Choice Pushes Ahead in Wyndham Takeover Bid

A survey of hotel owners found many of them raising concerns about Choice Hotels‘ proposed hostile takeover of its rival Wyndham. Issues include the effect on their revenue and a potential increase in fees they pay.

Climate change directly impacts travel businesses: They have to handle emergency incidents on the ground caused by fires or floods and cater to customers looking for more sustainable choices.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Wednesday, December 13. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

The budget hotel brouhaha boiled over Tuesday morning as Choice Hotels launched a hostile bid for Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.

Choice Hotels International announced the completed integration of the Radisson Hotels Americas business, just 16 months after Choice acquired the brand in August 2022.

Choice Hotels said on Tuesday it had bought enough Wyndham stock to nominate candidates to the board of Wyndham, its takeover target.

Never mind that its $7.8 billion hostile takeover bid for Wyndham Hotels & Resorts was publicly spurned in October or that three other proposals have also been rejected. Suitor Choice Hotels now wants to take a new offer directly to Wyndham shareholders.

The Louvre art museum in Paris will hike its basic entrance fee next year by 29%, adding to concerns that visitors coming to Paris for next year’s Olympic Games will face spiraling costs.

The Biden administration’s infrastructure spending blitz has put more construction laborers on the road for work this year, fueling a race by extended-stay hotel operators to win their business.

High-speed rail in the United States may soon be a reality. The White House recently announced the allocation of $8.2 billion in funding for several key rail projects including a Las Vegas to Los Angeles corridor; a Raleigh, North Carolina to Richmond, Virginia, route; new service throughout California’s central valley; and more. The investment is a component of President Joe Biden’s “Investing in America” Agenda.  While high-speed rail has been a popular wish among travelers for many years, the allocation of funding helps put the project in motion, with one administration official sharing with Travel + Leisure that the Las Vegas to Los Angeles route could be completed in advance of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. “If you’ve ever seen the standard of passenger rail service in Japan, Germany, Spain, or Italy, and come home and wondered, 'Why can’t we have these nice things?’ This is the beginning of the answer to that. Help is on the way,” Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, told T+L during a press briefing on the announcement.  Buttigieg said that the lack of investment in new rail services over the last several decades is a trend that is now being reversed and that while change won’t happen overnight, travelers will see improvements within a few years.  Over 35 rail projects were named as part of the funding announcement, including: 

In the latest episode of the Skift India Travel Podcast, Abhilasha Negi and Akash Dahiya, co-founders of travel fintech firm Sankash, talk to Skift Asia Editor Peden Doma Bhutia about how the unprecedented boom in leisure travel after the easing of restrictions imposed during the pandemic have led to the rise of Travel Now Pay Later offerings. Sankash has been working with online travel agencies like EaseMyTrip and Musafir to offer flexible payment options to Indian travelers. The travel fintech firm also offers Sail Now Pay Later options for cruises.

Happy hump day, folks! It’s a short week and a skinny newsletter kinda day today.