Wyndham’s Portfolio Overhaul: Budget Hotels Are Out, Higher Fees Are In

Skift Take Wyndham’s U.S. room count looks stable. What’s actually happening is a systematic swap — lower-fee economy hotels out, higher-fee midscale in. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has long been defined by scale in the economy segment. Super 8, Days Inn, Microtel — the brands that built the company are firmly budget. But a deliberate portfolio overhaul is underway, and look past the headline U.S. room count — essentially flat year-over-year at 501,100 — and the shift is clear. CEO Geoff Ballotti outlined the strategy on the company’s second-quarter earnings call Thursday: “We’re very focused on replacing those lower quality, lower FeePAR [fee per available room] rooms with higher quality, higher FeePAR rooms.” Economy rooms in the U.S. are down 3%, to 216,600, while mids