Wyndham Hotel Group Conference Outlines Major Quality, Technology and Marketing Initiatives

Aggressive marketing initiatives, including the announcement of an exciting new loyalty program, as well as access to better technology and a renewed emphasis on quality and brands were the central themes highlighted today at Wyndham Hotel Group's Global Conference as thousands of franchisees from around the world joined together for the opening session. Kicking off a three-day event at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, the conference brings together more than 6,000 franchisees representing many of Wyndham Hotel Group's more than 7,600 properties across 70 countries.
"It's absolutely vital for our franchisees and hotel owners around the world that our powerhouse brands deliver on their promises and continue to evolve with the changing needs and demands of today's travelers," said Geoff Ballotti, Wyndham Hotel Group's president and chief executive officer. "Focusing our energy and resources on better product quality, valuable technology and innovative new marketing programs, as well as realigning our teams to offer the highest level of support to our properties, is paramount for the continued growth of our company. As the world's largest hotel company, this is just the start of an incredibly exciting period of growth and transformation. The initiatives outlined during our conference set a clear strategic direction and foundation to help ensure the continued success of our franchisees around the world."

Key initiatives announced during the conference included:

A Game Changing Relaunch of the Wyndham Rewards® Loyalty Program. Bucking industry trends of overly complex loyalty programs, the new Wyndham Rewards program offers the industry's most simple and generous offering by allowing members to redeem for a free night stay – known as a 'Go Free' award – at all 7,500 participating properties worldwide for just 15,000 points.

Strong Focus on Brand Quality and Operations Support. A new organizational structure with dedicated resources for each of the Wyndham Hotel Group's brands will focus on operational and brand consistency coupled with a continued push to remove a record number of lower-quality hotels.

Best-in-Class PMS, Revenue Management and Central Reservations Solutions Powered by Third-Party Providers. Building on its new strategic partnership with Sabre Corporation, the roll-out of a best-in-class, cloud-based SynXis Property Manager from Sabre Corporation with a fully connected and automated revenue management tool powered by Infor's EzLITE is underway. Additionally, Wyndham Hotel Group announced it will migrate its central reservations systems to Sabre's industry-leading SynXis Central Reservations solution beginning late this year.

New Multi-brand Advertising Campaign. Attendees got their first look at the company's new advertising campaign featuring actor Kristofer Hivju. Set to debut in May 2015 on national television, the campaign is designed to leverage the unmatched scale of Wyndham Hotel Group's 15 hotel brands, 7,600 hotels and the new Wyndham Rewards program in a fun and memorable way.

Major Digital Content Enhancements. In an aggressive push to upgrade its digital content and drive central bookings, the company announced it will fund over 5,000 individual hotel photo shoots worldwide through its marketing funds. This content push is being further enhanced as Wyndham Hotel Group becomes the first hotel company in the economy and midscale segments to feature user-generated content on its websites.

Brand Repositioning Initiative. The company also announced that, in addition to its core focus of improving hotel and brand quality, it has engaged Siegel & Gale, a highly recognized brand strategy firm, to help lead efforts to more clearly define the positioning of each of Wyndham Hotel Group's brands and their core value propositions.