Wyndham Is ‘Sprinting’ Towards Its 100-Hotel Mark in India

For Wyndham, India is an unmissable opportunity and the growth is rapid but not indiscriminate. It is still conscious about the markets, locations, and the brand mix it wants to bring here.

Wyndham Hotels and Resorts is “sprinting” to the 100-hotel mark in India, Rahool Macarius, the recently appointed market managing director for Eurasia, told Skift. “We are actually doing it in a quarter of the time that other international brands have,” he said.

Macarius rejoined Wyndham in January this year, and since then, the company signed eight hotels in the April-June quarter. Six hotels were signed last month alone, he said. “Growth is absolutely phenomenal for us. I see a great pipeline and I want to reach the 100-mark as soon as possible,” he said. He further said the company will breach this mark “probably this year” and if not, then “definitely next year.”

The company’s present growth has been in Tier-2 and 3 cities in India, such as Ambala, Ranchi, Zirakpur, Ghaziabad. “We are one of the companies that did not rise or explore from the metros. We gained traction from Tier-2 and 3 cities. A lot of our great leisure locations are in smaller cities,” Macarius said.

The India Focus: Earlier this year, Wyndham President and CEO Geoff Ballotti said India saw the highest growth rates for the company in 2024 in terms of new hotel signings. He also said he saw India as a big opportunity.

Speaking with Skift, Wyndham’s President for EMEA Dimitris Manikis reiterated this. “The infrastructure development and the blue collar workers that are going to be traveling across the country is where we see the enormous opportunity in the next few years,” Manikis said.

India is witnessing a repeat of what has already happened in the U.S. and China. “It is going to happen here. It’s inevitable,” he asserted.

According to Manikis, this is the time for India to build the story. “It was about time for India to explore the potential that everybody was talking about for the last 30 years.”

He said that India’s 10-year plan for infrastructure development brought