Wyndham Rewards recently added more than 15,000 new vacation rentals to its global redemption portfolio through an expanded relationship with vacation rental platform Vacasa.
“We couldn’t be more excited about this expanded relationship with Vacasa,” Eliot Hamlisch, EVP, loyalty and revenue optimization, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, told Hotel Business.
The new offerings give Wyndham Rewards members access to Vacasa’s entire vacation rental portfolio, more than doubling the number of Vacasa properties previously available via the rewards program. Vacasa’s vacation rental portfolio spans North America, Belize and Costa Rica, and complements Wyndham’s existing redemption portfolio, which now offers more than 50,000 hotels, vacation club resorts and vacation rentals globally.
The relationship between the two companies dates back to when Wyndham Vacation Rentals North America was part of Wyndham Worldwide. “When the hotel company spun off from Wyndham Destinations back in 2018, Wyndham Vacation Rentals North America actually went with Wyndham Destinations and we maintained a relationship with about 6,000 properties that were part of that portfolio,” Hamlisch said. “When it was then sold to Vacasa, we immediately started conversations with them about the opportunity to expand from the 6,000 properties that were part of that legacy relationship to now what are more than 23,000 properties that are part of the Vacasa portfolio.”
Vacasa’s vacation rentals, which consist of privately owned homes that are professionally managed, cater to a wide array of travel styles and vary in size from studios and one-bedrooms to mansions with 30 bedrooms or more. Guests can take their pick of traditional offerings like beach bungalows, countryside estates, mountain cabins and luxe waterfront condos, or experience more eclectic offerings like treehouses, airstreams, floating homes, tiny homes and yurts.
“What is most exciting about this is the opportunity to engage our members in a differentiated way,” said Hamlisch. “We now have hotels, vacation club resorts and vacation rentals around the world, and the Vacasa relationship is really a cornerstone to this aspirational redemption portfolio that we have.”
The addition of the properties is a benefit for both rewards members and Wyndham’s owners and operators. “Anything that we can do to engage our members in new and differentiated ways by adding incremental value to being a Wyndham Rewards member is at the forefront of what I wake up every morning thinking about and fall asleep every morning thinking about,” he said. “By being a Wyndham Rewards member, and earning Wyndham Rewards points, you now have the opportunity to redeem at the most aspirational, the most varied set of properties globally.”
He continued, “That is also quite helpful from a franchisee perspective in that our members will be that much more inclined to stay and earn with our franchisees to be able to redeem our 9,000 hotels around the world and then also this aspirational set non-hotel redemption options as well.”
