Wyndham emphasizes the power of family

Las Vegas–The Wyndham Hotel Group is ready to leverage the collective power of its global, 13-brand-strong footprint on the hotel industry, particularly in its central reservations systems and brand websites.

That’s the sentiment hotel group president and CEO Eric Danziger communicated to the nearly 6,000 franchisees at the company’s first-ever global brand conference in September, held in Las Vegas.

Danziger assured attendees that his goal to unify the brands isn’t intended to dilute each brand’s unique message but more to increase efficiencies across the company’s worldwide reach.

To accomplish these goals, he launched the Wyndham Apollo project, a series of missions the company is undertaking across all brands “to become the world’s leading hotel company in size, customer value and performance,” he said.

“They’re not quick fixes, but solid investments in our future,” he said. “These initiatives aim to drive brand contribution to each of you.”
Danziger laid out the first four missions:

◾ Improve the consumer exper­ience and increase convergence on the brand websites, which Danziger said “are the fastest-growing and most profitable [booking] channels.” To do this, he said the company is redesigning the current websites and working with franchisees to add resources.
◾ Enhance property content on the sites and improve the process of updating that content. Danziger said the company is developing a streamlined content management strategy and simplifying the process for owners to contribute information about their properties.
◾ Deliver the right rate at the right time to consumers. “We’re redefining all of rate management,” he said. “We’re redesigning and revising rate strategies for all our brands.”
◾ Evolve the central reservations system from the company’s current two systems into one. “Consolidation will help us leverage resources much better,” he said, calling this mission “a big investment with a long timeline.”
“We want to be the company you want to be with and stay with,” he said.

Brand.com upgrades
While all Wyndham Hotel Group brands are building up better and more consistent content on the websites, the biggest change is that the sites will now include alternative selling options for guests when booking a hotel.

To accomplish this, the company first integrated its two central reservations systems into one.

After enhanced alternate selling launches (according to Flo Lugli, EVP Marketing, that should be by year’s end), the sites will serve up alternative Wyndham properties in the same region when guests search for their preferred brand on the brand’s website.

“This mirrors the way the consumer searches for hotels,” said Keith Pierce, president, brand operations, the Americas.

Marketing plans and brand identities
The company debuted new Wyndham Worldwide logos, including a new Wyndham Hotel Group logo, designed to create a more cohesive and consistent identity across all of the company’s business units. The new Wyndham Rewards logo includes an updated tagline, “Rewards right around the corner.”

Other brand-specific initiatives announced at the conference include:
◾ Microtel Inns & Suites debuted a new logo and tagline, “A better place to stay.”
◾ Travelodge launched a new tagline, “Stay close to adventure.”
◾ Howard Johnson renewed its partnership with the Harlem Globetrotters as the official hotel brand of the team.
◾ Wingate by Wyndham, a new-build brand, unveiled its first readaptation at Los Angeles International Airport.