Wyndham Worldwide (WYN)

 

In 2008, we booked on behalf of our franchised and managed hotels approximately 3.5 million rooms by telephone, approximately 13.3 million rooms through the Internet and approximately 2.4 million rooms through global distribution systems, with a combined value of approximately $1.5 billion in bookings. Additionally, our global sales team generated leads for bookings from group and meeting planners, tour operators, travel agents, government and military clients, and corporate and small business accounts. We maintain contact centers in Saint John and Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada; Aberdeen, South Dakota; and Manila, Philippines that handle bookings generated through our toll-free brand numbers. We maintain numerous brand websites to process online room reservations, and we utilize global distribution systems to process reservations generated by travel agents and third-party Internet booking sources, including Orbitz.com, Hotwire.com, Travelocity.com, Expedia.com, Hotels.com and Priceline.com. To ensure we receive bookings by travel agents and third-party Internet booking sources, we also provide direct connections between our central reservations system and some third-party Internet booking sources. The majority of hotel room nights are sold by our franchisees to guests who seek accommodations on a walk-in basis or through calls made directly to hotels, which we believe is attributable in part to the strength of our lodging brands and loyalty program. Through our various channels such as telephone, Internet, loyalty program and global distribution systems, we booked approximately 33% of the total system’s gross room revenues on behalf of our franchised and managed hotels.

 

Since 2004, bookings made directly by customers on our brand websites have been increasing at a CAGR (over the five year period) of approximately 16%, and increased to over 7.6 million room nights per year in 2008. Since 2004, bookings made through third-party Internet booking sources increased at a CAGR (over the five year period) of approximately 11% while bookings made through global distribution systems increased at a CAGR (over the five year period) of approximately 3%.