Wyndham Hotels this month will enable Groups360 instant booking capabilities for blocks of 10 to 50 rooms at more than 5,600 properties in the United States. The rollout follows a year-ago announcement that Wyndham would participate in the GroupSync Marketplace, which enables guest room, meeting space bookings along with simple food and beverage, audiovisual and other ancillary items without a request for proposal or formal negotiated contract. Other major hotel companies—Accor, Choice, Hilton, Marriott, Omni and others—have committed to or already participate in the marketplace.
Wyndham’s announcement was unique in how it tied the instant booking capabilities not only to its push for small and midsize business and meetings travel through its Wyndham Business program, but also that it will position the platform as a benefit for infrastructure crew travel. The latter has been a big focus for Wyndham, whose portfolio of economy and midscale properties are well-positioned to attract that business. The hotel company has invested heavily in its global sales team in the past year to attract that business and instant book, the company said, is a good fit for managing crew travel even though it doesn’t necessarily involve meeting space.
Nashville-based Groups360 raised $35 million in 2022 in a second round of funding, largely to fund expansion of the GroupSync product. The company in 2019 received a $50 million influx of cash from Accor, Hilton, InterContinental Hotels Group and Marriott International.
