Wyndham Hotel group set to launch its new brand Wyndham Garden

Eyeing a slice of India’s growing mid-market hotel pie, global hospitality company Wyndham Hotel Group is set to launch its new brand Wyndham Garden as per a report.

“We will be looking at introducing mid-market full-service brand Wyndham Garden in the Indian market. We want to launch it in the next six-eight months,” Deepika Arora, Regional Vice President-Eurasia, Wyndham Hotel Group, said.

In India, the group currently has brands such as Ramada Plaza, Howard Johnson’s, Days, Ramada Encore, out of its 16 brands globally. “India is growing towards mid-market so Wyndham Garden is a great offering in that respect.

“It is a typical business or a leisure destination hotel. It is similar to Ramada but with a different look and feel. It will work well in a metro or leisure destination,” she added.

The company has 3,000 keys across 26 hotels in India and 5,000 keys across 41 hotels under construction. About 60 per cent of its new openings are in tier II cities and the rest in tier I.

On whether the company is looking to launch any other brands here, she said: “We would rather push existing brands Howard Johnson and Days brands. Ramada Encore is a cookie-cutter brand which we would rather promote than getting another brand and then work on its promotion.”

The company, which has expanded in India using the franchise model, unlike other global players which have grown through management contracts, is now also looking at the latter option.

“We’ve done fairly well in the franchise model. We have grown from eight hotels to 26 in the last five years. Today, we are in a position where we are far more equipped to offer a management solution to a hotel owner compared to six years ago,” she said.

While the hotels currently in the pipeline will continue to be in the franchise model, the company is looking at offering management contracts too.

“We will look at tier I markets or a good leisure destination for the management contact model,” Arora added.

Globally, the hospitality company is working on the transformation of its brand image in order to make it customer-friendly. The brand will revisit the look and feel of properties as well as taglines across all Wyndham brands.

Wyndham to add 15 new hotels in India by 2015 end

On an expansion spree in India, global hospitality major Wyndham Hotel Group will add 15 new fully operational properties across the country by end of this year. 
The US-based chain currently has 24 operating properties in India with a total of 2,500 rooms at various locations. 
"We will be opening about 15 new operating properties across the country by end of 2015," Wyndham Hotel Group Regional Vice President Indian Ocean Deepika Arora Said. 

The company is looking at locations in cities such as Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Darjeeling, Bengaluru, Raipur, Lucknow, Jammu and Jalandhar among others for this, she added. 

On being asked the business model  Arora said: "So far we have focused on the franchise model and we are the only company that offers all our brands under the franchise model but going forward we will also be evaluating management contract options." 
The company is also open to acquiring hospitality chains with management infrastructure for growth, she added. 

When asked about investments, Arora said: "We are an asset-light company and follow asset-light strategy so our investments are mainly on developing human resources, on marketing and on helping the client increase the revenue." 

India is an important key market for Wyndham Hotel Group and the company plans to tap India's hospitality sector that is mainly domestic-driven and is focusing on leisure and MICE segment. 
"India is one of the key markets for Wyndham from a growth perspective. We are focusing on leisure and MICE segment for growth as it has huge potential. We are also looking at destinations that are still untapped," Arora said. 

The company, which currently has properties under its Ramada, Ramada Plaza, Ramada Encore, Days Hotel, Howard Johnson and Wyndham Grand brands, said the 15 new properties would be mostly under the Ramada brand, there will be a Ramada Plaza, one Howard Johnson and couple of Days. 

Wyndham Hotel Group, part of Wyndham Worldwide Corporation currently has 7,650 hotels and 661,000 rooms in 70 countries under its brands such as Dolce Hotels and Resorts, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Ramada, Days Inn, Super 8, Wingate by Wyndham, Baymont Inn & Suites, Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham, Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham, TRYP by Wyndham, Howard Johnson, Travelodge and Knights Inn.