Dive Brief:
- Wyndham Hotels & Resorts launched new owner and guest engagement platforms intended to help streamline operations, boost profitability and enhance the guest experience, the company announced Thursday.
- The owner engagement platform, Wyndham Community, offers insights to hoteliers to manage revenue and operations across properties. The guest engagement platform is designed to help hotel owners better cater to travelers’ evolving needs.
- Wyndham has invested more than $275 million in technology over the last five years, according to the release. Wyndham President and CEO Geoff Ballotti said the platforms were designed to position hotels for greater profitability amid “a record development pipeline and historic levels of franchisee engagement and retention.”
Dive Insight:
Wyndham Community, the platform for owners, was developed with input from the company’s franchise advisory and brand councils. The platform is designed to simplify hotel management for Wyndham franchisees, whether they “own a single hotel or a portfolio spanning multiple brands and segments,” the release said.
The platform connects owners with data about their hotels’ day-to-day performance while offering Wyndham’s network-wide resources. The tool features real-time business insights and operational support.
Wyndham’s new guest experience platform, meanwhile, was built in partnership with hospitality technology provider Canary Technologies.
The technology includes AI-driven property messaging that allows guests to text hotels directly with any questions about their stay. Wyndham Hospitality AI answers frequently asked questions itself.
The platform also offers smart mobile check-in and checkout that helps hotels ward against fraud and unwarranted chargebacks, and a dynamic upsell feature allows hotels to offer enhancements like early check-in, late checkout and room upgrades.
The owner and guest engagement platforms are both available at no additional cost to franchisees.
Wyndham follows other hotel companies in updating its technology to enhance guest experiences through upselling. Earlier this week, InterContinental Hotel Group launched a revamped cloud-based digital booking experience designed to better personalize guest stays. The new booking functionality offers add-on enhancements as guests shop.
Hotel technology provider Amadeus also recently launched a booking solution aimed at customizing guest stays.
The world’s largest hotel franchising company, Wyndham’s development pipeline is currently at a record high. The Echo Suites brand, in particular, is in the midst of a major global expansion, with a pipeline of 260 hotels as of July.
