Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, EMEA
Our franchise model helps independent hotel owners to convert their properties into world-renowned brands whilst leveraging Wyndham’s scale, array of services and world class loyalty programme
If there is one brand that appeared to be unscathed by COVID-19, it must be Wyndham. It registered 38 new hotel signings across EMEA and several openings in India and Nepal, including the Wyndham Ahmedabad.
With a portfolio of over 4,000 rooms in India, the team executed 18 new franchise agreements. 11 of these are under construction and expected to open over the next two years.
Talking about this, Nikhil Sharma, Regional Director, Eurasia, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, EMEA said, “Our franchise model helps independent hotel owners to convert their properties into world-renowned brands whilst leveraging Wyndham’s scale, array of services and world class loyalty programme.”
He added that instead of just signing up hotels and growing, the company ensures a value proposition. In the next two to three years, this will be critical as the world will emerge a different place than it did over a year ago.
GOING ALL OUT
While the pandemic accelerated many trends that were already gaining ground prior to COVID-19, adoption of technology saw huge uptake in the hospitality industry. With guests seeking low contact and seamless experiences, Wyndham decided that tech would emerge as the deal-breaker.
To attract domestic travellers in this new environment, it implemented several initiatives, including Wyndham Easy Book. This programme aimed at simplifying and promoting corporate bookings from small to mid-size businesses. It offered them simple ways to book and avail discounts on the brand’s sites or through a selected travel management company.
It also designed a new hybrid meeting solution, which enables in-person meetings combined with elements of virtual engagement with attendees in other locations. Moreover, Wyndham launched its mobile app, combining intuitive design with personal experiences and gamification to provide a reimagined user experience.
Elaborating further, Sharma stated, “As part of our broader digital transformation strategy, we announced plans for a global rollout of the Oracle Hospitality OPERA Cloud Property Management, a mobile-enabled platform that allows for quicker innovation while helping hotels to enhance guest personalisation, avail lower costs and improve operational efficiencies.”
He noted that the hospitality industry is a people-centric sector, and putting people first is paramount to what Wyndham does. “The biggest lesson learnt during this period has been solidarity. At some point, we were all together, sans competition or brand standing,” he pointed out.
