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Stop Ignoring Vacasa Vacation Rentals! Get Awesome Condos for 13,500 Wyndham Rewards Points per Night

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  A few days ago, I booked 3 more Vacasa Vacation Rentals for an upcoming trip to Maui and Oahu.  I am a huge fan of Vacasa (especially in Hawaii) and the booking process is pretty easy, you just need to call Wyndham Rewards. The price is right too at only 13,500 Wyndham Rewards Points per bedroom per night, if you have the Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner+ Credit Card or the Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card (or 15,000 points per bedroom per night without the credit card).  Here are the 6 Vacasa properties in Hawaii that I have booked and stayed at / will stay at.  There are actually a few ways to earn Wyndham Rewards Points that I will show you later in the post.  Let’s get started.

Booking Vacasa Vacation Rentals is not as easy as booking other hotel award nights online, but with a short call, your reservations will be created and your Wyndham Rewards Points will be redeemed.  As you can see, I booked 3 different Vacasa properties for 7 nights total (I like hopping around Hawaii and exploring different islands).  The total cost was 7 nights x 13,500 points = 94,500 points.  As far as I know, it would be very difficult to book a 7 night stay in Hawaii with any other hotel program and use less than 100,000 points.  I saw a few Hilton and Marriott properties that would cost that many points for a single night.

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So how do you get Wyndham Rewards Points?  I use a combination of spend on the Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card (more details below) and instant transfers from Citi ThankYou Points and Capital One Miles.

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The Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card offers 8x at Wyndham Hotels and gas stations along with 5x at marketing, advertising, and utilities.  I pay most of my utility bills, like trash, electricity, gas, and water with this credit card, but I keep my internet, phone, and cable utility bills on my Chase Ink Plus.  The current sign up bonus is 45,000 points after spending $1,000 in 3 months.  The previous best sign up bonus was 90,000 points after spending $2,000 in 3 months, so hopefully that sign up bonus comes back soon.  If that wasn’t good enough, this credit card gives you Wyndham Rewards Diamond Elite Status (which you can use to match to Caesars Rewards Diamond Elite Status), you get a 10% discount on award redemptions (which drops the rates from 15,000 points to 13,500 points), and you get 15,000 bonus points every anniversary after paying your $95 annual fee.

Assuming you only used this credit card for gas, you would earn 13,500 points after spending $1,688 at gas stations.  Or if you only paid your utility bills with this credit card, you would earn 13,500 points after spending $2,700, or $225 per month.  Earning the necessary points is pretty easy and fast.

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If you need to top up your Wyndham Rewards Points balance, you can instantly transfer Capital One Miles to Wyndham Rewards at the 1000:1000 transfer ratio.

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You can also instantly transfer Citi ThankYou Points to Wyndham Rewards Points at the 1000:1000 transfer ratio.

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You can also transfer Caesars Rewards Credits to Wyndham Rewards Points, but the process took about 3 days for me, despite the language saying the transfer could take 6-8 weeks.  The 5000:5000 transfer ratio also has an annual limit of 30,000 points.  Here are all the ways to earn Caesars Rewards Credits.

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Last but not least, you can sign up for Bakkt and convert / transfer points and end up with 3,000 points.  Read this Doctor of Credit post for the details.

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Vacasa Vacation Rentals are not everywhere and may not be right for everyone or every trip, but they are my favorite way to stay in Hawaii.  If you have used Wyndham Rewards Points to book a Vacasa property, how was your experience?  If you have any questions about the earning or redeeming process, please leave a comment below.  Have a great day everyone!


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26 thoughts on “Stop Ignoring Vacasa Vacation Rentals! Get Awesome Condos for 13,500 Wyndham Rewards Points per Night

  1. Mike Lynch

    Yeah, the points value is awesome. However, the cash cost seems EXTREMELY low if the pics are anything like what you get for the dollars. What are your thoughts on the dollar cost regardless of points? Seems way, way too good to be true for those islands, especially Maui.

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      Hi Mike, I think the prices shown in the 6 photo gallery are the lowest daily rates available throughout the year. If you look during summer travel season, the rates are much higher (in the $250-$350 range). In my mind, 13,500 Wyndham Rewards Points is $135, since you could cash out 13,500 Citi ThankYou Points and 13,500 Capital One Miles for $135. If I could pay directly for the condos at $135 / night (which usually includes free parking, no resort fees, and no cleaning fees), most of these places are awesome deals.

      Here is a search for Maui condos with 5 nights available anytime between June 1 and July 31: https://www.vacasa.com/search?arrival=06%2F01%2F2022&departure=07%2F31%2F2022&nights=5&maxbeds=1&place=/usa/Maui/

      Reply
      1. Mike Lynch

        I have the Cap One Venture X card with about 140K points. Do those points transfer to, or can somehow be applied to Vacasa stays?

        Reply
        1. Grant Post author

          Hi Mike, all you need to do is transfer Capital One Miles to your Wyndham Rewards account and call Wyndham Rewards to book the Vacasa stay. Make sure you research and find the Vacasa you want to stay at, maybe have 1-2 backup options too. Then on the phone, you tell the agent the unit number and they can find it easily in their system. It’s actually pretty easy.

