyndham Hotels has other All-Inclusive resorts 

Wyndham has several All-Inclusive resorts ranging from 15,000 to 30,000 points.

Dominican Republic:

• Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach
• Viva Wyndham Dominicus Palace
• Viva Wyndham Tangerine
• Viva Wyndham V Samaná (adults only)
• Viva Wyndham V Heavens (adults only)

Mexico

• Viva Wyndham Maya
• Viva Wyndham Azteca

The Bahamas

• Viva Wyndham Fortuna Beach

Wyndham Rewards has quite a turbulent history with AI resorts. It allowed point redemptions in 2015 (when it made quite a splash across the industry by pricing all its redemptions at 15,000 points) only to restrict it four years later. Then, sometime between 2019 and now, the rules have been reversed once more, so now you can use points again. Hopefully, we won’t see yet another reversal.

Does booking AI resorts represent the best value for Wyndham points?

Best? Probably not. Solid, great, exceptional even, but best — no. There are better ways to use the Wyndham Rewards points.

Wyndham Skyline Tower, Atlantic City

Take Atlantic City, for example. The thing about this town is that weekend prices there can be 10 times as high as midweek. So if you must visit on the weekend, AND must stay next to the Boardwalk, you don’t have too many choices. Wyndham Skyline Towers is one of them though, and it’s a great choice too. Because you’re next to everything and you have a large suite with a full kitchen to spread out in.

OK, OK, you don’t need a kitchen in Atlantic City, but it’s still there in case you change your mind. 🙂

So, at the time of writing, a weekend in an 800+ square feet one-bedroom unit would cost you at a minimum $336 for a deluxe room including taxes, and I’d still argue it’s a better deal than a basic hotel room at any Boardwalk casino.

 

Or you can choose to pay 15,000 points (or 13,500 if you’re a Earner cardholder) for the same room. That’s right: it’s 13,500 points for a $336 room (roughly 2.5 cents per point).

Of course booking the same room in winter wouldn’t probably yield the same value, and of course, I’m only interested in Atlantic City because it’s just a 2-hour drive.

But the thing is, Wyndham properties are everywhere — well, not quite, but here is another example.

Inn at the Opera San Francisco

15,000 points or 13,500 for Earner cardholders (including breakfast).

Or $264 after taxes: 2 cents per point.

And don’t even get me started on Vacasa. The redemption values on Vacasa vacation rentals can be absolutely insane, but it certainly requires a lot of patience. Frequent Miler dedicated more than one post to this incredible opportunity.

But working with Vacasa can be painful, complicated, and time-consuming, while booking an all-inclusive resort is a simple point-and-click procedure. 🙂

To recap 

In alliance with Playa Hotels & Resorts, Wyndham has launched a new all-inclusive upscale brand: Wyndham Alttra. The first two All-Inclusive resorts in Cancun and Playa del Carmen are slated to open their doors in December 2021 with more resorts probably following. The award night costs 30,000 points (or 27,000 for Earner cardholders), which seems to be a very good value in high season. However, if you’re not a huge fan of all-inclusive resorts, there are better ways to spend your points.

Would you consider staying at the new Wyndham Alltra resorts? Do you believe it would be a good use of Wyndham points?