Brought to you by Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Asia Pacific
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (Wyndham) recently expanded into two new cities with its hotels and is in the midst of building its first-of-its-kind superyacht resort.
The world’s largest hotel franchising company currently has about 9,100 hotels across over 95 countries for its portfolio of 24 hotel brands.
In Asia-Pacific, Wyndham operates more than 1,600 hotels in about 20 markets and territories.
Launch of Wyndham Alltra – an all-inclusive resort brand in Asia-Pacific
Wyndham is partnering pioneering Vietnamese private yacht manufacturer, Alliga Eternity Company Limited (Alliga), to debut the first Wyndham Alltra in the region.
Scheduled to welcome guests in June 2026, the first-of-its-kind concept will see Wyndham Alltra Cat Ba built on a superyacht of 300 cabins, docked in the sea off Cat Ba Island of Vietnam’s Halong Bay.
Featuring eight F&B outlets, various meeting rooms, swimming pool and gym, guests – leisure or business alike – can enjoy unique sparkling views of Halong Bay and a family-friendly itinerary onboard the stationary yacht.
Catering to the fast growing demand for all-inclusive resort experiences, Wyndham Alltra offers upscale services, amenities, and activities with an expressive local flavour at exceptional value.
In line with its focus on Vietnam as a strategic market, Wyndham will explore opportunities to deliver additional properties signed as franchisees of the Wyndham Alltra brand over the next few years. Alliga is already planning to build a second superyacht resort in Nha Trang, central coastal city of Vietnam, signifying its trust and confidence in Wyndham.
Inroads into Australasia
The opening of TRYP by Wyndham Pulteney Street Adelaide marks the re-entry of the TRYP by Wyndham brand in Australia, with Wyndham’s presence now across all states in Australia.
Opening its doors in March 2023, TRYP by Wyndham Pulteney Street Adelaide features a contemporary, edgy interior and showcases the traditional energy of the city through modern furnishings and architecture.
Located in the heart of the CBD, the 120-key hotel is within walking distance of multicultural restaurants, buzzing bars, decorated laneways and boutique shopping at Adelaide Central Market and Rundle Mall.
A short drive from Adelaide Airport, the non-smoking hotel is also minutes away from football and cricket matches at Adelaide Oval, the picturesque Glenelg Beach and gaming at SkyCity Adelaide.
“Through our introduction of the brand, we aim to bring out the vibrant urban lifestyle with the brand’s stylish designs and tailored experiences to enable guests from all over the world to experience the region like a local,” said Matt Holmes, vice president of development, South-east Asia and Pacific Rim, Wyndham.
Launched in January 2023, TRYP by Wyndham Wellington, Tory Street is the first TRYP hotel in the South Pacific region, signifying the brand’s foray into not only New Zealand but in the wider South Pacific.
This is the 11th hotel developed by Safari Group and also the 4th hotel that Safari Hotels directly manages with Wyndham.
Located within a 1920s deco-themed building reminiscent of old Chicago, the hotel captures the history and energy of old Wellington city through modern furnishings and fixtures.
The 77 guestrooms are complemented by an executive boardroom and the TRYP Social Lounge which serves complimentary daily breakfast and all-day snacks and drinks.
Ideally located at the bottom of Tory Street in the heart of the CBD, guests have a plethora of nearby attractions at their doorstep, including restaurants, bars, shopping and entertainment outlets, Te Papa Museum and soon-to-be-opened Tākina Convention Centre.
Ben Schumacher, vice president of operations, South-east Asia and Pacific Rim, Wyndham, summed it up: “The entry of the TRYP brand into the region is a significant milestone for us at Wyndham and testament to the focus on our strategic presence within the Australasian market. The revival of the travel industry is underway in Asia-Pacific and beyond. We will continue to build upon our strong portfolio of brands with a pipeline of exciting openings in the remaining year, staying true to our mission of making hotel travel possible for all.”
He was most recently the vice president of sales & marketing for Asia & Middle East at The Standard Hotels.
Hong Kong and Macau will welcome an influx of mainland Chinese travellers this May Day holidays from April 29 to May 4 – the first massive wave since all travel restrictions on the Chinese were lifted in February this year.
According to Hong Kong’s Immigration Department, some 4.61 million travellers are expected to pass through Hong Kong’s sea, land and air control points during this period.
Tourism players in the destination told TTG Asia that they been preparing for this travel surge.
Luc Bollen, general manager of The Park Lane Hong Kong, a Pullman Hotel, said his team has implemented contactless technology to improve overall efficiency and guest experience. This includes check-in robots in the lobby, and an online booking system that allows guests to book their stays and make F&B reservations.
Bollen said his property has been able to avoid the current widespread labour shortage by retaining all staff during the challenging years and implementing various employee-focused initiatives such as employee wellness programme, on-the-job training, education sponsorships and collaboration with several hotel management universities in Hong Kong to provide scholarships, internships and career talks aimed at talents aspiring to join the hotel industry.
Kam Wai Travel, director, Frankie Lam, has also been able to rebuild his manpower to 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
Hotel Alexandra’s general manager, Christina Cheng, said her team is able to “cope with the business pick-up”, and that every staff member will have to “work harder” while recruitment continues.
“We are also training colleagues to multi-task and help out departments that are very busy. We continue to conduct cross-department trainings and offer flexible duty hours,” Cheng said.
When asked if the May Day travel rebound and busy days will translate to healthy profits, Kam Wai Travel’s Lam said: “Profit margin is narrow given intense competition from the OTAs. Therefore, I do not think we can turn business from loss to profit this year. It would take us two to three years to make up for the loss incurred during the three pandemic years.”
Lam also noted that the travel surge is driven by FITs, a segment that is outperforming group tours. Furthermore, groups are now made up mostly of small-sized families.
Over in Macau, the May Day holidays are expected to catalyse travel recovery.
According to Kris Kaminsky, senior vice president of hotel operations at Sands China, the destination is already “on the track of accelerated recovery underpinned by various favourable measures and tourism promotion campaigns”.
“More encouragingly, the Macau government has recently announced that it will no longer restrict the number of land border crossings between Macau and Zhuhai (on the mainland) to a single round-trip per day starting May 1, 2023,” he added.
CTS (Macao), travel department sales and marketing manager, Pun Cheng Man, observed that demand is strong from both FITs and group tours. Previously, group tours would dominate.
She explained that as the FIT segment is driving up hotel rates, group tours are finding it more expensive to visit Macau during the May Day holidays.
While Pun welcomes busy days, she said that earnings are only 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels due to escalating costs of tourism products and operations.
Editor’s note: The Park Lane Hong Kong, a Pullman Hotel was incorrectly labelled as The Park Land in the original post. This has been corrected.