Ethics, Social Responsibility, and the Global View

Abstract 

The Wyndham Group is a leading name in hospitality and leisure offerings. The group has a market presence in every continent and its brands are located in over fifty countries. The group has had the greatest growth over the last ten years. They are a publicly traded company who continues to grow due to the diversity of their products. They currently offer hotel accommodation, vacation homes through time share ownership, franchises and management arrangements for hotels and resorts. The group also organises holiday packages for their clientele to any of their facilities worldwide. This paper takes a closer look into the business practices that guide the Wyndham Group. They include the strategies applied in communication, pricing, distribution and in handling the competition. 

Ethics, Social Responsibility, and the Global View 

Business Description 

Wyndham Hotel Group is a business group that offers hospitality services through its facilities of accommodation. The hotel group offers hotel accommodation as well as holiday packages. The group also partners with prospective hoteliers to offer franchise opportunities. They also have the fractional ownership packages that allow consumers to occupy the hotel under time share programs. The investors can also use this fractions as income generating ventures. Vacation homes are located in various countries and they serve the needs of different customers. There are the packages suitable for small or large families. Others meet the needs of widely travelled business persons or corporate groups of travelers. 

Resorts offer a wide range of services to their clientele. They include suites and self-catering facilities with spa and gym amenities. The group owns and manages various brands such as the Hawthorn Suites, Microtell Inn and Suites, Baymont, Ramada, Horowitz, Super 8, Dolce, Wyndham Grand among others. The vacation packages have offers for destinations in 33 locations around the world. The group's brands can be found in about 60 countries around the world. Examples include the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Ghana, Thailand, UK and Saudi Arabia among many more. 

Marketing Mix Concept of Wyndham Group 

Target market 

The Wyndham Group initially targeted the high end consumers who travelled for leisure. This group of consumers made up a smaller portion of the population and the customer base in return. As Wyndham acquired more middle level establishments, the marketing group decided to expand their target market. Focus now shifted to mid level leisure clientele. The group also began to target business travellers who were often overlooked. They subsequently made up a substantial percentage of repeat customers and referrals as well as group bookings. Over the last two years, the efforts have been directed towards the upper middle class. This consumer group is on the increase because of the growing number of people with more disposable income. This has led to an increase in domestic and international tourism as well as the number of entrepreneurs who travel in the interest of business. 

Competition 

The main competitors of Wyndham Group are different based on its main areas of specialisation. The Wyndham section that deals with Vacation Ownership is in intense competition with Hilton Grand Vacation Club. Their services are similar and Hilton has the advantage of owning property that has a higher resale value. Hilton also offers to buy back the time shares from its investors. Wyndham does not offer this incentive. It therefore discourages some potential Wyndham investors who would wish to sell off their investment at a profit and at a short notice. However, Wyndham Vacation Resorts keep this segment afloat by offering their clientele lower prices that are pocket friendly. This appeals to a larger percentage of the middle class population. 

Another competitor is the Starwood resorts. They compete with Wyndham by offering greater flexibility and slightly lower maintenance costs. However, their maintenance costs gravitate upwards in the same way all time share ownership costs do. Currently, Airbnb is giving them a run for their money with their vibrant online presence. This affects their success rates especially in countries where the time share concept is not as popular. An example is an African country like Ghana or Nigeria where vacation rentals do better than time share programs. The online application also offers convenience for one time travelers who do not invest alot of time into hotel accommodation. 

Their are other major competitors that affect the Wyndham hotels. Apart from Hilton hotels, the hotels from Marriott group and Hyatt group give Wyndham a run for their money. The two groups have been in operation for a little longer than Wyndham. This gives them a slight advantage as they were able to understand the market earlier. The competitors have managed to edge Wyndham out of the corporate market by limiting their market share. This leads them to even more fierce competition for the leisure travelers. The competitors took over majority of the upscale clientele through intense upgrades and aggressive marketing campaigns. The Wyndham hotels now concentrate their efforts on the midscale clients who are well served by their hotels. They however continue to record a slightly lower occupancy rate than their main competitors. Wyndham manages to stay ahead of the game by continously getting into franchise arrangements. This earns them a steady source of income that supplements the fluctuations in the hotel accommodation. The management part of the business has little competition. 