          Reply
          1. Mike Lynch

            Any idea on how long it takes for the miles to appear in the Wyndham account once initiated on the Cap One end?

          2. Grant Post author

            The transfers are instant between Capital One and Wyndham Rewards. If you don’t see the points right away, just sign out and sign back in. You can do a test transfer of 1k points to make sure everything works and test the transfer speed.

  2. Mike Saint

    That’s awesome Grant! Way to go. I gotta check this out the next time I go to Hawaii. Seems to good to be true. I think most would assume there was some catch but seems like this is incredible value.

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      Hi Mike, from my experience booking Vacasa stays, most properties have a 3 day minimum (some only have a 2 day minimum) and the best properties book up early, so start looking early. If you wait until a month before your trip, you won’t have many good options left.

      Reply
        1. Grant Post author

          99% of them do not charge for parking or resort fees, but it depends on the location of the rental. It will say in the rental description what is included and what costs money. Of the 6 Hawaii Vacasa rentals, I have not paid anything for parking or resort fees.

          Reply
  3. Brant

    Hey Grant, I have a massive points balance in every major hotel chain except Wyndham. Years ago, before the Vacasa opportunity was available, I liquidated my Wyndham holdings and never looked back due to this chains dismissal hotel selection and poor redemption value at subpar properties. Now, you have me thinking. However, it’s difficult for me to believe, as the Vacasa bargains become more widely known and exploited, that Wyndham won’t find a way to enhance
    (Devalue) this excellent hack. I’d really hate to be stuck with another hoard of otherwise worthless Wyndham points.

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      Hi Brant, I feel the same way about 99% of Wyndham properties. Since transfers to Wyndham Rewards are instant, my suggestion is to find your Vacasa rental, call Wyndham Rewards to confirm availability and the number of points needed, then initiate the transfer to Wyndham Rewards and book the reservation in the same phone call.

      Reply
  4. gymrat

    Hello Grant – thanks for the write-up. How is the wifi at these properties? May need to do some work/calls, but was not sure of the quality of the wifi. Thanks.

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      All of the Vacasa properties have WiFi and it was fast enough for me to zoom calls and surf the web. Each unit usually has a dedicated router so the speeds are pretty good.

      Reply
  5. Mike Lynch

    It’s funny. I started the credit card/travel game about 10 years ago. I don’t know when I first started reading your posts but I think it was 7 or 8 years ago. I’ve amassed enormous sums of miles and points over the years. Only burned through 20% of them due to some health issues and timing. I still scoop them up when they’re super easy to get, like the Cap One Venture X. I rarely read the blogs and travel sites anymore because most of it is for the neophyte or regurgitation of “inside tricks” that have been beaten to death. Your Vacasa post is about the most interesting thing I’ve seen, that is purely travel related, in over a year. It’s simply very, very hard to stay in Hawaii for less than $450 or so a night or big points per night without having to do a timeshare preso. And, a lot of the rooms are pretty darn small. So….big thanks!

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      I’m glad you learned something new about Vacasa. It is a great deal right now, but no clue how long it will last. I just received an email about a 5 night timeshare package in Maui at the Westin Kaanapali plus rental car for $999.

      I do like having a full kitchen in the Vacasa rentals since we can save a lot of money by having several meals at home instead of eating out every meal all week.

      Reply
  6. Mike Lynch

    We booked a 5 night stay at the Westin Kaanapali North Villas for end of August. I think that’s the same resort you got the offer for. Room with a small kitchen. $499. We paid $649 because it was a holiday weekend (Labor Day). Timeshare preso required. $25 a day for parking. Here’s the BIG gotcha……my wife and I have stayed once on Kauai and once on the Big Island on Westin packages (timeshare preso) offering a rental car for $100 all-in (as one of several promo choices). For this Westin stay it said, among the many promo choices, “And $100 rental car.” I checked the fine print. It’s a $100 CREDIT toward an Avis rental. Completely misleading. Avis rentals were $1100. That’s why I selected the resort credit and we went with Turo. For people who don’t read the fine print, and especially for people who have done this Westin gig before, they will be enraged when they discover they’ve been had.

    Reply
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  9. Mike Anderson

    Hi Grant, I have always enjoyed your information. But I really think your page views would still be good without the keyword stuffing for SEO purposes. An article about Vacasa Vacation Rentals will still be interesting about Vacasa Vacation Rentals without having to mention Vacasa Vacation Rentals in every sentence about Vacasa Vacation Rentals that you write about Vacasa Vacation Rentals.

    It’s in every post now, and if you look at it from your reader’s perspective, it makes it less pleasant. I’ve been clicking on your links less because it feels like you see every page as a sale rather than information for the reader. Frequent Miler gets the same information across without the same overt tactic, for example.

    Anyway, dunno if you care but I figured I’d mention it.

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      Hi Mike, I appreciate your feedback. I will do better on the Vacasa posts. Are there any other posts that you have read lately that are overkill on the keywords?

      Update: I renamed a few of the Vacasa Vacation Rental text so the post is easier to read.

      Reply
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