Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has been making major advancements in its expansion plan, with a heavy emphasis on India as a key market. Frequent hotel signings by the company are an indication of its ambitious growth strategies in the nation. Dimitris Manikis, President EMEA, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, discusses the company’s plans for the Indian market in an exclusive interview with Asmita Mukherjee.
Wyndham has a strong pipeline of more than 30 hotels, demonstrating its commitment to regional expansion, and now operates close to 60 hotels in India. Wyndham Manikis stated that India “stands tall in the list of our focus markets as it’s full of potential opportunities” when discussing his future goals. We are now experiencing rapid expansion in the area. With more than 30 hotels currently in the process for development, we have approximately 60 hotels currently operating around the nation. In order to help our hotel partners and make India one of our major commercial centres supporting the larger EMEA Division, we also have ambitions to expand our corporate workforce there.
He also discussed Wyndham’s recent purchase of Vienna House, which is expected to support the company’s aspirations for India expansion. By saying, “One of the main reasons we purchased the Vienna House brand is to introduce and develop the brand in almost every country and market across EMEA, and I am looking forward to being able to announce our first Vienna House by Wyndham in India soon,” Manikis makes clear the company’s intention to bring the first Vienna House property to India in the near future. Acquisitions have helped Wyndham Hotels & Resorts expand internationally and diversify its product offerings,” he continued.
In addition to expanding its hotel portfolio, Wyndham has plans to venture into other segments such as service apartments and co-living. Recognizing the resilient demand for long-stay accommodations, the company aims to grow in this segment and fulfill its mission of making hotel travel possible for all. “While we presently have two operational brands in the long-stay category (Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham in Dwarka, Gujarat and Days Suites by Wyndham in Whitefield, Bangalore), we are committed to exploring opportunities for Ramada Hotel & Suites in key cities like Delhi-NCR, Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad. These cities already have ready-service apartments and long-stay developments. We are also aiming to introduce our branded residences product under Wyndham and Ramada by Wyndham offering in India, either with a standalone model, sale or a rental pool model,” Manikis concluded.