Wyndham announced key marketing initiatives

Wyndham Hotel Group shared its key marketing strategies at the group’s Global Conference held in Las Vegas; the plans include relaunch of its loyalty programme, access to better technology and emphasis on quality and brands.

The three-day conference was attended by more than 6000 franchisees and owners representing many of Wyndham Hotel Group’s more than 7600 properties across 70 countries.

Wyndham Hotel Group president and chief executive officer Geoff Ballotti said: “It’s absolutely vital for our franchisees and hotel owners around the world that our powerhouse brands deliver on their promises and continue to evolve with the changing needs and demands of today’s travellers.

“Focusing our energy and resources on better product quality, valuable technology and innovative new marketing programmes, as well as realigning our teams to offer the highest level of support to our properties, is paramount for the continued growth of our company.

“As the world’s largest hotel company, this is just the start of an incredibly exciting period of growth and transformation. The initiatives outlined during our conference set a clear strategic direction and foundation to help ensure the continued success of our franchisees around the world.”

Wyndham announced the revamp of its loyalty programme to create a simpler and generous version. Titled ‘Go Free’ award, it allows members to redeem a free night stay for 15,000 points at all 7500 participating properties worldwide.

Moreover, it unveiled a new organisational structure with dedicated resources for each of Wyndham Hotel Group’s brands that will focus on operational and brand consistency, coupled with a continued push to remove a lower-quality hotels.

It has also engaged Siegel & Gale, a brand strategy firm, to help lead efforts to more clearly define the positioning of each of Wyndham Hotel Group’s brands and their core value propositions.

Attendees at the conference got the first look at the company’s new advertising campaign, featuring actor Kristofer Hivju, set to debut in May 2015 on US television.

The company is also working to upgrade its digital content and drive central bookings; it will fund over 5000 individual hotel photo shoots worldwide, and will become the first hotel company in the economy and midscale segments to feature user-generated content on its websites.

Furthermore, it will build on its new strategic partnership with Sabre Corporation to roll-out a cloud-based SynXis Property Manager with a fully connected and automated revenue management tool powered by Infor’s EzLITE.

Additionally, Wyndham Hotel Group it will migrate its central reservations systems to Sabre’s SynXis Central Reservations solution beginning late this year.