During the holidays, I attempted to log into my Wyndham Rewards account to book a hotel stay and discovered my account had been closed and I had lost 5,500 points, 500 points short of a one-night stay.
I contacted Wyndham Rewards and was told that my account had been closed because there had been no activity for 18 months. I was surprised, not at the policy, but because I had never received written or electronic statements or notification of my expiration date.
Furthermore, the expiration date was not displayed within the online account itself. So I wrote them and asked how I was supposed to know my expiration date. I received instead a form letter reply about their 18-month account expiration policy, which I already knew.
My question concerned how customers like me were supposed to know their account expiration date. A flurry of e-mails ensued, until I received a reply that said,
I also understand your frustration of not receiving notice that your account was going to close, instead we feel it is in the best interest of our members to alert them of our many promotions that are up and coming so they may keep their accounts active. Your online account only shows activity within the last 6 months. We do, however, in our quarterly statements indicate when points are set to expire. A statement is sent as long as there has been activity within that quarter.
OK, so let me understand. It’s more important that they notify customers about promotions than it is to keep us informed about our account expiration date. Furthermore, we are only notified of account expiration in quarterly statements during which there’s activity. And in my case, I received none of the above.
I asked Wyndham Rewards if they would consider reinstating my points, given the fact that I had received no communication and because they do not adequately notify customers of their account expiration dates. The offer they made was for me to stay an additional four stays to recoup my points. So in other words, I have to pay to stay four more times to earn back the points I had already earned in previous stays.
Well, no thank you. And I offer this advice to my fellow travelers: make sure you understand the policies surrounding your traveler loyalty points and remember that not all companies are clear about communicating point or account expiration. In fact, Wyndham Rewards appears to intentionally keep customers in the dark.
And to Wyndham Rewards, I say shame on you for not providing adequate communication regarding account expiration dates.
