Dive Brief:
- Wyndham Hotels & Resorts will integrate Group360’s instant booking solution GroupSync across more than 5,600 hotels, the company announced Monday.
- Through GroupSync, travel planners and managers will be able to browse real-time rates and availability at participating Wyndham hotels and directly book between 10 and 50 rooms without contacting the hotel, Wyndham detailed.
- The tech integration aims to simplify group travel for traditional events planners as well as managers for infrastructure-centric fields like construction and logistics, whose crews often require longer-term lodging, posing significant revenue opportunities, Wyndham said. In recent months, group travel has seen a resurgence in several major U.S. markets.
Dive Insight:
By integrating GroupSync, Wyndham aims to “make it simpler and easier” for clients to do business with the hotel company, according to Angie Gadwood, SVP of global sales at Wyndham.
“Whether it’s a family reunion, a youth sports tournament or a three-month-long bridge repair project — GroupSync makes it simple for groups to find the right hotel at the right price and book on the spot,” she said.
Wyndham highlighted the impact GroupSync will have on travel managers for industries like construction, in which workers spend weeks or even months on a job site.
The integration of GroupSync at “the majority of Wyndham hotels in the U.S.” is the company’s latest push to help its owners capitalize on a “multi-year, infrastructure-related travel boom” that the company believes holds an approximately $3.3 billion revenue opportunity for its franchisees.
In 2021, the Biden administration passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill to fund various civil works projects across the country. The bill has been touted as fuel for the growing extended stay segment.
The technology will also help travel planners for group events like weddings and business meetings, Wyndham said. Group business travel, particularly, has seen a resurgence in major U.S. cities like Dallas and New York City in recent months, resulting in increased hotel profits.
Some 20 U.S. markets saw a 100% recovery in group business in the fourth quarter of 2023, compared to the same period in 2019, according to Knowland and Amadeus. And momentum in group business is expected to continue, with the Global Business Travel Association finding travel buyers expect their companies will take more business trips in 2024 compared to last year.
