Wyndham reports record annual openings, retention

PARSIPPANY, New Jersey – Wyndham Hotels & Resorts reported 4Q24 and full-year earnings, highlighted by net rooms growth of 4% and comparable adjusted EBITDA growth of 7%.

“Our team’s focus on expanding into higher FeePAR markets, growing our extended-stay footprint and unlocking new ancillary revenue streams underscore the diverse growth opportunities inherent in our asset-light, resilient business model,” said Wyndham President and CEO Geoff Ballotti. “What excites us most about our future is the developer interest in, and demand for, our brands both here and overseas, reflected in a pipeline that grew another 5% to a record quarter-of-a-million rooms that will open in the coming years with significant FeePAR premiums compared to our existing system.”

Highlights of 4Q24 include:

• Global RevPAR growth of 5% compared to fourth quarter 2023 in constant currency, a 400-basis point improvement sequentially; full-year global RevPAR grew 2% year-over-year in constant currency.
• U.S. RevPAR grew 5% compared to fourth quarter 2023, a 600-basis point improvement sequentially; full-year U.S. RevPAR was flat.
• Internationally, RevPAR strength was driven by ADR growth of 6% in constant currency, while occupancy remained flat. The company's EMEA and Latin America regions saw the largest increases year-over-year in the fourth quarter, collectively growing 15%. RevPAR for the company's China region declined 11% in the fourth quarter, driven by a 10% decrease in ADR.
• System-wide rooms grew 4% year-over-year, including 4% growth in the higher RevPAR midscale and above segments in the U.S. as well as strong growth in the company's higher RevPAR EMEA and Latin America regions, which grew a combined 7%.
• Wyndham opened a record 68,700 rooms globally, representing 4% year-over-year growth, including nearly 28,000 in the U.S., which also grew 4% year-over-year.
• Global retention rate reaches record level at 95.7%.
• Development pipeline grew 2% sequentially and 5% year-over-year to a record 252,000 rooms. 
• On December 31, 2024, the company's global development pipeline consisted of approximately 2,100 hotels and 252,000 rooms, representing another record-high level and a 5% year-over-year increase.  Approximately 17% of the pipeline is in the extended stay segment and approximately 58% of the pipeline is international. Approximately 78% of the pipeline is new construction and approximately 35% of these projects have broken ground.
• Fourth quarter diluted earnings per share increased 80% to $1.08 and adjusted diluted EPS grew 14% to $1.04, or approximately 18% on a comparable basis; full-year 2024 diluted earnings per share increased 6% to $3.61 and adjusted diluted EPS grew 8% to $4.33, or approximately 10% on a comparable basis.
• Fourth quarter net income increased 70% to $85 million and adjusted net income increased 9% to $82 million, or approximately 13% on a comparable basis; full-year 2024 net income was $289 million, or flat year-over-year, and adjusted net income increased 2% to $347 million, or approximately 4% on a comparable basis.
• Fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA increased 9% to $168 million, or approximately 12% on a comparable basis; full-year 2024 adjusted EBITDA increased 5% to $694 million, or approximately 7% on a comparable basis.
• Wyndham returned $430 million to shareholders for the full year through $308 million of share repurchases and quarterly cash dividends of $0.38 per share.
• The Board of Directors recently authorized an 8% increase in the quarterly cash dividend to $0.41 per share beginning with the dividend expected to be declared in the first quarter 2025.

Wyndham provided the following outlook for full-year 2025:

• Year-over-year rooms growth is set at 3.6%-4.6%
• Global RevPAR growth is set at 2%-3%
• Fee-related and other revenues is set at $1.49-$1.51 billion
• Adjusted EBITDA is set at $745-$755 million
• Adjusted net income is set at $369-$379 million
• Adjusted earnings per share is set at $66-$4.78
• Free Cash Flow conversion before development advances of 57% to 60%.
• At the midpoint, adjusted EBITDA growth, when levered, will provide another $550 million of available capital to either invest in the business or to return to shareholders.
• Wyndham expects approximately $110 million of this capital will be deployed as development advance spend, consistent with 2024.