Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and Spanish hotel company Palladium Hotel Group have formed a commercial alliance that will add 14 all-inclusive hotels with more than 6,500 rooms to Wyndham’s year-old Registry Collection luxury brand.
The portfolio of TRS Hotels and Grand Palladium Hotels & Resorts managed by Palladium Hotel Group are in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Brazil and will join Wyndham’s portfolio under a long-term agreement, bringing Wyndham’s all-inclusive resort portfolio to 26 hotels.
All-Inclusive Growth
“We've been working on our strategy related to leisure business and all-inclusive is a key component to that,” Scott LePage, president, Americas at Wyndham, told Hotel Management. The company announced its all-inclusive Alltra brand last year as part of a partnership with Playa Hotels & Resorts and opened the first property in the spring. Wyndham also has some all-inclusive properties in its Trademark Collection soft brand. “That's all been part of a strategy for us to grow [in] an area of the industry that we think has a lot of ongoing opportunity,” LePage said.
Looking to gain ground in the all-inclusive space, Wyndham sent leaders to markets where U.S.-based leisure travelers were staying in that type of resort and met with different businesses. “Palladium has been around for a little bit, and as we work together, we realized this was a great path forward,” LePage said. The partnership currently has four properties open with more slated to open in Q3.
The alliance will benefit Wyndham with new properties in top leisure destinations and an established regional management company to oversee them, LePage added, while Palladium’s hotels will get a global distribution system to attract new business.
In a statement, Palladium Hotel Group CEO Jesús Sobrino noted Wyndham’s distribution capabilities as a factor in the pairing. “This alliance is part of our commitment to the American market due to its proximity and great air connectivity with the Caribbean destinations where we operate,” he said. “As a hotel management company, thanks to this agreement, we improve our value proposition to owners, as we add to it a great know-how and experience of operating all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean."
New Luxury
Wydham’s expansion into the luxury space is also poised to attract owners of luxury assets, LePage said, especially those seeking U.S.-based travelers. “We knew—and still feel—that there are some great local [and] regional brands that exist in all areas of the world, and our goal was to find owners that want to carry their brands forward, create a strategic alliance partnership with Wyndham and bring their hotels into our system,” he said. “So this is something that is right in line with our efforts to step in where we feel we can deliver great services and great results to an ownership growth.”
As part of the agreement, Palladium Hotel Group’s two all-inclusive luxury brands will join Wyndham’s Registry Collection brand. Grand Palladium Hotels & Resorts properties include sports and leisure activities, entertainment and facilities for leisure and business groups. The adults-only TRS Hotels provides butler service for its guests.
Notably, LePage said, the new additions will keep their established branding, which is part of the Registry Collection ethos. While Wyndham created the new Alltra brand with Playa Hotels & Resorts, Palladium already owns the TRS and Grand Palladium brands. “They’re doing a great job with driving the guest experience and the performance of those hotels,” he added. As such, this partnership is “a little bit more of a plug-in from a distribution point of view, and using the Registry Collection’s software and concept that we launched last year for a different type of opportunity.”
The New Portfolio
Three of the first four properties to join Registry Collection Hotels under this alliance are part of an expanded resort complex between Playa del Carmen and Tulum in Mexico. The Grand Palladium Colonial Resort & Spa, the Grand Palladium Kantenah Resort & Spa and the Grand Palladium White Sand Resort & Spa Riviera Maya have a combined 1,100 guestrooms, nine restaurants, 21 themed bars, six freshwater pools and a wellness center. The fourth property, the adults-only TRS Yucatan Hotel, is also along Mexico’s Riviera Maya.
The additional Grand Palladium Hotels & Resorts and TRS Hotels properties coming up this August and September under the Registry Collection as part of the agreement are:
- Grand Palladium Costa Mujeres Resort & Spa, Costa Mujeres, Mexico, with 673 suites
- Grand Palladium Vallarta Resort & Spa, Riviera Nayarit, Mexico, with 510 rooms
- Grand Palladium Palace Resort Spa & Casino, Grand Palladium Punta Cana Resort & Spa and Grand Palladium Bávaro Suites Resort & Spa, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, a three-property resort with a combined 1,621 guestrooms
- TRS Turquesa Hotel, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, with 372 suites
- TRS Cap Cana Hotel, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, with 115-rooms
- Grand Palladium Jamaica Resort & Spa and Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton Resort & Spa, Montego Bay, Jamaica, with a combined 1,054 rooms
- Grand Palladium Imbassaí Resort & Spa, Imbassaí, Brazil, with 654 rooms
In addition to these properties, the 271-guestroom Dominican Fiesta Hotel & Casino in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (also managed by Palladium Hotel Group), will be joining Wyndham's Trademark Collection.
The location of the properties made the partnership especially appealing for Wyndham, LePage said, highlighting "great leisure travel demand" in the Caribbean and Mexico's Quintana Roo area. From a business perspective, he said, Wyndham is poised to benefit from the increase in tourism to these markets.
Wyndham has more than 8,900 hotels in its portfolio.