Wyndham Hotels & Resorts' 23rd brand, Vienna House, is in the midscale-to-upscale segment and appeals to a broad demographic of guests, from remote workers to families. By most definitions, it is a lifestyle hotel brand.
But Dimitris Manikis, president for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, prefers to describe it as "a curious brand."
Vienna House, which Wyndham announced it had acquired on Sept. 8, "has a curiosity about it, and then some really curious elements," Manikis said. "To me, that curiosity is what will help us to promote the brand going forward."
The European brand has 40 hotels open in its portfolio across eight countries in Europe — including 28 hotels in Germany — in three tiers: the signature Vienna House by Wyndham, the select-service Vienna House Easy and Vienna House Townhouse, which caters to the extended-stay guest.
Manikis said his goal is to add five to 10 new hotels to the Vienna House portfolio in the first year — two hotels are already in the development pipeline in Mannheim, Germany, and Katowice, Poland. He added that he aspires to double the size of the brand portfolio in five years.
"Why not? ... I have a very hungry development team that wants to do it. So for me, the more we do the better, but always keeping in mind three things: not cannibalizing, not compromising and keeping the brand DNA intact," he said.
He said he plans to capitalize on the curiosity surrounding the brand by introducing it to new guests in new markets, as well as to the 95 million loyalty members of Wyndham Rewards.
"I fell so much in love with the brand that I want more and more consumers to know about it," he said, adding that the name Vienna House evokes the spirit of "traditional European hospitality," which appeals not just to guests in key markets in Europe, such as Germany, but also around the world.
Wyndham's partner in the brand, HR Group, which stays on as owner and operator of the Vienna House hotels, sees the value and power of the franchise company to grow the portfolio and expand it to new territories, he said.
"If you ask me what my initial plans are, yes, the usual suspects — central Europe, Germany, Austria, Poland ... but I want to see a Vienna House in Turkey, a Vienna House in Greece ... in Israel. ... I don't have a crystal ball. I'm not an oracle, but I'm not going to be surprised if we see a Vienna House by Wyndham in Istanbul or Vienna House by Wyndham in Azerbaijan … or in Tbilisi, Georgia, because that's what Wyndham does. We do it better than anybody else. We are clearly a franchise powerhouse. We've done it with so many other brands, and we're going to do exactly the same with this," Manikis said.
"There is one difference though. You do the job. We do justice to the brand. You don't just grow for the sake of growth. You do it because the brand deserves to be in that location because consumers will experience that European Viennese German hospitality. Second, you do it not because you know you paid $44 million and you need to tomorrow morning show up with another two hotels. You do justice to brand standards. You do justice to the DNA, you do justice to what the brand stands for, because why would you buy something to cannibalize it? Why would you buy something to destroy it? We need to be very careful on our development pipeline."
Who Are the Guests?
Guest demographics for the Vienna House brand vary by location, and though certain hotels within the portfolio offer more amenities and spaces for business travelers than others, Manikis said the brand does not leave out any group or type of guest.
The Vienna House Andels in Berlin, for example, draws a lot of meeting, incentive, conference and events business because of its size — it features 13 conference rooms and nearly 40,000 square feet of meeting space.
All of the Vienna House hotels feature "a lot of chill-out areas and co-working spaces," Manikis said.
"We hate to put stamps and etiquettes on the hotels in the demographics of customers," he added. "The same guy who stays in a Ramada this week can stay in Super 8 in Munich three weeks later. ... You can spend $500 a night in a luxury hotel and three months later, you go camping. The world is changing, and that's what we want to capture with Vienna House."
The Value
For HR Group, the value of selling franchise rights to the Vienna House brand to Wyndham went beyond the $44 million price tag, Manikis said.
"It's about the future; it's about the prospects; it's about the potential," he said. "What is very important is what do you actually do with it? Do you buy a Ferrari and keep it in the garage? Or do you actually drive it? ... What do you do with the brand the day after?"
HR Group has been a franchise partner in Europe for the past four years, and that relationship was key to the acquisition.
"One of the main reasons why this brand became more and more interesting is because HR Group was part of it — like-minded people who share the same values. There's a very good chemistry between their team and ours. ... I know [HR Group] will do a lot from their side as well because they love the brand. ... There's no surprises in this relationship," Manikis said.
For Wyndham, a key consideration in acquiring the brand was how it would fit within the company's existing brand portfolio.
"It is a brand that will complement and not cannibalize. ... It brings things that will even benefit the other brands that we're promoting. We're going to pick up stuff that Vienna House does today and implement that at some of the other brands, like [a food and beverage] proposition," Manikis said.
"We're going to take stuff that we do, with Ramada for example, and bring it into Vienna House. We're not going to isolate. We're not going to take Vienna House and put it in a cupboard and say, 'OK, you stay there now.' No, the brands will start talking to each other because that's the essence of Wyndham."