Wyndham Agreement Calls for 10 New Ramada Hotels in India
DECEMBER 11, 2006. Wyndham Hotel Group, the lodging unit of Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE:WYN) , today announced it has signed an agreement with Royal Orchid Hotels Ltd. of Bangalore, India, to develop 10 Ramada(R) hotels totaling at least 1,000 rooms in the Indian states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtr, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Chender Baljee, Royal Orchid chairman, said his company would invest 5 billion Indian rupees, or about $100 million, to build four-star-quality Ramada hotels during the next three to four years.
Steven. A. Rudnitsky, Wyndham Hotel Group president and chief executive officer, said India represents a "significant, ongoing opportunity" for hotel development in the Asia-Pacific region. He said a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers report indicates the India market will require up to 125,000 new hotel rooms in India during the next five years.
"With international tourism receipts of $5.7 billion and a record 3.9 million foreign visitors in 2005, India is critically important to our Asia-Pacific development plans," Rudnitsky said. "The agreement with Royal Orchid Hotels enables us to accelerate the expansion of our Ramada brand in the Indian market."
Wyndham Hotel Group franchises Ramada, Days(R) and Howard Johnson(R) hotels in India. Royal Orchid Hotels is one of the largest lodging chains in Bangalore. The company, established in 1973, operates four hotels: Hotel Royal Orchid, Royal Orchid Central, Royal Orchid Harsha in Bangalore and Royal Orchid Metropole in Mysore.
As one of the world's largest hospitality companies, Wyndham Worldwide offers individual consumers and business-to-business customers a broad suite of hospitality products and services across various accommodation alternatives and price ranges through its premier portfolio of world-renowned brands. Wyndham Hotel Group encompasses more than 6,400 franchised hotels and approximately 534,000 hotel rooms worldwide. RCI Global Vacation Network offers its nearly 3.4 million members access to approximately 63,000 vacation properties located in more than 100 countries. Wyndham Vacation Ownership develops, markets and sells vacation ownership interests and provides consumer financing to owners through its network of more than 140 vacation ownership resorts serving more than 750,000 owners throughout North America, the Caribbean and the South Pacific. Wyndham Worldwide, headquartered in Parsippany, N.J., employs approximately 28,800 employees globally.
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