Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, the world’s largest hotel franchising company with approximately 9,100 hotels across more than 95 countries, is setting its sights on continued expansion in 2023, following a banner year that saw the Company cap multiple milestones and accomplishments across the globe.
“Last year was an incredible year for the travel industry and for Wyndham,” said Geoff Ballotti, president and CEO, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. “Amid the backdrop of the industry’s continued recovery, hoteliers across the world turned to Wyndham and our brands to help them elevate their portfolios and drive their businesses forward. Now, with consumer travel demand holding steadfast, anticipated tailwinds from continued infrastructure spend, and our iconic, trusted brands resonating with travelers like never before, Wyndham and its franchisees remain well positioned for success in 2023.”
In its latest forecast, U.S. Travel estimated domestic travel spend to increase more than 8 per cent in 2023, adjusted for inflation, while London-based Economist Intelligence expects global tourism to rise 30 per cent. Wyndham is also anticipating significant tailwinds from the recent $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, the largest signed into U.S. law in the last 70 years. Wyndham’s business travelers primarily come from infrastructure accounts, which generated double-digit revenue growth compared to 2019 and are anticipated to climb further as these workers begin new projects to repair America’s highways, bridges and ports.
New Brands, New Markets, New Hotels
Known for its diverse 24-brand portfolio spanning every segment of the industry, Wyndham saw continued expansion of its global footprint in 2022, adding new brands, entering new markets and attracting new, diverse hotel owners.
Among the highlights, the Company: Tapped into the white-hot extended stay market in the U.S. with the launch of ECHO Suites Extended StaySM by Wyndham, exceeding early development expectations by rapidly growing its pipeline to 170 hotels and more than 21,000 rooms in only 9 months.
Significantly grew its presence in the all-inclusive space, adding 14 new resorts to its luxury Registry Collection Hotels brand. Wyndham now has nearly 30 all-inclusive resorts across Latin America.
Nearly doubled the size of its upscale footprint in Europe, the Middle East, Eurasia and Africa with the acquisition of the Vienna House brand from Berlin-based HR Group, a longstanding Wyndham franchisee, adding over 40 new hotels and more than 6,400 rooms.
Expanded 13 brands into a combined 22 new markets, opening, among others, the first Dolce by Wyndham in Brazil, the first Wyndham in Canada, the first La Quinta by Wyndham in China, the first TRYP by Wyndham in Greece, the first Wyndham Grand in Mexico, the first Microtel by Wyndham in New Zealand, and the first Wyndham Garden in Turkey. Globally, 22 of the Company’s brands now have multi-country representation.
Bolstered its commitment to diverse hotel ownership, becoming the first major hotel company to launch a program focused on the advancement of women hotel owners (Women Own the Room) and introduce a program for Black entrepreneurs (BOLD by Wyndham).
“Developers choose Wyndham for the power of our brands and because they know we’re going to be collaborative partners at every step of the journey. That starts with our team taking the time to understand their unique needs and then working with them to help ensure they’re putting the right brand in the right market at the right time,” said Chip Ohlsson, chief development officer, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.
“Hospitality is all about relationships and, for Wyndham, there are no relationships more important than the ones we have with our franchisees. From day one, we are committed to their success because we know—their success, is our success.”
Elevating the Guest Experience
Further advancing its mission of making hotel travel possible for all, Wyndham continued to champion the everyday traveler in 2022, launching an array of new initiatives designed to elevate the guest experience.
Among the highlights, the Company: Introduced Road Trip Planner (RTP), an innovative new tool allowing travelers to seamlessly plot, plan and directly book their ideal road trip via Wyndham’s award-winning, mobile app. The Wyndham mobile app currently has over 5.5 million downloads.
Expanded Wyndham Rewards with new free night redemption options, adding to the program’s portfolio of more than 50,000 hotels, vacation club resorts and vacation rentals. USA TODAY recently ranked Wyndham Rewards number one for a 5th consecutive year, along with the Wyndham Rewards Earner Card, for a second consecutive year. Nearly one in every two guests are Wyndham Rewards members.
Became the first major hotel company to make available to all U.S. and Canadian franchisees an easy-to-use, virtually no-cost, mobile tipping platform, helping hotels attract and retain talent. Since launching just a few months ago, the platform is now live and available at hundreds of hotels across the U.S. and Canada.
Putting Owners First
Paramount to its owner-first approach to franchising, Wyndham further leveraged its unmatched size and scale in 2022 to provide franchisees with robust levels service and support across Sales, Marketing, Operations, Design and Construction.
Among the highlights, the Company:
Delivered record levels of contribution through Wyndham.com channels, with web traffic increasing over 9 per cent YOY and longer booking windows compared to 2021.
Debuted a new, cloud-based, mobile-first revenue management platform, RevIQ, which when paired with one of the Company’s two next-gen, cloud-based property management systems (SynXis Property Hub and Oracle OPERA Cloud), gives franchisees access to best-in-class technology solutions designed to help drive rate, streamline operations and unlock efficiencies.
Launched a cost-effective mobile key solution, enabling franchisees to upgrade existing door locks instead of replacing them. Combined with existing offerings like mobile check-in and franchisee opt-in services like front desk call routing, these initiatives are designed to help franchisees improve operating margins while moving fixed labor costs out of their hotels.
Grew The Meetings Collection, a carefully curated collection of aspirational hotels and resorts in highly sought-after destinations, to more than 160 hotels and resorts globally. The Collection works in coordination with other Sales initiatives, like Wyndham Business, to help drive increased corporate and group bookings at Wyndham hotels around the world.
