One ripple effect of startups like Airbnb raising enormous sums of funding is that it has become harder for smaller rivals to clone their models elsewhere in the world. While clones get a bad name, they do provide benefits to consumers in added competition.
In the hospitality business, the big are getting bigger — and, we hope, getting smarter about how they communicate that to consumers, and how they keep their hotel owners and franchisees happy. This points transfer and status match between Wyndham and La Quinta is a good start.
We had a hunch this would happen, but who knew it would happen so quickly? And how will Wyndham pursue that "blue thread" of loyalty strategy between its hotel and timeshare businesses? And what will happen to its vacation rental business?
This has been the year that Wyndham stepped up its interest in urban rentals. It still lags behind Airbnb in terms of the overall numbers but is banking on its tag-line of "peer-to-peer plus" winning over potential hosts and travelers.
Wyndham Worldwide, like its peers, is betting big on loyalty, but unlike its peers, it plans on keeping its timeshare and vacation rental businesses all together, instead of spinning them off like others have.