Product strategy 

When the Wyndham Group opened, it was purely a hotel business. They however fell into financial trouble following instability in the United States economy. This forced them to sell off some individual hotels after a change in management disposed of them. This left the company with a small number of properties that were well managed. The product diversification strategy began then. 

The Wyndham Group then decided to change their product strategy to include more service options. While still maintaining their high end establishments, they decided to venture into the mid-level market. As this venture bore fruit, the group identified skill in their management team. They expanded their portfolio to include management of other facilities. The managers who handle other portfolios are not allowed to create conflicts of interest by incorporating the trade secrets of other brands under their care. Each group of managers handle their own docket of clientele. Wyndham Group capitalises on training their managers, deploying them to the most suitable post and ensuring they maintain the standards of the group. This management strategy has kept them afloat when the other sectors of the business were doing badly. This is especially vibrant in the UK where many hotel chains exist. 

The second deviation from hotel accommodation was vacation homes and holiday packages. The time share vacation homes allow the group to generate passive income. This is because of the onetime purchase or sale fee. The group continues to earn money from the maintenance fee that is charged periodically. This enhances the quality of the infrastructure as it is regularly upgraded at no extra cost to the organisation. The group also earns more money from its brands by organizing for vacations and tours. Wyndham vacations ensure that the clients utilise one of their brand facilities. This is possible because of the presence of brands and franchises in over 50 countries. This diverse product base has ensured the continuity of the Wyndham Group. 

Distribution strategy 

The group could benefit from expansion or property acquisition in some of their destinations. The tourism industry is rapidly expanding in Asian countries such as Thailand and Malaysia. The Wyndham Group is capitalizing on these new opportunities so as to expand their market base. This venture is taking precedence as it has potential to generate more income. The group has also lowered their marketing and advertising costs by digitalising this sectors. Advertisements, reservations and bookings can now be done online. Inquiries and room views have been uploaded to well, maintained websites that showcase the group's brands and franchises. This has made the distribution strategy simpler and cheaper. It has also reduced the ease of doing business and made staff more accountable for their actions. It is now possible to trace customer's history from their expression of interest to the engagement of services. 

The monthly e-commerce review has borne the most fruit as the group is constantly in touch with its customers. They are able to address complaints in a timely manner and incorporate suggestions into the framework of operations. The group is also able to replicate successful implementation from one brand to another. This leads to easier management of the corporation. The group continues to create job opportunities through the growth of its brands. It applies the laws of each country strictly and the workers are well compensated. 

Communication strategy 

The Communication strategy of the Wyndham Group has always been dynamic. The group capitalizes on the largest group of potential customers and works with them. For example, the group is currently focused on the millennials. Their communication is now mainly online because this target market has a heavy online presence. The group has gone a step further to digitalise their internal operations. This has led to greater efficiency in operations. Duplicity of tasks has been narrowed down and the group is now more functional than before. The period following the massive digitization has seen some job losses. The group has tried to mitigate this by restructuring horizontally. This has minimized the number of persons who are now out of work. 

The company has invested a great deal into their customer care communication. This has been seen as a differentiation strategy aimed at creating dominance among the players in the service industry. This move has been largely successful as the retraining of the customer care staff has led to greater efficiency. The customer satisfaction is also at an all time high as a result of enhanced employee satisfaction. It is safe to say that both the internal and external communication strategy is effective. 

Pricing strategy 

The Wyndham Group capitalises on a flexible range of pricing. The group has facilities that cater for a range of clientele from mid level to a high end. The pricing can be slightly altered through the customer loyalty reward system. The followup on customers encourages a broader customer base through repeat clientele and referrals. The pricing strategy is slightly affected by the bargaining power of suppliers. This is because the hospitality industry has become saturated and suppliers have more options. The Wyndham Worldwide group handles the supply chain. It ensures the best products are purchased at the best prices. This helps to stabilise the prices as the supply chain is secure and convenient. The bargaining power of buyers keeps prices relatively subdued because of the high number of alternative service providers. However, the group thrives from its intense investment in the growing middle class. This target market provides the Wyndham Group with opportunities to grow their customer base through increased uptake of holidays from people with more disposable income.