Wyndham Eyes 2023 Occupancy Bounce After Solid Q4

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ fourth-quarter revenue per available room exceeded pre-pandemic levels, and company executives on Thursday during an earnings call expressed optimism for “occupancy recovery” in 2023.

Wyndham president and CEO Geoffrey Ballotti said the company’s fourth-quarter “results finished stronger than our expectations.”

In the fourth quarter, Wyndham systemwide RevPAR totaled $39.86, up 15 percent year over year and 16 percent from 2019. U.S. RevPAR was $45.96, which was 15 percent above 2019 levels. International RevPAR increased 46 percent year over year to $31.44, which was up 23 percent over 2019.

The company attributed these gains to its continued global system growth “within the higher-RevPAR midscale and above segments.”

While pipeline numbers and RevPAR are up, occupancy and average daily rates have room to grow for the company.

“Occupancy continues its recovery,” Ballotti said. International occupancy finished down 21 percent to 2019, but “will continue to provide a meaningful tailwind for us in the coming quarters as demand continues to grow,” he said.

Looking ahead, Wyndham CFO Michele Allen said: “In the U.S. there’s going to be a few points of occupancy growth and a few points of ADR growth. Whereas internationally, we’re expecting to see, again, some modest ADR growth, but a much bigger lift coming out of occupancy.”

The company has also seen its “investments … to grow our share” begin “paying off with domestic weekday occupancy and our economy hotels at their highest absolute levels,” Ballotti said.

Q4 Metrics

Wyndham reported total revenue of $334 million in Q4, shy of the company’s $392 million in 2021.

Wyndham reported fourth-quarter net income of $56 million compared with $48 million one year prior.

Wyndham granted 882 new contracts in 2022, an increase of 35 percent over the 655 awarded in 2021. The company has about 219,000 rooms in the pipeline—80 percent new construction, 58 percent international and 73 percent midscale or above—representing Wyndham’s largest pipeline on record.

Angelique Platas www.businesstravelnews.com