In May of 2018, Wyndham Worldwide acquired LaQuinta Holdings for 1.95 billion dollars and added 900 additional franchised hotels to their large portfolio, in what was one of the least publicized hotel mergers ever. While this merger was met with a collective yawn from the points and miles world, there is one date that you should pay attention to.
On April 3, 2019 the LaQuinta Rewards loyalty program will merge into the Wyndham Rewards program.
If you have any points in the LaQuinta Rewards program, you’ll want to transfer them to Wyndham Rewards by March 31st.
Why do you need to transfer your points by then? I’m glad you asked.
Currently, you can transfer points between LaQuinta and Wyndham at a 1:1 ratio. If you wait to transfer your points, your points will lose 50% of their value. From the LaQuinta website:
Now through March 31st:
- Continue to earn and redeem La Quinta Returns points at La Quinta hotels through March 31, 2019.
- Match your La Quinta Returns status to a Wyndham Rewards member level through March 31, 2019.
- Act fast and transfer your La Quinta Returns points by March 31, 2019 to take advantage of a 1:1 ratio. After this time, Silver members will receive 1 Wyndham Rewards point for every 2 La Quinta Returns points.
- If you aren’t already a Wyndham Rewards member, you can decide if you would like to automatically transition your La Quinta Returns membership to Wyndham Rewards here by March 8, 2019
On April 3rd:
- Your La Quinta Returns account will be closed.
- If you are a U.S. member and have not opted out or an international member (or have no physical address on file) and have opted in to Wyndham Rewards, any remaining La Quinta Returns points in your account will be converted to Wyndham Rewards points. If you’re a Gold or Elite member, you’ll receive 1 Wyndham Rewards point for every 1 La Quinta Returns point. If you’re Silver, you’ll receive 1 Wyndham Rewards point for every 2 La Quinta Returns points.
- You can start earning and redeeming Wyndham Rewards points at La Quinta hotels—and more than 8,000 other hotels worldwide.
If you don’t transfer points before the merger, your points will automatically be transferred for you at a 2:1 ratio, unless you are a Gold or Elite member.
Why do you need to transfer by March 31st?
La Quinta Returns members are encouraged to transfer their La Quinta Returns points into Wyndham Rewards points by March 31, 2019 in order to ensure they transfer at a ratio of one La Quinta Returns point to one Wyndham Rewards point
You mean a hotel realizes not everything will go smoothly with a transition between programs so they are encouraging people not to wait until the last minute? No getting Bonvoyed with this merger.
One additional perk of transferring points from LaQuinta to Wyndham is extending the expiration date of your points. My LaQuinta Rewards points were due to expire in less than a month but after transferring them, they’ll be good for up to three more years in Wyndham as long as I have some account activity.
If you want to read the entire FAQ from Wyndham and LaQuinta, it can be found here.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
