Wyndham’s New Ways to Make Money – One Story at a Time

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Wyndham CEO says tech investment is paying off, other travel brands need to up their game

Christiana Sciaudone, Skift

Wyndham’s technology investment is paying off, the hotel’s CEO said Wednesday. Wyndham Connect lets hotel owners communicate with guests via text message before they arrive, for example, and offer early check-in or the ability to order food and beverages upon arrival.

That’s generating “thousands and thousands of dollars in additional room revenue” for the typical hotel owner, Wyndham President and CEO Geoff Ballotti said at the Skift Global Forum in New York. “It’s been a great ride, a great investment… We’re really light years ahead of where we were when we went public” in 2017.

The $275 million technology investment also includes partnerships with Oracle, Amazon Web Services and Salesforce, and has made it easier for franchisees to do business. Balotti said competitors have lagged behind in such technology investments and are only now moving from legacy property management systems to cloud platforms.

Ballotti said the change allows small hotel owners to operate with just an internet connection instead of using a server.

Infrastructure and M&A

Wyndham is also “very focused on growing these economy brands” alongside the $1.5 trillion in expected infrastructure investment in the U.S. that will drive demand across the country. Less than 20% of that investment has been allocated, meaning there is plenty of room for future growth.

“This is already becoming a huge support for small business owners running hotels,” Ballotti said.

There’s already an excess of demand for the extended-stay economy and a shortage of supply. That’s partly why they’ve signed 270 contracts for one of their newest brands, Echo Suites.

Wyndham is also open to mergers and acquisitions if it makes sense and will expand its existing network.

“The most important way we look at M&A through the lens of M&A is the impact it has on our small business owners,” Ballotti said. But if it’s aspirational and doesn’t conflict with any existing product that Wyndham has in destinations in countries, they’ll consider acquiring it, he said.