Wyndham execs stress balance between scale and quality

Wyndham Hotel Group’s recently acquired AmericInn and soon-to-be-acquired La Quinta Inns & Suites brands epitomize the focus which executives said will make 2018 a breakthrough year for all of the company’s 20 brands: scale and quality.

The two brands were the focus of discussion throughout Wyndham’s 2018 Global Brand Conference, where excitement among executives and brand leaders permeated sessions focused on strategy and initiatives for achieving those goals for growth and guest satisfaction.

Both brands will add scale in the midscale segment, which executives said is key, and to Wyndham’s total portfolio. Once the La Quinta acquisition closes—currently on pace for the second quarter—Wyndham’s portfolio will contain 9,100 hotels.

Wyndham has been growing organically, too, averaging “two new hotels each and every day, including Saturday and Sunday,” President and CEO Geoff Ballotti said during the conference’s opening session.

“Why does size matter? Because it is providing more choice to our guests,” he told the audience of franchisees and owners. “Why does size matter? Because the bigger we get, the lower we can drive your distribution costs.”

When it comes to growth, Wyndham executives see “the biggest opportunity for us in the midscale segment for growth,” Ballotti said during a press briefing. “We operate 40% of the nation’s economy hotels today. We operate roughly 30% of the midscale hotels. La Quinta will push us to, I believe, 38% of the midscale hotels.”

On the quality side, both AmericInn and La Quinta consistently rank in the top five on J.D. Power rankings for guest satisfaction, Ballotti said, and when the La Quinta acquisition closes, Wyndham will own four of those top five spots.

That’s also created a “friendly competition” among brands in the Wyndham family that not very long ago were competitors, said Nasir Raja, SVP of brand operations at AmericInn.

“The message is, it really doesn’t matter which Wyndham midscale brand is No. 1, 2, 3 or 4,” he said. However, during the AmericInn brand session, Raja laid out his strategy for unseating Wingate by Wyndham at the top of the J.D. Power rankings.

“Pretty soon, all four of the top midscale brands will be Wyndham and sister brands,” he said.