Wyndham Hotel Group on track for ‘complete overhaul’ of reservations platform

Wyndham Hotel Group on track for ‘complete overhaul’ of reservations platform

Move will ‘improve booking journey’ and aid expansion to new markets Continue reading

Wyndham Hotel Group, which is behind 8,100 properties in 78 countries worldwide, has almost completed a “complete overhaul” of its reservations platform.

The group, which includes brands Wyndham, Wyndham Grand, Ramada, Dolce, Days Inn, Dazzler, Travelodge’s US properties, Baymont and Super 8, has brought together all its brands under one central system.

The move was made to improve the booking journey for the customer and to help the group expand into growing markets more smoothly.

Patrick Divall, regional vice president western Europe said: “The booking journey for the customer is so important these days that so we’ve just migrated our brands on to a new, world-class, technology platform for central reservations.

“In the past, all the big hotel groups had their own in-house reservation systems which were very clunky and difficult to change when technology changed.

“We wanted a cloud-based system which is much easier for us to use and make changes going forward. Whenever we buy a brand we end up buying its reservation system as well. This really helps solve that problem.

Divall said the move was “seamless” for the customer but that two American brands, Baymont and Howard Johnson, were the only ones left to move over to the new system in a project that is “90% complete”.

“If you think about the complexity of he technology behind the scenes, it’s huge,” he added.

The move was about “more than just linking up with Expedia and Booking.com,” added Divall who said it was important to be able to keep up with booking platforms in emerging markets, such as Ctrip.

He said it is “much quicker and easier” to integrate a new partner into the system, adding: “Now, if a new OTA partners with us that we didn’t work with before we can roll it out worldwide. Before, it relied on a lot of people in the background.”