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1. Choice Launches Hostile Takeover of Wyndham
Choice Hotels International has officially launched a hostile takeover of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts with an exchange offer for all outstanding shares of the Parsippany, New Jersey-based hotel brand company.
This offer reflects the previously announced terms that Choice had presented to Wyndham's board of directors in November to acquire the company at $49.50 in cash and 0.324 shares of Choice common stock for each Wyndham share for a total value of $90 per share. The exchange offer, which values Wyndham at roughly $8 billion, gives stockholders the option to take the payout in all cash, all stock or a mix of both.
"While we would have preferred to come to a negotiated agreement, the Wyndham Board's refusal to explore a transaction has left us with no choice but to take our proposal directly to Wyndham's shareholders," Choice President and CEO Patrick Pacious said in a statement. "Wyndham chose to publicly reject our last proposal without any engagement even after we addressed their concerns, including adding significant regulatory protections for their shareholders."
Wyndham confirmed Tuesday morning that Choice has commenced an unsolicited exchange to acquire all outstanding shares of Wyndham common stock. Its board of directors will carefully review and evaluate the offer to determine its next steps. However, Wyndham states that Choice's offer remains unchanged from the previous offer it rejected.
2. Waramaug Hospitality Appoints CEO
Privately held hotel investment and asset management firm Waramaug Hospitality has appointed current partner and principal Ferit Ferhangil as CEO effective Jan. 1, 2024. Ferhangil will succeed Leslie Ng, who will then assume the position of co-vice chairman, according to a news release.
In addition to these appointments, the company board will also include Evren Unver as co-vice chairman and Paul Nussbaum as chairman. Waramaug said this strategic decision is due to a yearlong planned transition.
“Over the course of the past few years, Paul and I have gotten to know Evren and Ferit well and feel extremely fortunate to have found like-minded partners who share the same global vision, ambitious outlook and moral compass for all that we do at Waramaug,” Ng said in the news release. “With his broad-based experience, Ferit is the perfect individual to take our company to the next level; our future is bright with Ferit at the helm.”
3. More Than 115 Million To Travel for Holidays
AAA is predicting a total of 115.2 million travelers will go 50 miles or more from their home over the 10-day holiday period, from Dec. 23, 2023, to Jan. 1, 2024, which represents a 2.2% increase year over year, according to a news release.
This is the second-highest year-end travel forecast since AAA began tracking holiday travel in 2000. The busiest Christmas and New Year's travel period recorded was in 2019 with 119 million travelers.
Nearly 104 million people are expected to travel by car to their holiday destinations during this period, which is a 1.8% increase over 2022.
4. Corporations Test Pricing Power
Many companies across corporate America have been able to protect profits by holding prices steady despite their own costs coming down. Now, some are contemplating whether they can further push prices as demand cools and inflation eases, the New York Times reports.
"The focus on higher margins — even if it means selling less — is in some cases a shift away from the conventional wisdom in the years during and after the 2009 recession. Back then, some executives felt compelled to compete on price for cost-sensitive shoppers. For hotels, that meant a focus on filling every room," the news outlet reports.
Leeny Oberg, chief financial officer of Marriott International, said in September that "if you remember back in the Great Recession, there was this view of let's just drop rates until we get ... heads in beds. It wasn't necessarily the right strategy all the time."
5. Consumer Price Index Rises Month Over Month
New data released by the U.S. Labor Department shows the consumer price index increased 0.1% in November from October, and rose 3.1% from a year ago, CNBC reports. Though prices across a range of goods and services increased in the month, they ended up being in line with expectations.
Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab, told the news outlet that the report was "somewhat in in line, although, I suppose not as good as what some might have hoped that we would start to see more deceleration on a month-over-month basis,” adding that the Fed "will probably talk about continued disinflation being good news."