Bullish on India, Wyndham Hotels to add 55 properties, double rooms

While demand for branded hotel rooms remains strong across markets, American hotel chain Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, which operates brands such as Ramada and Planet Hollywood, is preparing for the next leg of growth in India with 55 hotels on the way.

Dimitris Manikis, President of Europe, Middle East, Eurasia and Africa (EMEA), said the company, which mainly manages and franchises hotels in the country, currently has a portfolio of 95 operational properties here and plans to increase this number to 150 in the next few years. Mint.

The company is shifting gears to manage much larger hotels than it did a few years ago. Manikis, who is in India for the HVS Anarock HOPE 2026 conference in Goa, said he is currently locked in several new projects with 100+ rooms and is expanding his game to spiritual destinations as well as tier 2 and 3 cities.

With 55 future properties, the chain will double its hotel rooms, adding approximately 7,000 rooms to its portfolio of 7,110 operational rooms.

What changed for Wyndham was size and mix.

“We are slowly moving away from hotels with 35-40 rooms. The average number of rooms in our line is currently about 107 rooms,” Manikis said, and in the coming years there will also be hotels located in mixed-use complexes with offices, retail and other real estate.

He said this shift will help move towards larger format assets with institutional ownership in the middle market space. Wyndham does not invest in building assets like other hotel management companies, but works with local owners to manage its properties.

India is among the most important markets

India is currently among the top three growth markets in EMEA for Wyndham. Revenue per available room, or RevPAR, a metric hoteliers use to calculate how much revenue an occupied room brings them, rose 7% year over year for the company, to about $55, or about $55. ₹The occupancy rate, which is 5,000 per night, will be at 67-68% in 2025, according to industry data, exceeding the countrywide average of 60-65%.

The company expects the occupancy rate to reach 70% this year as newer, higher-yielding hotels come online.

While the core remains mid- and upper-midscale with brands such as Ramada and Wyndham Garden, the group is increasing its presence in the upper luxury segment also bracket. It launched a Wyndham Grand in Udaipur and acquired two more under the brand while testing what Manikis describes as “premium experiences, but not at premium prices.”

While the geographically largest metropolises are still important, growth is not limited to them. Pipeline, II. and III. It is being built along tier-1 cities as well as religious markets in Rajasthan, northern India, and other high-traffic entertainment and spiritual destinations.

“What is Tier II today will be Tier I tomorrow. This only requires an airport and a highway, and with the development of your infrastructure, this can happen very soon,” he said, underlining the company’s desire to plant hotel flags early in these developing cities.

Wyndham is also seeing increased interest in branded housing and condo-hotel formats, he said. This model blends real estate with hospitality and allows developers to spread risk while maintaining brand support. “Hospitality is increasingly tied to real estate. It’s a big part of the future,” Manikis said.

The company continues to rise in travel demand despite geopolitical fluctuations around the world. About 1.6 billion people travel annually, according to UN Tourism, and young consumers are prioritizing experiences over purchases.

For Wyndham, India is at the heart of this story, not just as a domestic growth market but also as an engine for the future; because more and more Indians are traveling abroad and will continue to do so in the next five years.

The company hopes brand familiarity in the country will translate into stays across the global network.

benefit from growth

“Don’t compare India with any other country,” Manikis said. “India has its own story.”

India’s branded hotel market is poised for significant growth, according to the HVS Anarock-Gleeds 2025 Hotel Development Cost Report.

As of mid-2025, there are approximately 209,200 branded hotel rooms across approximately 2,300 properties in India, and a strong pipeline is expected to increase total branded inventory to approximately 350,400 rooms by 2030.

Despite this expansion, India’s branded hotel penetration remains low compared to more mature markets such as the US and China, with significant untapped demand due to a growing middle-class population, the report said.