Dive Brief:
- Wyndham Hotels & Resorts reported 4% year-over-year system-wide rooms growth in the third quarter of 2024, according to a company earnings report published Wednesday. It opened more than 17,000 rooms globally in the quarter, including nearly 7,000 in the U.S.
- One of Wyndham’s U.S. openings was for its second Echo Suites extended stay hotel in the Dallas suburb of Plano, Texas. The debut followed the brand’s inaugural opening during the prior quarter in Spartanburg, South Carolina. In August, Wyndham told Hotel Dive that “a slew” of additional Echo openings were expected in the coming months.
- Across its brands, pipeline generation was strong for Wyndham in Q3, with the company awarding 197 development contracts globally, including 95 in the U.S. Signings in the quarter led to 5% year-over-year pipeline growth, bringing Wyndham’s total pipeline to a record 248,000 rooms, according to the earnings report.
Dive Insight:
Wyndham awarded 10% more franchise contracts domestically in the third quarter than in the prior-year period, driving growth of the company’s development pipeline, CEO Geoff Ballotti detailed in the report.
The quarter marked the 17th consecutive quarter of sequential pipeline growth for Wyndham, according to the report. The majority (70%) of the hotel company’s pipeline is in the midscale and above segment. Approximately 14% of the pipeline represents Echo Suites hotels.
During a Thursday earnings call, Ballotti shared that Wyndham awarded 10 new Echo Suites contracts in Q3 in markets like Huntsville, Alabama; Greensboro and Raleigh, North Carolina; and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. More than a dozen brand properties are under construction across the country, he noted.
Since the launch of Echo Suites in 2022, Wyndham has awarded 283 contracts for new brand hotels, according to the earnings report. Brand growth has been driven in part by “historic infrastructure and microchip spend” resulting from the Biden administration’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that passed in 2021, Wyndham told Hotel Dive in August.
“Stabilizing RevPAR trends and improving comparisons coupled with increased infrastructure demand are expected to pave the way for improved results in the coming quarters,” Ballotti said in a statement.
Wyndham competitors, including Choice Hotels International, are making strategic pushes in extended stay as well.
In Q3, Wyndham also expanded in the rapidly growing luxury lifestyle segment, debuting its luxury Registry Collection Hotels brand in the U.S. in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Hotel conversions continued to have strong momentum for the company, according to Ballotti. Conversions are “going to be very strong for us throughout the remainder of this year and going into next,” he said during the call.
In addition to portfolio and pipeline growth in the quarter, Wyndham posted 1% annual growth in global RevPAR and 4% year-over-year growth in adjusted EBITDA to $208 million.
