GLOBAL LEADERS: Barry Robinson

Barry Robinson

President and Managing Director, International Operations, Wyndham Destinations

Investing in vacation clubs and resort activities is a key focus for Wyndham Destinations.

AS WE ENTER 2022, the hospitality sector emerging strongest is leisure travel. I am grateful that we operate predominately in this space. The pent-up demand is reflected in our Australian and New Zealand resorts running at over 80% occupancy.

While the outlook for 2022 was initially bright in terms of international corridors opening, at the time of writing, Omicron is spiking, and many countries are shutting their travel lanes once more. Therefore, our priority remains with helping our vacation club members and hotel guests to holiday domestically.

Barry Robinson

With four vacation clubs and over 70,000 members, we are continually focused on providing access to a broad range of inventory in desirable holiday destinations. The lockdowns in Asia have impacted club members in countries like China who are unable to travel to places like Phuket, Bali and Japan. As such, we have focused on creating domestic holiday options through strategic partnerships.

In Australia, during 2021, we completed a $25 million expansion at Club Wyndham Flynns Beach in PortMacquarie. We almost doubled the inventory by adding53 one to four-bedroom villas, with 20 x Deluxe, 25 x Grand and eight x Presidential. We also spent close to $30 million on our acquisition and development of Club Wyndham Airlie Beach. We have fully renovated 56apartments and continue to make improvements.

Presidential living at Club Wyndham

In Fiji, with Club Wyndham Denarau Island closed for more than 18 months, we completed significant refurbishments and added food and beverage outlets. We also introduced a number of free club activities including dive-in-movie nights, kayak and stand-up paddleboard safari, and an aqua trampoline.

During 2021, over 100 resort activities were introduced across the Club Wyndham South Pacific resort collection from e-bikes to boogie boards, a hobby farm and gold panning. The activities have been transformational in taking customer experiences to a new level and are boosting resort satisfaction rates.

The challenge for the industry in 2022 is to reassure candidates on job stability.

Our travel channel, youtube.com/ClubWyndhamTVlaunched last year. This is both lifting memberengagement and helping to promote our resorts andclubs. We will continue to focus on ways to enhancecustomer experiences in 2022.

Sustainably is a priority for us, and we rolled out a host of green initiatives in 2021including biodegradable bamboo room keys. More sustainable innovations will be introduced this year.

An aerial view of Club Wyndham Denarau

The skills shortage affecting our industry has made attracting talent a priority, but onboarding, developing and retaining that talent is equally important.HM readers know how rewarding a career in hospitality can be. The challenge for the industry in 2022 is to reassure candidates on job stability and highlight the incredible growth opportunities a career in hospitality can bring.

The key to success is engaged leadership that understands the importance of employee experience and development of a healthy culture. As our clubs continue to grow, we are always on the lookout for acquisition and partnership opportunities and expect to make some exciting announcements this year. I am optimistic that 2022 will bring blue skies, and I am excited for what the year ahead holds.

SNAPSHOT: WYNDHAM DESTINATIONS

Number of hotels and rooms (Globally): More than 245 resorts and more than 26,000 suites

Number of hotels and rooms (Asia-Pacific): More than 75 hotels and 4,500 rooms

Number of hotels and rooms (Australasia): 44 Hotels and 1,145 rooms

Year first hotel opened (Australia): 2000

Year the company was founded: 2000

Brands in the organisation: 5 Head office locations: Orlando, Singapore, Gold Coast