Wyndham Hotel Group has wooed lodging industry veteran Eric Danziger, a leader from the company's formative years, to return as its new chief executive.
Danziger, who has more than 30 years of hotel industry experience, took over as Wyndham Hotel Group president and CEO on Dec. 1. He served as the company's president in 1990, when it was a small hotel company that he helped grow to 100 hotels. Danziger also served as president and CEO of Starwood Lodging, which grew from 11 hotels to 1,600 hotels worldwide during his tenure, and worked for Carlson Hotels Worldwide.
More recently, Danziger had moved from hospitality to e-commerce as the CEO of two online companies: home services shopping site WhiteFence and online real estate company ZipRealty.
"It was the people and the company's focus on execution and growth that attracted me to Wyndham Worldwide and the hotel group," Danziger said in a statement. "The breadth and diversity of the business model and portfolio of world-renowned brands is exciting, and I am really looking forward to being part of the high-energy and innovative leadership team."
Danziger stepped into the role vacated by Steven Rudnitsky, who left Wyndham in September
(BTNonline, Sept. 3), and then became CEO of Dolce Hotels and Resorts (see story, page 21). Worldwide chairman and CEO Stephen Holmes served as CEO in the interim.
"Eric's proven leadership skills, hands-on operations experience and ability to diversify and grow businesses make him the ideal candidate to lead our hotel business and create and maintain strong relationships with our franchisees and owners," Holmes said in a statement.