Wyndham Hotel Group is the world’s largest and most diverse hotel business, with a global portfolio of more than 8,400 hotels and approximately 728,200 rooms in 80 countries. In this SMPL Q&A, we speak with the S+G team about Wyndham’s recent effort to unite all of their hotel brands using the hallmark, “by Wyndham.” Our initial phase of work with Wyndham, including a brand identity and strategy refresh, launched in 2016. Read more about it here.
Why did Wyndham Hotel Group decide to add the hallmark “by Wyndham” to all of their portfolio hotel brand names?
Until now, the Wyndham Hotel Group had little to connect its family of hotel brands, which includes Wyndham Hotels, Super 8, Ramada and Days Inn. The planned separation from Wyndham Worldwide this spring establishes Wyndham Hotels Group as an independent, pure-play hotel company, providing an opportunity to unify the portfolio. — Melissa Braun, Senior Project Manager
How does this solution add value to the Wyndham Hotel Group brand, and each of their portfolio brands individually?
Research showed that the Wyndham hallmark will have positive brand and business impact across the portfolio. Adding the endorsement elevates perceptions of the individual brands and demonstrates Wyndham’s commitment to quality and service. For the portfolio brands and franchisees, a Wyndham endorsement has been shown to increase consideration and direct booking, drive a rate premium and encourage guest loyalty through clear alignment with the Wyndham Rewards program. — Nora Bradshaw, Brand Strategist
How did you approach the creative challenge of adding the “by Wyndham” hallmark to over a dozen existing Wyndham hotel brands?
The design approach we adopted integrates the “by Wyndham” hallmark into the hotel brand logo without interrupting the branding of each property. Although there is a standardized position and treatment for the endorsement itself, each hotel logo was looked at individually to accommodate any unique considerations per hotel brand. Our solutions were flexible enough to ensure that the endorsement would scale across all footprints and orientations needed. — Krista Oraa, Associate Creative Director
How are you keeping all Wyndham stakeholders (i.e. corporate and franchisee stakeholders) informed so they can properly adopt and implement the new endorsement?
There is a large network of stakeholders that will need to be involved in making this change, so preparation and communication are key. The first announcement took place at Wyndham’s annual franchisee conference in April. Using this moment in time as the jumping off point, members of the Wyndham community were given a taste of things to come. With thousands of properties and assets affected, the change won’t occur overnight, but the network will soon have access to new guidelines, centralized ordering systems with new assets and touchpoints, as well as the opportunity to change out signage program components on-property. To shepherd a smooth transition, simply-written documentation explains what to expect and when assets will be provided by the Wyndham corporate and brand teams. — Lauren Thebault, Director of Activation
Read about our initial phase of our work with Wyndham here.
