Hotelier Middle East – May 2019

HOTELIER MIDDLE EAST | May 2019 | Volume 18 Issue 05

COVER STORY

32

M

ore than 12 months have

passed since Hotelier Middle

East first met with the then

Wyndham Hotel Group

regional vice president Ignace Bauwens.

At the time, he said that the operator had

only just begun the journey of expanding its

mid-market segment. It was a “giant about

to wake up,” he claimed. But with a slew of

recent openings across the Middle East –

since January 2017, Wyndham’s hotel room

portfolio across Middle East and Africa

(MEA) has grown by approximately 25%,

from 8,813 rooms in January 2017 to 10,977

today and with more in the pipeline – has

the ‘giant’ finally woke up?

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has seen

changes since that initial meeting more than

12 months ago. Not least, the departure of

Bauwens. The hotel group’s mid-market

segment expansion in the Middle East has

also grown and is arguable now past the

beginning stage. The group’s footprint in

Saudi Arabia has increased. Today, it has

15 hotels and 2,347 rooms in the Kingdom,

with the Wyndham Gardens Dammam

being the latest opening at the beginning of

2019.

In Bahrain, the group launched the largest

Wyndham Garden Hotel in the world when

the 441-key Wyndham Garden Manama,

Bahrain, opened in November 2017. Here

in the UAE, the Wyndham Deira Waterfront

and Super 8 Deira Waterfront are expected

to open during the early part of 2020, with

the Days Hotel Deira Waterfront target

completion date expected in 2022.

ADDING MIDSCALE BRANDS

Both Dimitri Mankis, president & managing

director EMEA, and Panos Loupasis,

vice president development, Middle East,

Eurasia & Africa both reveal how middle

class travellers and government-led tourism

initiatives are fuelling the group’s regional

expansion plans in midscale brands in the

UAE and Saudi Arabia.

According to Panos Loupasis, Wyndham’s

vice president development, Middle

East, Eurasia & Africa, when the region’s

Wyndham office opened, there was a

limited portfolio of franchise hotels at that

time. “Over the years, Wyndham started to

reinforce the presence of the Ramada brand,

which is the most well-known brand in the

region and our core brand,” he says.

The Ramada brand was introduced in

almost 32 locations in MEA. Additional

brands were launched, reinforcing the

3- and 4-star segments with the midscale

brands Ramada Encore and TRYP by

Wyndham, and economy brands Days Inn,

CATEGORY BRAND BREAKDOWN TOTAL

MIDSCALE

Wyndham Garden (830 rooms, 3 hotels)

Ramada by Wyndham (6,102 rooms, 32 hotels)

Ramada Encore (577 rooms, 5 hotels)

Howard Johnson (293 rooms, 3 hotels)

Hawthorn (470 rooms, 4 hotels)

TRYP by Wyndham (796 rooms, 2 hotels)

49 hotels

9,068 rooms

ECONOMY Days Inn (350 rooms, 3 hotels)Super 8 (48 rooms, 1 hotel) 398 rooms4 hotels

UPSCALE/

UPPER-UPSCALE

Wyndham (1,002 rooms, 2 hotels)

Wyndham Grand (509 rooms, 2 hotels)

4 hotels

1,511 rooms

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Brand Breakdown

Middle East & Africa Region

Dimitri Mankis

The rooftop pool at the Wyndham Garden Dammam

Wyndham Gardens Dammam, Saudi Arabia