Distribution Strategies

Wyndham Hotel Group has launched a new website, www.wyndhamhotelgroup.com, designed to engage consumers with the company’s family of brands while helping to drive incremental bookings for hotel owners.

The launch is part of Wyndham Hotel Group’s direct strategy designed to recapture business by driving more bookings through the company’s own channels. 

The strategy calls for improved brand websites, several of which have already been unveiled, as well as enhanced alternative sell, a distribution model enabling Wyndham Hotel Group brands to be sold on sister websites.

“The launch of wyndhamhotelgroup.com is an important step for us as we work to increase the exposure of our brands and hotels to consumers who may not be fully aware of all the options within the Wyndham Hotel Group family,” said Flo Lugli, executive vice president of marketing for Wyndham Hotel Group. “The site is complementary to our existing websites and is vital to our continued efforts to drive incremental bookings through our own online channels.”

An array of tools and functionality, including the ability to sort results by brand, distance, price and amenities, are available to shoppers at the new site.

New initiatives

The company also highlighted that as part of its Direct Strategy, it is also one of the six founders of Room Key, a hotel search engine launched this month.

Wyndham Hotel Group also took a new initiative to focus on website testing and personalisation for the group’s global hotel brands. It signed a deal with Maxymiser earlier this month.

The plan is to boost ecommerce sales and conversion rates on Wyndham Hotel Group’s brand websites in an effort to increase brand contribution for franchisees and provide a better experience for consumers.

On the decision to go ahead with the group’s first multivariate testing solution, Gareth Gaston, senior vice president, global ecommerce at Wyndham Hotel Group, said, “Testing and optimisation will not only help improve revenue and customer retention, but will help us reinforce our company’s mission to provide a better experience that caters to travelers’ needs, preferences and behaviours.”

In a recent interview with EyeforTravel.com, Gaston mentioned that for any supplier that has scale, the cost of driving direct business is far less than the cost of business from intermediaries.

Commenting on how to assess the real costs and benefits of all channels that can help in finalising strategies for maximising profitability in marketing and distribution, he recommended that one needs to be completely honest regarding rates. “For merchant models, count the difference between the net rates given to an intermediary and the actual selling price, and of course commissions and booking fees. I am sure most hotels would be quite shocked if they were to add up what they are paying in commissions and margins as compared to what they spend on marketing themselves directly. Inversely for direct channels, take into account all the marketing, people and technology costs,” he said.