Wyndham: Record Q1 U.S. RevPAR, Sturdy Corp. Demand

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ first-quarter domestic revenue per available room hit record levels with 4 percent growth year over year driven by stronger pricing power and higher occupancy, Wyndham president and CEO Geoffrey Ballotti said Thursday during the company’s earnings call.

The record first-quarter U.S. RevPAR was “as expected,” according to Ballotti, who added that “the surge in travel spend has been unabated by the economic headlines throughout the year.”

In Q1, Wyndham’s systemwide RevPAR increased 12 percent year over year to $37.20. The company’s international RevPAR continued to grow in Q1, according to company executives, up 37 percent year over year to $27.99. Wyndham’s Q1 domestic RevPAR was $43.84, up 4 percent year over year.

While RevPAR at the company’s economy brands had recovered to pre-pandemic levels by the second quarter of 2021, Wyndham’s upscale and midscale benefited from “continued occupancy recovery” while “still driving rate gains,” in Q1, Ballotti said.

Demand from the infrastructure-based business accounts that Ballotti said make up about 20 percent of Wyndham’s guest room revenue should “remain a tailwind” for Wyndham given the projects authorized by the 2021 U.S. infrastructure bill and 2022 CHIPS and Science Act.

“For the past eight consecutive quarters, Wyndham’s general infrastructure-related revenues have increased double digits versus 2019,” Ballotti said.

Additional Q1 Results

Wyndham reported total revenue of $879 million in Q1, up 137 percent year over year. The company reported fourth-quarter net income of $67 million, down from the $106 million reported the year prior.

Wyndham’s global development pipeline increased 3 percent sequentially and 11 percent year over year to a record 226,000 rooms and approximately 1,800 hotels, Ballotti said. Wyndham reported a 7 percent year-over-year increase of new contracts for its Echo Suites extended-stay brand, with 35 new contracts in the works. Wyndham’s total pipeline includes 25,000 rooms in its extended-stay sector.

According to the company, 72 percent of its pipeline is midscale and above, and 57 percent is international. Additionally, 80 percent of Wyndham’s pipeline is new construction, 35 percent of which has broken ground.

Angelique Platas www.businesstravelnews.com