Tag Archives: Wyndham Rewards

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One Year Later: An Update to Our Simplified Wallet Strategy for 2026

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Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  Last year, we set out to simplify our wallets before Madison was born (Cutting $2,000 in Credit Card Annual Fees: Our Simplified Wallet Strategy for 2025). Our goal wasn’t to maximize every credit card perk. Instead, we wanted to reduce the total amount paid in annual fees, eliminate coupon-book credit cards (cards with high annual fees and lots of credits), and keep only the cards that delivered outsized value with minimal effort. One year later, it’s time to see how closely we stuck to that plan, what surprised us, and which cards earned a permanent place in our wallets.

One Year Later at a Glance:

  • 💳 Closed 5 credit cards
  • ⬇️ Downgraded 3 credit cards
  • ✨ Opened 5 new credit cards (and earned 360,000 points & miles in welcome bonuses)
  • 💵 Received $429 in retention offers
  • 🏨 Prioritized Free Night Certificates and travel credits over coupon-book benefits

Cards We Closed

Credit Card Name Annual Fee Notes
Laura’s AMEX Gold $325 Closed card in February 2025 (we were tired of jumping through hoops to get all the monthly credits.)
Barclays JetBlue Plus $99 Closed card in March 2025 (we didn’t have any upcoming JetBlue flights planned.)
Bank of America Air France / KLM $89 Closed card in March 2025 (we didn’t have any upcoming Air France / KLM flights planned.)
AMEX Delta Platinum Business $250 Closed card in July 2025 (I redeemed all my Delta SkyMiles and didn’t have any upcoming Delta flights planned.)
Laura’s Barclays Hawaiian Airlines $99 We decided to keep this credit card open in the hopes of a future product change to a Bank of America Alaska Airlines Credit Card.
AMEX Business Gold 3 $375 Closed card in November 2025 (we were tired of jumping through hoops to get all the monthly credits.)

While most of these credit cards come with a variety of credits / coupons, these cards did not provide enough value for us to justify paying the annual fees for another year. Continue reading →

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2026 Travel Predictions Midyear Review: Which Predictions Came True?

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is going well. As we approach the halfway point of 2026, I thought it would be fun to revisit my 2026 travel predictions and see how many have come true so far.  Predicting the future is never easy, especially in the travel and credit card world, but it’s always entertaining to look back and see what actually happened.

Below are my original predictions and a midyear update.  Predictions in green have come true, while predictions in red have not come true just yet… 

Airline Predictions (0 / 3):

  • Alaska Airlines will change the Global 25K Companion Award into a Global 25K Award Discount (valid for a single passenger). – Nope, Alaska Airlines has not made any changes to the Global 25K Companion Award. 
  • Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, or Delta Airlines will launch a debit card. – Nope, none of the 3 airlines has launched a debit card.
  • Southwest Airlines will not award Rapid Rewards Points on Basic Fares. – Nope, Southwest Airlines has not made any changes to earning points on Basic fares.

Continue reading →

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How to Find Out When All of Your Wyndham Rewards Points Expire

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. After reading about the new $395 annual fee Barclays Wyndham Earner Premier Credit Card and the new benefit that Wyndham Rewards points no longer expire for Premier cardholders, I became curious about my own account.

Wyndham tells you how many points expire next, but it doesn’t tell you when the rest of your points expire. I wanted to know exactly when all 111,018 of my Wyndham Rewards (WR) points were scheduled to expire, and it turns out there’s an easy way to find out.

The good news is that Wyndham Rewards customer service can email you two detailed reports that show exactly when every point was earned, redeemed, and scheduled to expire. Here’s how to request them.

Continue reading →

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My Overly Ambitious (and Probably Wrong) 2026 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions

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Good afternoon everyone and let me be the first (or maybe the tenth) to wish you a very happy New Year! Fresh off the heels of reviewing my 2025 travel predictions (including 7 wins and plenty of misses), it’s time to look ahead. From airlines and hotels to credit cards and loyalty programs, here are my overly ambitious (and occasionally wishful) predictions for what 2026 has in store for the miles and points community.

Airline Predictions:

  • Alaska Airlines will change the Global 25K Companion Award into a Global 25K Award Discount (valid for a single passenger).
  • Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, or Delta Airlines will launch a debit card.
  • Southwest Airlines will not award Rapid Rewards Points on Basic Fares.

Continue reading →

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Reviewing My 2025 Travel Predictions: 7 Wins & Plenty of Misses

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your holiday season is going well. As we wrap up the year, it’s time to revisit My Overly Ambitious 2025 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions and see how my crystal ball actually performed.  Correct predictions are in green, incorrect predictions are in red, and half correct predictions are in orange.  Without further ado, here are the results of my 2025 predictions:

Airline Predictions (4/7 correct):

  • Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines will bring back their “convert travel funds to airline miles” feature.
    • No, this did not happen in 2025.  I would love to see this feature in 2026.
  • Alaska Airlines will let you use the Companion Fare to book Hawaiian Airlines flights.
    • Yes! You can use your Alaska Airlines Companion Fare to book Hawaiian Airlines flights, but only on domestic Hawaiian Airlines flights (link).  I would love to see this Companion Fare eligible for all domestic and international Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines flights in 2026.
  • American Airlines will return as a Citi ThankYou Points transfer partner.
    • Yes! You can now transfer Citi ThankYou Points to American Airlines (link)!
  • British Airways will lower their partner redemption prices for American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
    • No, the redemption prices have not changed for American Airlines or Alaska Airlines.
  • Delta will increase the annual fee on their credit cards and increase the Delta SkyMiles discount to 20%-25%.
    • No, but the rumored super-duper-ultra-premium AMEX Delta credit card could have this benefit (link).
  • JetBlue will allow you to redeem points on a new partner airline (besides Etihad Airways, Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways).
    • Yes! With the United Airlines and JetBlue “Blue Sky” partnership, you can redeem JetBlue points on United Airlines and vice versa (link).
  • United Airlines will bring back their “family pooling” feature.
    • Yes! You can pool United Airlines miles, but they can only be used for United and United Express flights, not Star Alliance partners (link).

Continue reading →