One ripple effect of startups like Airbnb raising enormous sums of funding is that it has become harder for smaller rivals to clone their models elsewhere in the world. While clones get a bad name, they do provide benefits to consumers in added competition.
Implementation of panic buttons, or employee safety devices, for hotel employees is a good start, but it should just be the beginning of the much broader measures the entire global hospitality industry should take to ensure the safety of every single person who walks through its doors.
Having finally stepped out on its own, Wyndham Hotels is in pursuit of what every major hospitality company is today: more scale, improved guest experiences, and more bookings.
We’re putting our money on the Cromwell and LINQ brands to do well with the hotel owner/developer set, which is increasingly looking for upscale lifestyle and select-service brands. As for the Caesars Palace and Flamingo brands — they're so inextricably tied to Vegas and to gaming, it'll be hard to convince guests otherwise.
In the hospitality business, the big are getting bigger — and, we hope, getting smarter about how they communicate that to consumers, and how they keep their hotel owners and franchisees happy. This points transfer and status match between Wyndham and La Quinta is a good start.
Travel isn't as big a political player as some other industries, but major players wield significant influence over political candidates and the issues surrounding airports and hotels. More transparency is a good thing, particularly for shareholders who may fear a decline in stock value due to political positioning based on the whims of a company's CEO.
Like AccorHotels CEO Sebastien Bazin recently said at Skift Forum Europe, you don't limit the number of friends you have, so why limit the number of brands any one hotel company can own?
While a new branding campaign by Wyndham may foreshadow some turbulence ahead for the hotel group, on the surface it will make it easier to find and book network hotels.