Wyndham Rewards' big revamp in May 2015 and increased signup bonus for its Visa Signature cards (three free nights at signup + one free night at each anniversary)

Wyndham Rewards just a revolutionary revamp of its program earlier this month - it used to require 5,500 to 50,000 points per night across its 9 tiers of hotels, but effective May 11, 2015, each hotel will require the same 15,000 points per night.  This is the most interesting change among hotel royalty programs in the recent years, because it is against the normal "add a new category/tier and require more points" type of devaluation we have witnessed.  Obviously it will be a bad deal if you want to redeem points for lower end hotels, but it dramatically increases the value for high end hotel redemptions.  In our book, the value of Wyndham Rewards points actually double, increasing from 0.4 to 0.8 cent per point!  Barclays Wyndham Rewards Visa Signature that returns 2x points for general spending will be equivalent to 1.6% cashback.

What is more exciting is that Barclays and Wyndham have increased signup bonus for both versions of the Visa Signature cards.

• $69 annual fee version: earn 30,000 points after 1st purchase and an additional 15,000 points after you spend $1,000 within 3 months.  That is an 15K increase in signup bonus (the regular offer has been 30K after 1st purchase).  What is more interesting is that the annual bonus will also be increased from 5,500 points to 15,000 points if you sign up through this offer!
• Non-fee version: earn 15,000 points after 1st purchase and an additional 15,000 points after spending $1,000 within 3 months.  That is a 18K increase in signup bonus (the regular offer has been 12K after 1st purchase).
  

We will recommend signing up the $69 version, because you will receive 3 free nights instead of 2 free nights upon signup, and the annual free night (15,000 points) is totally worth the $69 annual fee.

Landing page for both offers
(May 21, 2015)