Wyndham Hotel Group reported year-over-year gains in average daily rate
and occupancy for the fourth quarter and full year of 2017. For the quarter,
ADR increased 5.1 percent to $67.01 and occupancy rose from 51.6 percent in
2016 to 52 percent. For the full year, ADR increased 1.2 percent to $68.24.
Revenue for the group increased 5 percent year over year during the fourth
quarter to $332 million.
Wyndham Worldwide CEO Steve Holmes said during the company's earnings
call that it's still on track to spin off the hotel group into a separate
publicly traded company during the second quarter of 2018. In the meantime,
Holmes said, Wyndham Hotel Group CEO Geoff Ballotti, who will be CEO of the spin-off,
has highlighted quality, technology and loyalty as three areas of focus.
Wyndham Hotel Group also is set to close its $1.95 billion
acquisition of La Quinta Inns & Suites during the second quarter. Ballotti
said the group is excited to now grow organically, particularly in the midscale
and extended-stay segments. However,
even with La Quinta and last year's buy of AmericInn, Ballotti hasn't
ruled out additional acquisitions.
As of Dec. 31, Wyndham Hotel Group had more than 8,400 properties, or
728,200 rooms, a 4 percent year-over-year increase. Some 12,000 rooms came from
the AmericInn acquisition in October. Its development pipeline grew 7 percent
year from a year earlier to 1,160 hotels, or 148,200 rooms. Fifty-eight percent
of that pipeline is for international hotels, and 68 percent is for new
construction properties.
RELATED: Wyndham Q3
earnings