Road Trip Ready: Wyndham Mobile App Now Lets Travelers Plan and Book the Ultimate Summer Road Trip

Rhea-AI Summary

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has launched the Road Trip Planner, a new feature in its mobile app aimed at facilitating easy planning and booking for travelers. With over 80% of U.S. travelers planning road trips, this first-of-its-kind tool allows users to create customizable itineraries, view multiple reservations, and pay using various methods, including rewards points. The initiative aims to streamline the travel experience, catering to diverse traveler needs while enhancing direct bookings for hotel owners, thereby improving overall business value.

Positive

• Launch of the innovative Road Trip Planner feature to enhance customer experience.
• Over 80% of U.S. travelers are planning road trips, indicating potential for increased hotel bookings.
• Customizable itineraries enhance user engagement and satisfaction.
• Road Trip Planner can encourage direct bookings, benefiting hotel owners.

Negative

• None.

First-of-its kind experience comes as over 80% of U.S. travelers plan to take a road trip this year, helping them seamlessly create, customize and book multi-hotel itineraries

PARSIPPANY, N.J., May 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Queue up the playlist and pack those snacks because planning the ultimate summer road trip is now easier than ever. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, the world's largest hotel franchising company with over 8,900 hotels across more than 95 countries, today announced the launch of Road Trip Planner, the latest digital innovation to its award-winning mobile app. A first-of-its-kind offering from a major hospitality company, the interactive booking tool the road trip discovery, planning and booking process, allowing travelers to seamlessly plot their next trip in minutes. It's The Easiest Way to Book & Go^SM.

Road trips became the go-to vacation for families amid the pandemic and continue to be the preferred way to travel for many this summer travel season. In fact, recent research commissioned by Wyndham for its American Road Trip Index revealed that while over 80% of travelers plan to take a road trip this year, with two-thirds (66%) feeling overwhelmed by trying to figure out where to stay.

"With thousands of hotels across our country's highways and byways and 22 trusted brands, there is no company better positioned to help travelers experience the road trip of their dreams," said Jessica Davidson, senior vice president, digital, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. "With Road Trip Planner, travelers enter a few details about the trip and instantly get an itinerary with all their hotel stops, bookable in one single transaction. It not only eases the stresses of travel planning but ensures the journey is as exciting as the destination."

A Seamless Solution for Road Trippers
Created to help travelers both at home and on the go, Road Trip Planner is the latest addition to the ever-evolving Wyndham Hotels & Resorts digital platform, further demonstrating the company's commitment to delivering value to its hotel owners and guests. While guests enjoy a seamless planning and booking experience, owners benefit from direct bookings that are encouraged through the feature's ability to book multiple hotel stays at once. Key to the design is functionality that enables guests to plan, create and book trips that work for them—from the family looking to head out west and visit our nation's parks this summer, to long-haul truckers regularly making their way up and down the coast.

Among Road Trip Planner's key features:

• Custom Itineraries – Customize your route from A to B and discover what you love in between. Tailor itineraries filtering by driving time or distance, preferred brands, amenities, pet-friendly locations and more.
    
• Recommended Routes – Leave the planning to us. Map a route with preferred stops or discover a recommended route based on your travel preferences.
    
• Details at Your Fingertips: Stay connected throughout your journey. View multiple reservations on one screen, look up key amenities and share on-property requests ahead of time.
    
• Pay Your Way – Pay in the way that works best for you including Wyndham Rewards points, cash or mix of the two.

Added Davidson, "Built upon the success and strong adoption of our mobile app, Road Trip Planner is the perfect complement to Lightning Book®, which is our Fastest Way to Book Direct^SM and enables guests to reserve a hotel in just a few taps. Now, whatever your travel preferences—be it booking last minute or planning far ahead—Wyndham has you covered. Summer, here we come!"

Understanding the Road Tripper Mindset
Earlier this month, Wyndham teamed up with Wakefield Research to commission its first-ever American Road Trip Index, uncovering key insights around travelers upcoming road trip plans while tapping into pop-culture preferences.

