Hawthorne & Microtel Integration into Wyndham
I just read an article in Hotel & Motel Management which talked about the smooth integration so far between Wyndham & the Hawthorne Suites and Microtel brands. I’m not going to bore you with the small details of the articles – but there are a few things that I thought were worth mentioning.
Wyndham is going to be repositioning the Hawthorne Suites brand into the “upper tier of the extended stay” hotel segment – putting it more on par with IHG’s Staybridge Suites and Hilton’s Homewood Suites, which will rid the brand of it’s image of a more economy extended stay offering. Its unknown how much of a price difference the rooms will be. They’ve also planned what seems to be another re-design of the suites (Global Hyatt just did that last year) which will help bring the hotels a little more upmarket.
Hawthorne Suites is now fully integrated into Wyndham’s reservation system – meaning you can reserve a room at a Hawthorne Suites from Wyndham Reward’s website or you can reserve a room from Wyndham’s other brands from Hawthorne Suites’ website. Hawthorne Suites now also accepts rewards nights from Wyndham Rewards, and guests can earn Wyndham Rewards by staying at a Hawthorne Suites.
With the Microtel brand its a little different though. Currently Microtel isn’t fully integrated into Wyndham’s reservation system – at least not on the internet, although its very possible (and probable) that they are using the Wyndham system within the hotels to cut down on training and IT costs for both franchises and the brand owners.
Microtel is not joining Wyndham Rewards though – but it is still keeping its “MicroPass Rewards” program. MicroPass is probably one of the simplest hotel rewards programs on the market today – simply stay 9 nights, get the 10th night free. The reason for not integrating into the Wyndham Rewards program is due to costs – it would be too cost prohibitive for Microtel franchise owners to be required to meet the demands needed for the program. Microtel could be bad news for the Motel 6brand, which would be their biggest competitor. All Microtel’s are new builds, and with the the brands recent redesign rooms or suites include flat screen tvs, and granite counter tops in the kitchens – two items that Motel 6 is just starting to roll out.
Motel 6′s biggest liability is the condition of their properties – a lot of properties are are conversions, have outside corridors, and the overall upkeep of the buildings leaves a lot to be desired. In this case Microtel being an all-new build brand easily adds value compared to Motel 6, while nightly rates are very close.
As I expected – the integration has gone very smoothly. Being part of Wyndham which became the worlds largest hotel franchiser after this purchase will enable Hawthorne & Microtel to grow in ways they were not able to before. My only concern is if Microtel will join the Wyndham reservation system – that will allow many more guests to be exposed to the brand while searching for availabilities through Wyndham’s other properties, or if a Microtel is not in a specific location – maybe a Super 8 or Days Inn is.
Related posts:
- Wyndham buys USFS (Microtel/Hawthorne Suites)
- Wyndham’s Purchase of USFS/Hawthorne Suites/Microtel Complete
- Hyatt Selling Microtel & Hawthorne Suites (aka USFS)
- Hilton’s Missed Marketing Opportunity
- Pritzker Family selling a portion of Global Hyatt Corporation
Category: Hotel Development, Hotels, hyatt, marketing, wyndham hotels
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