ATLANTA — Wyndham Hotels & Resorts is not just your father's Super 8 motel anymore.
The company — long known for its economy hotel brands — has been on a multiyear push to grow its midscale and above hotels around the world. It is accomplishing that task by striking new partnerships in new locations for its stable of 25 hotel brands.
David Wilner, who recently was named chief development officer of the company, sat down with CoStar News at the Hunter Conference to talk about the company's growth priorities.
"Unfairly, some people only think of us as economy and midscale," he said. "But what people have to also understand is that we have phenomenal upscale hotels."
He pointed to the March openings of the 100th Trademark Collection by Wyndham, the company's upscale collection brand; and the Dolce by Wyndham Miami Beach, in the company's boutique, meetings-focused Dolce Hotels and Resorts brand.
On the Parsippany, New Jersey-based company's latest earnings call with analysts, CEO Geoff Ballotti touted the fact that the company opened a record 72,000 rooms in 2025, including several conversions at the higher end of the chain-scale spectrum, including the Balfour Miami Beach, which joined Wyndham's Registry Collection. He also spoke about the January addition of four Choctaw Casino & Resorts hotels into the Wyndham Grand and Trademark Collection brands.
For a company like Wyndham that has so many loyalty members around the world, Wilner said that sort of chain-scale diversification is key.
"The more we expand with these partnerships, as well as upscale luxury, the more value we bring to Wyndham Rewards" members, which number 122 million, he said.
Wilner said that Wyndham's presence across the chain scales gives it a unique perspective into travel and stay behavior today, at a time when a lot of trends are converging.
The company's longtime travelers loyal to its mid-spectrum brands continue to take drive-to trips for work and leisure. And now they're looking for vacation spots to redeem rewards points — hence the company's expansion at the higher end.
At the same time, infrastructure and technology development, especially around North America, is creating more demand for the business transient and extended-stay hotels that contract and construction workers need.
Wyndham launched its new-construction Echo Suites Extended Stay by Wyndham brand post-pandemic, and its 20th location is about to open, Wilner said.
"We have over a dozen under construction, we'll break ground on dozens more this year," he said. "With the data centers and infrastructure projects, ... that long-term, extended-stay product is what guests are looking for."
Watch the video above or listen to the podcast version for more from David Wilner on Wyndham's strategies for the coming year.