Wyndham Affiliation Adds Deluxe EMEA Tier

Customarily known for midprice and economy brands, Wyndham Hotel Group, a division of Wyndham Worldwide, following its spin-off earlier this month from Cendant Corp., has announced a partnership with the Corinthia Group of Companies to create the Wyndham Grand Collection, serving the deluxe market. The new brand emerges from a deal with Corinthia for Wyndham to jointly manage the 20 properties it owns across Europe, the Middle East and Africa under Corinthia Hotels International. Under the agreement, the 20 existing Corinthia's properties will be rebranded with the Ramada Plaza, Wyndham or the Wyndham Grand Collection flag.

"The Wyndham Grand Collection will be our five-star properties within that portfolio of Corinthia hotels," said Wyndham Hotel Group president and CEO Steve Rudnitsky, who brokered the deal in Malta with Corinthia Group chairman and chief executive Alfred Pisani. "We think outside of the United States, the collection has opportunity for growth. There are several Corinthia assets that stand out as five-star assets, and we wanted to make sure we called them accordingly." Rudnitsky said that the specific properties would retain their Corinthia designation, but affixed to the end of the name would be: "a Wyndham Grand Collection property"—similar to Hilton Hotels Corp.'s move earlier this year with its Waldorf-Astoria Collection.

Wyndham had been in frequent talks with Corinthia this year regarding a joint partnership, and Rudnitsky said it was Corinthia's presence in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, coupled with its strong infrastructure that attracted him. "We wanted to further penetrate EMEA, particularly with the Wyndham and Ramada Plaza brands, and part of that expansion really required management capabilities," he said. "This provided us, literally overnight, with those capabilities. When you combine that with the core competencies we have, in terms of worldwide sales capacity, we believe it's very powerful."

While the venture could prove profitable for Wyndham, Rudnitsky insisted that Corinthia also would benefit. "Corinthia wanted to expand its third-party management business opportunities, as well as leverage the sale and synergies of our sales and marketing capabilities," said Rudnitsky.

The agreement also included Wyndham gaining equity stake in Corinthia's management company, CHI. Pending customary regulatory approval, the deal is expected to be finalized within the next 40 days.