Investing in the Guest Experience: Wyndham Becomes First Major Hotel Company to Begin Rollout of Oracle’s OPERA Cloud Globally

Full-service hotels coming into the Wyndham portfolio, which includes brands like Wyndham Grand®, Ramada® by Wyndham, and Dolce® by Wyndham, will be placed on the new PMS while existing owners have the option of upgrading now or waiting until their existing PMS agreements expire. The Company anticipates approximately 20 percent of its full-service portfolio will adopt the new PMS in the next 12 months with the majority migrating to the system over the next several years.

Digital transformation efforts

Wyndham’s selection of OPERA Cloud for its full-service hotels represents the latest in a growing list of newly launched technology initiatives by the Company, all of which center on giving franchisees tools to help provide a competitive advantage amid the ongoing pandemic. Last September, the Company launched a new best-in-class customer data platform and prior to that, a fully reimagined mobile app, making it the first to bring mobile check-in and checkout to more than 6,000 economy and midscale hotels.

“The rollout of Oracle’s OPERA Cloud represents the next step in Wyndham’s continued digital transformation,” said Scott Strickland, chief information officer at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. “Not only does the system help our hotel owners deliver a better guest experience through a host of operational enhancements and efficiencies, it’s designed to lower their overall costs by eliminating the need for costly and difficult-to-maintain on-site hardware. Best of all, hotels can migrate to the system remotely in a matter of days, not weeks—allowing hotels, particularly conversions, to open faster.”

Through OPERA Cloud, Wyndham and its franchisees have the ability to easily:

• Scale in the cloud - Built specifically to run hotel operations, the PMS is flexible and can scale to meet the needs of each hotel without requiring installation and maintenance of on-site hardware.

• Enable mobile “anywhere” access - Operators can run their hotel from anywhere while team members can untether from the front desk to serve guests anywhere on property.

• Streamline operations - Easy integration with thousands of key partner interfaces means a smoother, more streamlined guest experience with the opportunity for enhanced personalization.

• Operate globally - Designed to meet fiscal requirements across more than 200 countries, operators can customize the system to operate in 20 languages.

• Enhance security and performance - The PMS is built on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, which helps hotels elevate the guest experience while helping to deliver higher performance, security and reliability.

Partnership benefits

“Wyndham’s progressive approach to its digital transformation provides a strategic advantage for its thousands of hotel owners and operators around the world,” said Alex Alt, general manager of Oracle. “Having OPERA Cloud in place allows franchisees to quickly and remotely enhance features for guests as the industry continues to evolve, which is going to be critical in maintaining a competitive edge.”

The rollout of OPERA Cloud builds upon the foundation of a broader, multi-year digital transformation for Wyndham, which in recent months has enabled the Company to quickly stand-up new tools and offerings to help drive more business to its franchisees—particularly from everyday business travelers, such as construction workers, utility workers, truckers and more. Among them are Wyndham Direct, a total booking, billing and payment solution for corporate customers that streamlines travel management with no minimum spend or stay requirements and Wyndham Business, a one-stop-shop for anyone looking to do business with Wyndham and its hotels.

Wyndham first began its digital transformation journey in 2016, which has since resulted in a shift to best-in-class, cloud-based property management systems, a single central reservation system for all 20 brands, and a flexible cloud service and sales platform.