The Australasian hotel outlook for 2022-2023 is positive as the return of travel brings confidence and continued market investment. Wyndham Hotels and Resorts Vice President of Development South East Asia and Pacific Rim, Matt Holmes, discusses opportunities in the current market.

Through 2022 and 2023 Wyndham Hotels and Resorts Asia Pacific will be focusing on a two-pronged approach in Australasia, including franchise conversions and increasing our presence in key markets through either franchising, license and distribution or management opportunities.

The Australia and New Zealand markets have long been skewed toward owners seeking partners to manage their assets, particularly for the larger hotels and new construction properties. We don’t believe this will change too much; however we want to make sure we are also driving franchise opportunities, particularly for hotel conversions, and are giving owners the option to control their own assets or choose preferred managers, overlaying this with a global brand and world-class franchising system.

Our Trademark Collection by Wyndham is a strong option for this, allowing hotel owners to plug into a powerful distribution system without the costs and challenges associated with rebranding or changing operating procedures. Our partners are able to maintain their uniqueness while taking advantage of Wyndham’s global scale of distribution, customer service and the Wyndham Rewards loyalty program.

I think a lot of the activity around management opportunities will be through conversions, as rising interest rates, rising construction costs and increased supply in some of the major markets start to hit new constructions.

We will look to increase our presence in some key markets we are currently under-represented in. Our presence in Australia has been growing substantially in regional and leisure-driven destinations, which has been of huge benefit over the last two years. However, we need to start looking more aggressively at opportunities (either managed or franchised) in some of the key capital cities where we have system driven demand, without the supply to satisfy.

We currently have 48 hotels open and operating in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, and are eagerly approaching a key milestone of opening our 50th hotel in these regions. This will likely coincide with the opening of our first hotels in South Australia later in the year, which we will no doubt celebrate!