During Tuesday’s fourth-quarter earnings call, Wyndham Worldwide Chairman and CEO Steve Holmes cited the company’s highly successful Wyndham Rewards loyalty program, which grew an impressive 52% during 2014.
“One very important initiative to support these goals last year was our multi-brand umbrella marketing campaign,” Holmes said during the call. “The campaign ultimately drove over 1.8 billion impressions. Bookings in our central channels increased 10% and enrollments in our Wyndham Rewards loyalty program grew 52%. This is great progress toward our goal of establishing the best-in-class loyalty
program in our primary economy and midscale market segments, which we expect will significantly drive reservation contribution to our franchisees. Stay tuned for some exciting developments with our Wyndham Rewards loyalty program this year.”
Holmes said the company’s Hotel Group recorded a great year, growing adjusted EBITDA close to 15%.
“Our efforts in the Hotel Group are focused on two important areas, increasing our reservation contribution to our franchisees and improving the quality and awareness of our brands,” he explained. “Of course, maintaining category leading brands begins with the quality of the hotels in our system which is a significant area of concentration for us. In 2014, terminations for properties below our system standards accounted for nearly 90% of the total properties terminated from our domestic system helping to ensure that guest experience with our brands isn’t tainted by a small fraction of hotels that failed to meet our standards.”
Holmes is excited about the company’s recent acquisition of Dolce Hotels & Resorts.
“Dolce’s hotels and conference centers enhance our portfolio with a significantly larger presence in the group and meeting segment as well as the upper upscale and lifestyle segments,” he said. “Its 4,000 employees worldwide will add depth and experience and expertise to our already well-established hotel management team. The managed business is a great growth platform opportunity for us. We have taken that business from just 24 properties three years ago to 84 properties today.”