Wyndham International Business Case Study
Challenges facing Wyndham International
There are a number of challenges facing Wyndham International in 2001 as they move forward to capture market share of a distinct upscale segment of the business and leisure travelers. In 2001, Wyndham was not a well-known name in the industry. The company had been suffering financially and had sold considerable assets in an effort to promote the Wyndham brand. The challenge of building branch recognition in a market dominated by a few key players such as Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt compounded by the fact that the travel and tourism market was already suffering from the backlash of the September 11, 2001 tragedy make Wyndham's challenge somewhat overwhelming.
In addition to less than desirable branch recognition, Wyndham was just entering year three of a significant debt restructuring plan composed of a $1 billion equity investment, as well as a $2.45 billion restructuring of debt. Under such tight "purse strings" it is unlikely there will be any surplus funds available for any capital investment, excepting that which is deemed mandatory. Currently there is $30 million allocated for the ByRequest advertising campaign, however if this is consumed, where will additional funding be generated from? Current financials (Exhibit 1 of the case) are display a net loss to the business in 2001 of almost $139 million.
The leisure travel business is also changing evidenced by the following comment, "hotel products competing in the same segment are becoming indistinguishable in the customers' eyes" (Wyndham International: Fostering High Touch with High Tech, p. 7). There has been a tendency towards increasing competitiveness in the industry focu...
... middle of paper ...
..., 27 management contracts and the worldwide rights the brand for hotel and timeshare from Blackstone for $101 million. This collaboration left behind owned real estate assets only. A couple of comments from a May 2006 article in Lodging Hospitality talk to the difficulty that Wyndham has had. "Steven Rudnitsky, chairman and CEO of Cendant expects to terminate some Wyndhams to bring brand standards up and the make the brand more consistent." As well, "when Peter Strebel, president of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, began talking to owners in the winter of 2005, he discovered some frustration with the branch because its main focus was on owned assets rather than its franchises. During the past few years, Wyndham was in more of a sell mode, so refocusing, let alone refreshing, the brand was not on the front burner" (Lodging Hospitality Cendant's Upscale Gambit, 2006).
Under what conditions might the parties to the alliance discussed in this case dissolve or end the relationship?
For the Balanced Scorecard section I have set up a table, which includes a strategic plan and management system to align our business activities to the mission and vision of the Hilton Worldwide brands, developed strategies to improve the internal and external communications for our location, and ways to monitor the performance over the next year. The chart will be organized into a strategy map to allow its users visual ideas of where the perspective plans connect. Subsequently, as you will see with the attached document for the 2013 Operating Budget, the hotel has revenues totally over $105,000,000 and a net operating profit of about $45,500,000 as of this year. Along with the P&L Statement, other revenue generating departments will be discussed thoroughly with estimated expenses and revenues displayed, and finished with an assessment of local comp...
After the consolidation and reduction in real estate size, Wyndham International began to franchise its business. With that came all the connections that Wyndham had, but it was also seen as a dirty word. Companies had now become more customer focused with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) at their core. When it came to profits, they got all that they wanted, but when it came to quality it was lacking. The companies had to take that into account and then decide what was more important to them. Wyndham International would later discover a way to have both.
The Wyndham has executed a compliance program to strengthen ethics throughout the company. They have drafted a thorough Code of Business Conduct that has received top scores from the Ethisphere Institute for its comprehensiveness and availability to stakeholders. Another way the Wyndham contributes to customer is creating a customer relationships. When consumers think about and associate the Wyndham hotel company the first thought that should come to hand is an upscale hotel chains that targets high end consumers. However, the Wyndham targets travelers from across the world and social status. For example, they have different hotels that expend the reach of consumers some of them include Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Wyndham Garden, and Wyndham Grand Collection, Days Inn, Super 8, Travel Lodge, and others. This strategy allows Wyndham to avoid brand confusion but also set apart with having a wide variety of consumers. Ending with Availability of products and customer care services: The products of the Wyndham are always available in markets and keeps on changing customer requirements. Their customer care service is also effective that help customers in making right and quick
The external environment of the hotel industry in is very competitive and already well established. Trends in the market include promotional campaigns to customers using the "more bang for your buck," method. There are several different segments of the hotel industry including: luxury, upscale, mid-market with food and beverage, mid-market without food and beverage, economy, and budget. Each different segment offers certain amenities to appeal to consumers depending on what they are looking for in an over night stay away from home. As McDonald's looks at entering the hotel industry they have looked at several important issues dealing with an entry into this market. McDonald's would like to enter the market in the state of Illinois where the company's headquarters is. Illinois leads all other states in money spent on tourism totaling $61.1 million in the year 2000. Illinois also ranked fourth in the nation for leisure person trips in 2000. Hotel industry has several important barriers to entry including cost of entry, ability to differentiate from other hotels, and competition in every hotel segment.
