Wyndham: Q3 Blue-Collar Business Travel Strong, Consistent

Demand during the third quarter from Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ “everyday business travel segments” outpaced the company’s third-quarter 2019 results, the company reported Thursday.

“Our infrastructure and transportation segments, representing the vast majority of the 30 percent of our domestic business travelers, continue to outperform the broader white-collar business transient and group segments by nearly 40 points, increasing by 8 percent overall versus 2019,” said Wyndham president and CEO Geoffrey Ballotti during a Thursday quarterly earnings call.

This segment is driven by growing construction activity, utility project work and trucking demand from coast to coast, he added, “and we do not expect that to slow down at all.”

Corporate transient, which represents about 10 percent of Wyndham’s business travel segment and 3 percent of franchisees’ total revenues, improved since the second quarter and is now down less than 30 percent compared with 2019, Ballotti said.

Q3 Performance Results

Wyndham reported third-quarter net revenue of $103 million, compared with $27 million one year ago and $45 million in 2019. Global revenue per available room for the quarter was $45.80, up 56 percent year over year and down 3 percent from 2019 levels. U.S. RevPAR at $57.73 exceeded 2019 levels by 7 percent. Economy, midscale and upper midscale RevPAR exceeded 2019 levels. The upscale and above category was down by 14 percent.

The company opened about 15,000 rooms during the quarter, which was more than a 50 percent increase year over year and 4 percent more than what was opened in 2019, Ballotti said. Still, Wyndham’s portfolio of rooms remained nearly constant with a net loss of 1,400 for the quarter for a total of 802,600 as of Sept. 30. Domestically, Wyndham’s portfolio shrunk by about 2 percent with the loss of 10,900 rooms. Its international portfolio grew 3 percent with the addition of 9,500 rooms in total. About 9,100 were added in China and 2,000 in the rest of Asia-Pacific. The company lost 1,700 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and 900 in Canada.

Global conversion activity was up 9 percent versus 2019, while new construction efforts in the quarter were consistent with 2019 levels, Ballotti said, adding that the number of projects in the company’s new construction pipeline is over 1,000 hotels for the first time in Wyndham’s history.

Full-Year 2021 Guidance

Wyndham updated its full-year 2021 guidance for net rooms growth to a range of 1.5 percent to 2 percent year over year versus a prior outlook of 1 percent to 2 percent. The company anticipates 2021 RevPAR growth of approximately 43 percent year over year, a decline of about 16 percent compared with 2019. It expects full-year adjusted net income in the range of $275 million to $285 million, up from $244 million to $254 million in previous guidance.

Donna M. Airoldi www.businesstravelnews.com