Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (WYN) recently announced its plan to debut a Wyndham Grand Hotel in the Middle East.
Currently operating as the Grand Regency Doha, the re-launched hotel will be owned by Regency Group Holding and managed by Wyndham Hotel Management. The 246-room Wyndham Grand Regency Doha is expected to open under the brand of Wyndham Grand in spring 2011.
Apart from this hotel, Wyndham’s managed hotel portfolio in Europe and the Middle East includes the Wyndham Grand London Chelsea Harbour in the U.K. and the recently opened Ramada Encore Doha, which is again owned by Regency Group Holding. Other than the Middle East, the hotel company is planning to expand its presence in the Asia-Pacific markets and Europe as well.
At the end of the fourth quarter 2010, Wyndham had approximately 7,210 properties and 612,700 rooms. The company’s development pipeline included over 900 hotels and approximately 103,000 rooms, of which 55% were new constructions and 51% were international. The company eyes the Middle Eastciting a large market in that region.
However, Wyndham will be facing stiff competition in the Middle East from its peer Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (HOT). Starwood is also planning to strengthen its portfolio in Europe, Africa and the Middle East (EMEA) by opening 50 hotels over the next three to five years, of which 12 are expected to open in 2011. Starwood opened its first hotel in the Middle East in 1966 and by 2015 all the nine brands of this hospitality company are expected to operate in the Middle East. Currently, Starwood operates hotels under all its brands only in North America.
Wyndham Worldwide currently retains a Zacks #3 Rank, which translates into a short-term ‘Hold’ rating. We are also maintaining our long-term “Neutral” recommendation on the stock.
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