47% of Marriott’s rooms are in North American Limited Service, 30% are classified as North American Full Service, and the remaining 23% of its rooms are in the international segment (Marriott, 2015). Recognizing that travelers have a range of budgetary and amenities needs, Marriott operates its properties under a variety of different brand names, 19 in total, each of which has its own “price and service points” (Marriott, 2015). Most of Marriott’s brands are at the high end of the market, which includes such widely recognized luxury brands as the Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, Renaissance Hotels, Bulgari Hotels, Marriott Executive Apartments, Marriott Vacation Club, Edition Hotels, Autograph Collection Hotels, Gaylord Hotels, and Marriott Hotels (Marriott, 2015). These properties often command nightly rental rates that can run several hundred dollars a night and offer a wide range of amenities well suited for both business and pleasure travelers. These properties are classified as “Full-Service.” Marriott also offers a range of “Limited-Service” brands that do not contain as many amenities and tend to be much cheaper than the Full-Service line. Examples of these properties include Courtyard, Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites, and Fairfield Inn & Suites (Marriott, 2015). Even though these properties are considered Limited-Service, they do offer considerably nicer accommodations and more amenities than other types of budget motels and hotels. In contrast to many of the other hotel brands, Marriott International does not operate any midscale, economy, or budget
*Problems: How far can management push this branding strategy without undercutting the distinctiveness of each individually branded hotel?
The Marriott Corporation (MC), had seen a long, successful reign in the hospitality industry until the late 1980s. An economic downturn and the 1990 real estate crash resulted in MC owning newly developed hotel properties with no potential buyers in sight and a mound of debt. During the late 1980s, MC had promised in their annual reports to sell off some of their hotel properties and reduce their burden of debt. However, the company made little progress toward fulfilling that promise. During 1992, MC realized that financial results were only slightly up from the previous year and their ability to raise funds in the capital market was severely limited. MC was left with little choice, as they had to consider some major changes within the company if they wished to remain a successful business. Thus, J.W. Marriott, Jr., Chairman of the board and president of MC, turned to Stephen Bollenbach, the new chief financial officer, for ideas and guidance.
Thanks to these factors, pricing becomes one of the primary uses with which hotels attract customers. However, due to customers’ independent nature, there influence over industry players is limited. In the high-end segment of hotels, price influence becomes even less as hotels find it easier to differentiate themselves from the competition and customers become less price sensitive coming to expect higher prices as a symbolism of superior quality and services. Lastly, corporate business and tour operators can exert more influence due to their large purchases but this affect is of a limited nature and does not extend across the whole
History of Hilton hotel has been very interesting as it started as Mobley Hotel in year 1919 a small building. Because, when the company started it had no plans or ideas of expanding, the sole purpose was to serve as a place for the travelers to stay where they can comfortably enjoy a night or few and carry on towards their journey. After twenty-seven years of business and hard work, this small hotel went nationally in eleven states within United States, known as Hilton. Currently they have four thousand worldwide properties, either directly owned or franchised (including third party), in seventy-eight countries. Hilton even though allows franchises but there policies remain the same and direct Hilton officials do all the upper level management. The company name Hilton understands for Hosp...
Founded in 1919, Hilton Worldwide has remained a beacon of innovation, quality, and success. What Hilton Worldwide calls their mission statement imposes its worldwide high status: “We will be the preeminent global hospitality company - the first choice of guests, team members and owners alike.” Fierce competition, however, does currently exist among hotel corporations within the market. Marriott International, Hilton’s main competitor, currently stands as the third-ranked world leader within the industry (according to hospitalitynet.org), coming in after Hilton. Other competition faced by Hilton comes from Wyndham Worldwide, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and Best Western, to name a few. Affiliated with ten different hotel brands, Hilton Worldwide provides its guests with the advantage of choosing from any one of their 4,000 operating hotels located throughout 90 different countries. This has evidently contributed to Hilton Worldwide becoming one of the top leaders (ranked second to be exact) in the hospitality industry, despite their competition. The vision of Hilton Worldwide is “to fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality.” As the modern luxury hotel, Hilton has created a prestigious heritage with a modern attitude. The values of Hilton Hotels are stated uniquely, giving one value to each letter that constitutes the word for the hotel brand. “H” stands for Hospitality– “We are passionate about delivering exceptional guest experiences”; “I” stands for Integrity– “We do the right thing, all the time”; “L” stands for Leadership– “We are leaders in our industry and in our communities”; “T” stands for Teamwork– “We are team players in everything we do”; “O” stands for Ownership– “We are the owners of our actions and dec...
1.2 Problem Formulation In the problem formulation part of my report I would describe the overall situation of the U.K Tourism industry. The service concept of “Simply Travel” will give us information about the services provided by the company. I will find out about the customers, competitors of the company. I will find out what political, economical, social and technological factors affecting the company and its demand situation.
Hilton Worldwide carries out business through three segments: (1) management and franchise; (2) ownership; and (3) time-share. These business segments enable management to capitalize on strengths like brand recognition and economies of scale. The company focuses primarily on the management and franchise segment which consist of 3,918 hotels with 610,413 rooms. Managing the properties, rather than owning them, allows the company t...
For the introduction, brief information regarding my purchase and the travel and tourism industry is presented. It was then followed by the explanation of the 2 chosen theories from two different chapters.
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company has achieved so much fame in their marketplace that they have attained what is referred to as “The Ritz Mystique.” Among the grand hotels of the world, The Ritz-Carlton hotels and resorts are famous for luxury, spectacular surroundings and legendary service. They have gained this title with dedication and award-winning hotels that reflect the 100 years of tradition that stand behind them. Discovering the fascinating history of Ritz-Carlton hotels, illustrates their commitment on relentless training to improve their quality in service and their strategy. Ritz-Carlton has achieved a Gold Standard of value and philosophy by which they operate.