Wyndham's Mixed-Use Hotel in Melbourne Records Strong Start to 2015

Wyndham Hotel

Wyndham Hotel Melbourne has proven itself as one of the strongest competitors in the city's accommodation market, maintaining occupancy rates over 90 per cent six months after opening its doors to guests.

Located in Melbourne's central business district on the corner of William Street and Little Bourke Street, the high-rise complex boasts 531 apartments across two towers, and is one of the only premier hotel-style apartment options in the city.

The hotel is a mixed-use property in a partnership between Wyndham Hotel Group and Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific offering accommodation for the company's 50,000 timeshare owners in the WorldMark South Pacific Club, as well as hotel guests.

The timeshare apartments are also accessed by and marketed to Resort Condominiums International (RCI) vacation exchange members of whom there are 3.8 million worldwide.

For the first quarter of 2015, Wyndham Hotel Melbourne had an average occupancy of 91.3 per cent, compared to the Melbourne hotels competitor average of 85.1 per cent.

This equated to an average visitor spend of more than $18.2 million from the hotel's guests in the six-month period, including transport, meals, retail and attractions in Melbourne.

In fact, the entire WorldMark South Pacific Club resort portfolio, which includes 26 resorts across Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, boasts the higher than average occupancy rate of 86 per cent compared to the global average hotel occupancy rate of 76 per cent.

Barry Robinson, President and Managing Director Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific and Wyndham Hotel Group in South East Asia and Pacific Rim, said Wyndham Hotel Melbourne was proof that the company's mixed-use model was beneficial to not only the hotel's occupancy, but also the local economy.

“A hotel that accommodates both timeshare owners and hotel guests provides a constant boost to onsite and surrounding food and beverage and retail outlets and creates multiple streams of revenue,” Mr Robinson explained.

“With an average occupancy of over 90 per cent for the first quarter of the year at Wyndham Hotel Melbourne, we can see that this mixed-use model will continue to contribute positive outcomes for the hotel and tourism industry as a whole.”

The hotel was recently presented with the 2014 Booking.com Award of Excellence after achieving an impressive overall guest review score of 9.2 /10 in 2014.

Wyndham Hotel Melbourne is Wyndham's seventh mixed-use property since the model was introduced in 2010 with the opening of Wyndham Surfers Paradise. Other locations include Port Douglas in Queensland, Shoal Bay in NSW, Phillip Island and Torquay in Victoria, and the newest addition, Wyndham Sea Pearl Resort Phuket announced in April.

Timeshare statistics:

Timeshare occupancy for 2012 was 90.4%, ahead of the industry average 70.9% (Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics Tourist Accommodation, Small Area Data, Australia, Mar 2012 to Dec 2012. Cat. No. 5506.0, Canberra) 

The number of Australian timeshare owners holidaying domestically grew 17% from 2009, far ahead of the national domestic tourism growth of 9% (Source: Tourism Forecasting Committee, 2012)
An annual visitor spend of $211.6 million (from an average spend of $1,954 per party per trip) 11% growth from 2009, while average spend industry-wide grew only 1% (Source: Economic Contribution of the Australian Timeshare and Holiday Ownership Industry – 2012 by AEC Group)

Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific 

develops, markets and sells Vacation Ownership interests in a network of 26 Vacation Ownership resorts in the Asia Pacific region and serves more than 50,000 Vacation Owners throughout Australia, New Zealand and Fiji in its WorldMark South Pacific Club by Wyndham. Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific is a division of Wyndham Vacation Ownership, part of Wyndham Worldwide. The Asia Pacific corporate office is located on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia and employs more than 2,000 staff throughout the South Pacific. Visit www.wyndhamAP.com for more information.

Wyndham Hotel Group 

– South East Asia and Pacific Rim is part of Wyndham Hotel Group, the world's largest hotel company based on the number of hotels. As both a leading hotel brand franchisor and hotel management services provider, Wyndham Hotel Group's global portfolio consists of approximately 7,650 properties and 661,000 rooms in 70 countries under the following brands: Dolce Hotels and Resorts®, Wyndham Grand® Hotels and Resorts, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts®, Wyndham Garden® Hotels, TRYP by Wyndham®, Wingate by Wyndham®, Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham®, Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham®, Ramada Worldwide®, Baymont Inn & Suites®, Days Inn®, Super 8®, Howard Johnson®, Travelodge® and Knights Inn®.

Wyndham Rewards, the company's guest loyalty program offers more than 38 million members the opportunity to earn and redeem points at thousands of hotels across the world. For more information visit www.wyndhamworldwide.com.

Wyndham Hotel

Wyndham Hotel Group – South East Asia and Pacific Rim, together with sister company Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific have a portfolio that consists of approximately 81 hotels and resorts across the region and approximately 4,000 staff.