Wyndham CEO Targets Global Growth and Premium

03.06.2024 - 17:33 / skift.com / Sean Oneill / Geoffrey Ballotti / Sam Nazarian

Wyndham’s top boss wants to shed his hotel group’s reputation for focusing on economy hotels in the U.S. through a strategy to expand worldwide and offer brands that range from economy to luxury.

“We have had a phenomenal success over the last few years, positioning ourselves globally as well in over 95 of our planet’s 195 countries,” said Geoffrey Ballotti, president and CEO, while speaking at the New York University International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference. “We love economy. We feel very comfortable in economy. … But we are increasingly upscale.”

Ballotti said Wyndham is expanding the hotels at its highest rate band, part of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’s Registry Collection, a soft brand typically charging about $250 a night.

Some context: Earlier this year, Wyndham said it would add new “smart lifestyle” hotels from Sam Nazarian’s SBE, with financial backing from the entertainer Mark Anthony.

On Monday Wyndham and SBE revealed the first hotel development signings for HQ: one in Montreux, Switzerland, and the other in Detroit, Michigan.

“HQ Montreux and HQ Detroit are two beautiful hotels,” Ballotti said. “The Royal Plaza and the Villa Toscana will be reimagined on Lake Geneva and Lake Montréal … while the HQ Detroit is the former Park Avenue House, which is a nationally registered landmark will be reimagined by SBE over the coming months.”

Ballotti highlighted recent wins by his development team in putting his branded properties across the global map.

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