First Wyndham Hotel in China
PARSIPPANY, N.J. (March 8, 2007) � Wyndham Hotel Group, a member of
the Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN) family of hospitality companies, today
announced it will launch the Wyndham® brand in China during the fourth
quarter this year with the opening of a newly constructed, 550-room, 26-floor
luxury hotel that it will manage in Xiamen, Fujian Province.
The Wyndham Xiamen hotel, now under construction by the He Ping Li Hotel
Company in the center of Xiamen, will feature three full-service restaurants,
a 300-square-meter lounge, fitness room, sauna, pool and 1,500 square meters
of meeting space including a 1,000 square meter ballroom, boardroom and
additional function rooms.
Yan Wen Liang, principal owner of He Ping Li Hotel Company, recently
signed a 10-year agreement with Wyndham Hotel Group to manage the property.
Steven A. Rudnitsky, Wyndham Hotel Group president and chief executive
officer, said the introduction of the Wyndham Hotels and Resorts brand
in China fulfills a key corporate objective to begin developing the brand
in Asia and establish a management capability to support those hotels.
�Our upscale Wyndham brand will ensure that we are represented in China�s
major segments along with our upper-midscale Ramada® hotels, upscale
Days Inn® and Howard Johnson® hotels and upper-economy Super 8®
brand,� he said. �With 84 hotels representing nearly 14,500 rooms
under four brands, Wyndham Hotel Group already is one of the largest U.S.-based
hotel companies in China.�
The Wyndham Xiamen hotel will be the group�s first fully managed property
in the Asia Pacific region. Rudnitsky said Wyndham Hotel Group�s
approach to developing hotels in China varies by brand including a joint-venture
partnership to provide management services, master franchising and direct
franchising.
�This flagship opportunity is a testament to the strength of the Wyndham
brand and our management expertise,� he said. �We anticipate strong
growth of the Wyndham brand in China. Our overall strategy is to
identify and pursue flagship Wyndham hotel properties in key international
and gateway cities.�
While the Wyndham brand is positioned in North America as an upscale
product, the Wyndham Xiamen and other Wyndham hotels developed in China
will be built to luxury standards.
Located along the southeast coast of China, Xiamen is a key gateway
city and a favored destination for foreign investment. The city has commercial
links with Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Xiamen's primary economic
activities include fishing, shipbuilding, food processing, tanning, textiles,
machine tools manufacturing, chemical industries, financial and telecommunication
services.
Xiamen is also a tourist city widely known for its seaport and coastline,
according to the China Travel Guide. The city�s tourist attractions
include Gulangyu Island, Nanputuo Temple, stores featuring local products
including tealeaves and sugar canes and water tours of the many small islands
that are clustered along the coast near the city.
Wyndham Hotel Group, one of three principal components of Wyndham Worldwide
(NYSE:WYN), encompasses nearly 6,500 hotels and more than 543,000 hotel
rooms on six continents. All hotels are owned individually and operated
independently or by a Wyndham Hotel Group subsidiary, Wyndham Hotel Management.
This press release contains �forward-looking statements� within the
meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended,
conveying management�s expectations as to the future based on plans, estimates
and projections at the time Wyndham Worldwide Corporation makes the statements.
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