Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Inc. is officially its own brand, Wyndham Worldwide Corp. announced Friday. In addition, the former parent company has been renamed Wyndham Destinations Inc., reflecting its new focus.
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts is the world’s largest hotel franchisor, according to a Wyndham news release, and a top provider of hotel management services. The company just wrapped up its $1.95 billion deal for the La Quinta chain on Thursday in advance of the spinoff.
“We’re thrilled to begin a new era in which we will continue to build upon our powerful asset-light and fee-based business model that is driven by an exceptional portfolio of market-leading economy and midscale brands,” Wyndham Hotels CEO Geoff Ballotti said in a prepared statement. “As the world’s largest hotel franchisor, with a proven ability to create value through acquisitions and organic growth, we will focus on strengthening our industry-leading loyalty and technology platforms to drive more direct distribution to our owners and franchisees at a lower cost, while serving everyday travelers exceptionally well.”
The Parsippany-based hotel company will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “WH,” while Orlando, Florida-based Wyndham Destinations will maintain the “WYND” ticker symbol.
Wyndham Worldwide common stockholders received one share of the new stock for each share of common stock held as of May 18.
