Wyndham Destinations, the world’s largest vacation ownership
and exchange company with four million members and properties in more than 100
countries, is creating a new brand to manage the company’s exchange, membership
and travel technology brands.
Dubbed Panorama, the new business unit will encompass the company’s
exchange brands – RCI, 7Across (rebranding from DAE) and The Registry Collection;
travel and leisure businesses Love Home Swap, TripBeat and Extra Holidays; and
travel technology platforms @Work International and Alliance Reservations
Network.
In 2019, those businesses accounted for $898 million of revenue for
the company and $289 million of adjusted EBITDA.
Beyond the rebranding, Panorama president Olivier Chavy says
the news reflects a new direction for the company beyond timeshare exchange to
include a goal of becoming the world’s largest B2B travel provider, leveraging
the booking technology and inventory of ARN, which it acquired in 2019 for $92
million.
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“RCI 45 years ago was the very first [travel] disruptor... the
first to say swap your timeshare,” Chavy says.
“As a definition a disruptor needs to either refresh or
reinvent itself from time to time, otherwise you are not a disruptor anymore.
So the Panorama journey is not an evolution, it’s a revolution. We want to say
to our client, we can enhance your value proposition, but we can go further, we
can do much more.”
First steps
Chavy says the initial focus will be two-fold. First, to
become a “personal concierge” managing the booking of all travel needs – from lodging
to flights to car rental and excursions - for the company’s existing four
million timeshare members, whether they are staying in a timeshare for the trip
or not.
And second to create a new travel club that can be custom-branded or
co-branded with partners such as banks, retailers and trade associations to
offer access to discounted travel inventory from around the world, competing
with traditional online travel agencies and other third-parties.
“We are about to announce creating a Panorama travel club
with one of the leading banks in Latin America where the bank wants to enhance the
value proposition to its card holders,” Chavy says. He says he has also been
talking to an NBA team about offering the travel club to its season ticket
holders.
“All of a sudden you open doors of any kind of organization
where you have x-thousand members, and it’s exponential.”
Chavy says the Panorama brand was originally scheduled to
launch in early May, but the company delayed the announcement due to COVID-19.
Now, he says, the news is intended as a positive sign that the company is “stronger
and full of hope for a different path and more growth.”
“The creation of the Panorama business is a recognition that
the companies acquired over the last 10 years have come together to create a
powerful travel business that has the opportunity to grow and expand,” Chavy
says.
“The rebranding work supports the reinvention of every part of our
portfolio and sets us up for growth for the next 10 years and beyond.”