Among some of the top insights from travelers:

• Pete is the popular pick: 56% would choose to road trip with Pete Davidson over Kim Kardashian, with Gen Z (60%), Gen X (58%) and Boomers (58%) leading the charge. For Millennials (53%), Kim is still queen.
    
• Adele rocks the radio: 34% put her at the top of their perfect road trip playlist, followed by Queen (28%), Bon Jovi (26%) and Bruce Springsteen (24%).
    
• Take away the TV: 59% would sooner give up a month of TV before giving up a week of vacation, with Millennials (67%) and Gen X (66%) being the most eager to trade in their TV remotes.
    
• Apologies to the in-laws: Asked to pick their top 3 road trip companions, 93% would rather road trip with someone other than them, including a best friend (80%), a sibling (61%) or even a member of congress (9%).
    
• Food is the focus: 1-in-2 (50%) put trying a new restaurant among their road trip travel plans while over a third (34%) are looking forward to exploring a small town.
    
• Going the distance: Road trippers plan to travel on average over 700 miles on their next trip, with over a quarter (27%) planning to travel 1,000 miles or more.
    
• Grabbing the wheel: 53% prefer to be the driver over the passenger, with men (73%) overwhelmingly preferring to drive vs. women.

Wyndham's Road Trip Planner is available today as part of the award-winning Wyndham Hotels & Resorts mobile app. Travelers can download the app via the Apple App and Google Play stores. Wyndham's mobile app offers mobile check-in and checkout, innovative in-stay features, best-in-class design, personalized experiences, Wyndham Rewards® account management, gamification and more. Users can also take advantage of unique features like Lightning Book®, which makes it easy to book the nearest Wyndham hotel for the night.

Between May 26 to May 30, 2022, members can take advantage of Wyndham's latest flash sale offer – 8,000 bonus points – redeemable for a $25 Visa prepaid card when they book two-nights or more through Wyndham's mobile app. Simply tap the Mobile App Flash Sale offer on the app's home screen to access the offer. Membership in Wyndham Rewards, which is free to join, is required, and non-members can quickly enroll as part of the booking process. A two-night minimum stay is required and stays must be completed by June 30, 2022. For full terms and conditions, visit www.wyndhamhotels.com/app.

Survey Methodology
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research among 1,000 Nationally Representative U.S. adults 18+, between May 11th to May 15th, 2022, using an email invitation and an online survey. The survey was weighted to ensure accurate representation of US adults ages 18+. The margin of error for the study is 3.1%.

About Wyndham Hotels & Resorts
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: WH) is the world's largest hotel franchising company by the number of properties, with over 8,900 hotels across over 95 countries on six continents. Through its network of over 813,000 rooms appealing to the everyday traveler, Wyndham commands a leading presence in the economy and midscale segments of the lodging industry. The Company operates a portfolio of 22 hotel brands, including Super 8®, Days Inn®, Ramada®, Microtel®, La Quinta®, Baymont®, Wingate®, AmericInn®, Hawthorn Suites®, Trademark Collection® and Wyndham®. The Company's award-winning Wyndham Rewards loyalty program offers approximately 94 million enrolled members the opportunity to redeem points at thousands of hotels, vacation club resorts and vacation rentals globally. For more information, visit www.wyndhamhotels.com. 

Contact:
Stefanie Petropoulos
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts 
+1 (973) 753-6590 
stefanie.petropoulos@wyndham.com

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SOURCE Wyndham Hotels & Resorts

FAQ

What is Wyndham's new Road Trip Planner?

Wyndham's new Road Trip Planner is a feature in its mobile app that allows travelers to seamlessly create and book multi-hotel itineraries for road trips.

When was the Road Trip Planner launched?

The Road Trip Planner was launched on May 23, 2022.

How does the Road Trip Planner benefit hotel owners?

The Road Trip Planner encourages direct bookings, which can lead to increased revenue for hotel owners.

What percentage of U.S. travelers are planning a road trip this year?

Over 80% of U.S. travelers are planning to take a road trip this year.

What features does the Road Trip Planner offer?

The Road Trip Planner offers customizable itineraries, recommended routes, multiple reservations view, and various payment options.