Wyndham Hotels & Resorts on Friday announced it appointed Amit Sripathi as its chief development officer, reporting to the Parsippany-based firm’s CEO and president, Geoff Ballotti. Sripathi will lead Wyndham’s North American franchise sales team as it helps hotel owners tap into the power of the world’s largest hotel franchise company and its iconic brands. He replaces Chip Ohlsson, who will depart the company in June.
“Amit’s deep experience in mergers & acquisitions and capital markets focused on the real estate and hospitality sectors at Deutsche Bank and RLJ Lodging are instrumental as we increase our focus on growing our midscale-and-above portfolio while reinforcing our leading position in the resilient select-service segments,” Ballotti said.
“Since joining Wyndham, Amit has demonstrated a strategic approach to growth. He’s helped divest our owned and managed segments, leading to a pure-play U.S. franchise business, and worked with our sales teams across the country and around the world deploying over $250 million in development support for our owners. He hits the ground running, knowing what our franchise sales teams need to continue outperforming expectations.”
“With 15 consecutive quarters of organic net room growth and our largest development pipeline ever, it’s clear that existing and prospective franchisees appreciate Wyndham’s market-share leading brands and the world-class sales, marketing and distribution systems curated for their individual needs,” said Sripathi. “Together with the best franchise sales team Wyndham has ever assembled, we will help even more owners discover the power of partnering with Wyndham and experiencing our ‘Owner-First’ approach.”
During his tenure, Ohlsson helped expand the Wyndham portfolio from 14 to 25 brands, including ECHO Suites Extended Stay by Wyndham, the industry’s fastest-growing, new-construction brand launch. A champion for diversity on the franchise sales team and for owners, Ohlsson was instrumental in creating groundbreaking programs like Women Own the Room (an industry first) and BOLD by Wyndham.
“From launching his sales career with us in 1993, to returning nearly 10 years ago to lead our North America franchise sales teams, Chip has shown unwavering commitment to Wyndham and our franchisees,” Ballotti said. “We are extremely grateful for his proven leadership and ability to attract, promote and develop a best-in-class sales team that consistently delivers, and we wish him all the best.”
