Wyndham Hotels and Resorts hosted their Middle East Executive Summit this week in Doha, Qatar
Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, the world’s largest hotel franchising company by the number of properties, with approximately 9,200 hotels across over 95 countries on six continents, recently hosted its Middle East Executive Summit event – ‘The Art of Partnership’ – in Doha, Qatar. The event, held at the Wyndham Grand Doha West Bay Beach property in the heart of the city’s business and leisure district, saw regional teams and industry leaders come together to foster a collective vision of growth across the region.
Uniting regional teams for collaborative conversations
The theme for the 2024 regional summit was centered around harnessing the power of collaboration within the industry, igniting a shared vision to achieve common goals, and how exploring opportunities through effective partnerships can unlock significant achievements in hospitality. Over 100 hotel team members, general managers, suppliers, and industry leaders were welcomed to the event by Dimitris Manikis, President EMEA at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, who, in his opening address, also shared news of a strategic alliance with the launch of a new smart lifestyle brand, Project HQ. Owned by sbe, the privately-held leading international lifestyle hospitality group that develops, manages and operates world-class hotels, restaurants, lounges and nightclubs, Project HQ will be affiliated with Wyndham’s Registry Collection Hotels which caters to hotel owners in the luxury and smart lifestyle segments. Manikis also shared EMEA business updates with participants, including milestone moments, a performance recap for the previous year, and the benefits and support available to owners and operators as part of the Wyndham Advantage.
The event agenda saw guest speaker Thanos Papasavvas, Founder and CIO of research boutique ABP Invest, deliver a keynote presentation looking into the economic outlook of the year ahead, followed by collaborative panel discussions featuring guest Philip Wooler, Senior Director, Middle East & Africa at STR, to offer expert insights on performance benchmarking, marketing, and revenue management.
“Embracing our Owner First approach, we recognise that in an ever-evolving industry landscape, collaboration is paramount. This Executive Summit served as our proactive step towards fostering meaningful partnerships and empowering our teams from within. By bringing together our Middle East teams and leaders, we not only provide valuable opportunities to our owners but also offer steadfast solutions and an abundance of resources through the Wyndham Advantage. It was an honour to convene so many great minds, reaffirming our commitment to driving collective growth across the region as one cohesive team.”
– Dimitris Manikis, President EMEA, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts
“We’re immensely proud to be a part of Wyndham’s Executive Summit in the Middle East. Engaging with local hotel owners, teams, and suppliers alongside industry experts, and looking at the opportunities ahead of us is a truly valuable experience when working to achieve our goals. It was a fantastic event and I’m looking forward to what is to come for the industry in this transformative region.”
– Panos Loupasis, Market Managing Director for Türkiye, the Middle East, and Africa, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts
Positive outlook for the region’s hospitality industry
The summit brought attention to current challenges operators may face such as potential rising costs resulting from inflation, and how these can be addressed by hotel owners, reinforcing the importance of using data and analytics tools to minimise risk. Participants also considered what is next for the region’s hospitality industry in a forward-looking discussion on consumer preferences, such as a higher priority on sustainable travel, the continued rise in ‘bleisure’ travel, and an increase in travel budgets compared to figures from three years prior. Figures shared for the region from insight reports suggest the outlook is positive, with the highest rate of consumers travelling for bleisure in the Middle East compared to the wider EMEA region, and almost 80% of Middle East travellers increasing their travel budgets considerably.
Celebrating its commitment to growth in the Middle East region, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts continues to further expand its presence and strengthen local partnerships to deliver unparalleled hospitality experiences, and continue to make travel more inclusive.
For more information about Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, visit: https://whrdevelopmentemea.com/.
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