Wyndham Hotels & Resorts aims to open hotels alongside highways in India to deepen its presence in the country.
“Our objective is to take advantage of the infrastructure development across the country and place our brands across highways and airports,” Wyndham’s President (EMEA region) Dimitris Manikis told businessline on the sidelines of the HICSA 2024 event on Thursday.
Wyndham has 9,200 hotels globally and it is the largest chain by number of properties. In Europe, it has hotels alongside EV charging stations and food plazas on highways, and the group is hoping to replicate the strategy in India. “We are looking for the right partners to develop our brands across highways in India,” Manikis said.
Wyndham, which specialises in the mid-scale segment, has 60 hotels in operation and another 40 in the pipeline in South Asia. India takes the lion’s share of those with a few hotels in Nepal and Sri Lanka. These include hotels under the Ramada, Wyndham, Howard Johnson and Days Inn brands.
New property
The chain debuted its Trademark Collection by Wyndham brand with the opening of a 57-room The Earth Hotel in Amristar on Thursday.
Manikis said 2023 was the best year for Wyndham in India with its properties reporting 10 per cent higher occupancies and 15 per cent higher revenue per available room (RevPar). “Loyalty members too grew 10 per cent in India, which was at par with global trend. I am very bullish about India. Over the next five years, we see India as an important source market for our hotels,” Manikis said.
His confidence is driven by India’s growing middle-class and economic growth that is fuelling outbound travel. The hotel chain will also collaborate more closely with travel partners for inbound travel opportunity.
Manikis said he is not worried about competition and there is space for everyone. “There is space for Mercedes and there is space for Suzuki. It only depends on how good you are in that space,” he remarked.