Wyndham Rewards, on Tuesday, released its response to the Covid-19 pandemic that dealt with elite status and points expiry (read more here).
The chain on the same date also updated its Covid-19 reservation cancellation and exceptionally customer-centric waiver policies.
You can access Wyndham’s page for coronavirus response here.
Note that I clarified with the Wyndham spokesperson that guests that have prepaid for noncancelable reservation(s) could cancel and get their payment(s) refunded. I thought that the text on their release was a bit ambiguous.
Here’s the relevant part:
- Guests traveling with new or existing direct bookings for stays in any of our hotels through June 30, 2020 will have their cancellation or change penalties waived if the request is received at least 24 hours (or less if permitted by the hotel’s policy) prior to arrival.
- Guests who are prohibited from traveling to their booked hotel under applicable law will have their cancellation or change penalties waived on direct bookings.
- For new or existing direct bookings with arrivals after June 30, 2020, all of our properties are required to accommodate non-cancellable rate reservation changes if the request is received at least 48 hours prior to arrival and the same number of room nights or more are booked for a future stay.
You can get your prepayment refunded for all stays through June 30, 2020. For stays from July 1, you can reschedule your stay without additional payment.
Here’s the entire current policy:
The safety of our guests and team members around the world is a top priority. We have provided the thousands of independently owned and operated franchised hotels in our network and our managed and owned properties worldwide with helpful guidelines and safety information provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) detailing how to identify COVID-19 symptoms and mitigate its transmission. We have also partnered with third parties, including Ecolab and other suppliers, to provide our hotels with access to industry-standard cleaning and disinfecting supplies and have made training available to support our franchisees and our managed and owned hotels in achieving the highest standards of cleanliness, disinfection and hygiene.
Our mission is to make hotel travel possible for all, and that becomes especially important during times of uncertainty. Our cancellation policies for direct bookings are among the most flexible in the hotel industry, with thousands of our hotels honoring no-fee cancellations up to 6 p.m. on the day of arrival.
We have enhanced our policies as follows:
- Guests traveling with new or existing direct bookings for stays in any of our hotels through June 30, 2020 will have their cancellation or change penalties waived if the request is received at least 24 hours (or less if permitted by the hotel’s policy) prior to arrival.
- Guests who are prohibited from traveling to their booked hotel under applicable law will have their cancellation or change penalties waived on direct bookings.
- For new or existing direct bookings with arrivals after June 30, 2020, all of our properties are required to accommodate non-cancellable rate reservation changes if the request is received at least 48 hours prior to arrival and the same number of room nights or more are booked for a future stay.
- We are pausing the expiration of any Wyndham Rewards points until September 30, 2020 and have extended current Wyndham Rewards Member Levels (status) for all members globally through the end of 2021.
- We are committed to, and actively exploring, additional steps that we can take to help all Wyndham Rewards members globally, which will include relaxed Member Level earning requirements, among other options. Due to rapidly evolving circumstances, it’s too soon to share specifics, however, we will do so as soon as possible.
For bookings made by a travel agent or online booking platform, guests are advised to contact the agent or booking platform directly. Please consult travel advisories and information made available by the World Health Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of State. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and adapt our policies accordingly.
Additionally, due to the current situation with coronavirus, our hotels are implementing new processes to protect the safety of our guests and team members. This may result in a reduction in certain services and amenities that are normally available at our hotels. Those traveling to hotels located in areas that are allowing only “essential travelers,” are required to comply with all guidelines and restrictions and may be required to provide identification establishing that they are “essential travelers.” If guests have questions or concerns, we ask them to please contact the hotel directly.
Conclusion
Wyndham’s policy is reasonable and perhaps needs to be extended past June 30, depending on how this pandemic evolves between now and the end of June.
I am glad that Wyndham decided to take customer-friendly policy when it came to refunds for non-cancelable reservations that guests cannot use.
