Oct 22, 2026 earnings call — Stronger U.S. RevPAR and raised outlook
Q3 net revenues were $410 million and management raised full-year RevPAR and earnings outlook.
Revenue $0.4B (est $0.4B) · EPS $1.43 (est $1.32) · Next-quarter revenue outlook $1.5B–$1.5B
Key quotes
"US RevPAR grew 6% and we grew our system by 4% excluding REVO."
"Our development pipeline grew for the 20 fifth consecutive quarter to a record of 264 thousand rooms across nearly 70 countries, with a fee par premium of approximately 30% both domestically and internationally."
"Wyndham Connect, our Wyndham-trained LLM powered guest engagement platform, is now deployed at more than 5.1 thousand hotels and has generated tens of millions of dollars in year to date up opportunities for participating franchisees."
Analyst Q&A 14
What’s driving US demand now
Q (Brandt Montour · Barclays): Was the US strength driven more by business or leisure, and what is the underlying run rate into the back half and for 2027?
A: Management said leisure is strong and weekdays showed meaningful strength. Booking windows and booking pace improved and they have "over 7% more business on the books for the next 60 days versus the same time last year." Cancellations are improving and they see positive trends into 2027.
"We have now over 7% more business on the books for the next 60 days versus the same time last year." — Geoffrey A. Ballotti (CEO)
Drivers of fee growth vs algorithm
Q (Steven Pizzella · Deutsche Bank): What drove the royalty and franchise fee acceleration and how should we think about fee growth vs the algo going forward?
A: They said RevPAR momentum drove the strength and prior noise came from Revo timing and lapping. They expect fee growth to return in line with the algorithm starting in the back half of the year and to continue into Q4 and beyond.
"As you noted, royalty and franchise fees were up 6%." — Amit Sripathi (CFO)
How AI agents book hotels
Q (BofA): How do autonomous agents access your inventory, do they connect directly to your systems, and are you incentivizing agents to book direct versus OTAs? Also, is traffic from these channels moving the needle?
A: They said it is very early and traffic is low, but they are embracing autonomous agents and providing inventory directly to them via brand web, CRS, MCP and voice channels so agents act like guests. They also expect Wyndham Rewards and personalized data to encourage agents and members to prefer direct bookings over OTAs.
"We are providing our inventory your question, directly to these agents." — Geoffrey A. Ballotti (CEO)
Franchisee health and development
Q (Michael Bellisario · Baird): What feedback are you hearing from U.S. franchisees on higher rates, development starts and conversions, and what is the situation in Europe and France?
A: France is a very limited impact for the company. The Middle East is improving after declines and the development pipeline there remains strong with over 2 dozen hotels and 5 new contracts. They said global openings were strong—"over 50 thousand rooms globally" and international opens accelerated year to date.
"France is a very limited impact for us." — Geoffrey A. Ballotti (CEO)
Biggest win this quarter
Q (David Katz · Jefferies): What was the most important development this quarter, and can you quantify franchisee adoption of AI initiatives?
A: They pointed to domestic RevPAR outperformance and big improvements in guest satisfaction and quality scores. Economy brands showed large NPS gains (Super 8 up 800 basis points, Days Inn up 900 basis points) and tech rollouts are producing revenue: Wyndham Connect is in over 5.1 thousand hotels and Wyndham AI Concierge has answered over 3 million calls year to date with 1.7 thousand hotels enrolled.
"Our economy brands are seeing some of the highest net promoter score growth improvement year over year that we have ever seen." — Geoffrey A. Ballotti (CEO)
Terminations and key money plan
Q (Truist): Are increased terminations in the economy segment likely to continue into 2027 or change multiyear net room growth targets, and any change to key money strategy?
A: They said there are no changes to the key money strategy and they expect $110 million for the full year. They continue to focus on substandard quality terminations in the economy segment and cited strong OSAT improvements (Howard Johnson up 800 basis points, Super 8 up 600 basis points) and confidence in improving retention toward prior levels.
"really no changes to our outlook in terms of $110 million for the full year." — Amit Sripathi (CFO)
AI impact on customer acquisition costs
Q (Stephen Grambling · Morgan Stanley): Are you seeing lower customer acquisition costs from AI and how do direct bookings, lower third-party commissions, or conversion improvements rank in impact?
A: They said AI interactions are routed through their brand sites and MCP/voice channels which can lower distribution costs. Wyndham AI Concierge shows a 15% rate (RPI) lift and labor savings, and LLM-driven search could make marketing cheaper than SEO, but it is still early to quantify full effects.
"The AI interactions are all going through our brand websites." — Geoffrey A. Ballotti (CEO)
Why net unit growth slowed
Q (Daniel Politzer · JPMorgan): Is the pivot in net unit growth due to terminations, new competitors, or macro/construction? What do developers say and when will net unit growth resume?
A: They said the main cause was a large decline in buy-sell transactions driven by higher interest rates, with transactions in their segments "falling over 30%" this quarter, and subdued new construction creating pent-up transaction demand. Developer sentiment remains positive and they expect net room growth to resume as transaction volumes recover.
"With transactions in our segments falling over 30% in both the economy and the mid scale segments select service segments this quarter to historic all time lows" — Geoffrey A. Ballotti (CEO)
Royalty rate outlook
Q (Benjamin Chaiken · Mizuho): How should we think about royalty rate expansion in Q4 and longer term?
A: Their long-term expectation is about 5 basis points of royalty rate growth on average across multiyear periods. They noted variability year to year (10 basis points in 2024, 7 basis points in 2025, down approximately 2 basis points year to date in 2026) and that REVO created some noise in individual years.
"our royalty rate, kind of our expectations within the algo is 5 basis points of growth, both domestically and internationally, kind of on the long term." — Amit Sripathi (CFO)
Cadence of signings and RevPAR effect
Q (Alex Brignall · Rothschild and Company): How will signings progress in coming quarters and how will relative RevPAR across low/high end affect that and net unit growth?
A: They said pipeline growth continues ("25 consecutive quarters of global pipeline growth") and owner sentiment is improving as RevPAR momentum returns toward the 2.5% to 3% select service average. They expect this momentum and stability to help transaction volumes resume and translate into net unit growth.
"25 consecutive quarters of global pipeline growth." — Amit Sripathi (CFO)
Capital allocation and buybacks
Q (Ian Zaffino · Oppenheimer): Given current performance, how will you allocate cash between dividends and buybacks and might you accelerate repurchases?
A: They repurchased approximately 91 million shares in Q3 (about 30% more than last year) and believe the stock trades at an unwarranted discount. The board authorized an additional $400 million repurchase and they have ample liquidity to support dividends and buybacks, though they will not guide future repurchase cadence.
"We have we repurchased approximately 91 million shares in Q3 about 30% more than last year" — Amit Sripathi (CFO)
Infrastructure and data center demand
Q (Elizabeth Dove · Goldman Sachs): Will investments in data centers, manufacturing and infrastructure create a multiyear demand tailwind and accelerate into 2027?
A: They said this demand is accelerating and strengthening. GSO booked 16% more revenue in Q3 than last year, they placed infrastructure business into almost 6 thousand hotels this quarter, and they are tracking about 350 data centers near roughly 1 thousand hotels that are producing a couple of 100 basis points of RevPAR growth in those markets.
"we have about 350 data centers that we are circling that are around approaching 1 thousand of our hotels in those markets" — Geoffrey A. Ballotti (CEO)
China performance and development
Q (Meredith Prichard Jensen): Why is China RevPAR weak but net unit growth strong, and what owners are signing and development trends are you seeing?
A: They said China underperformed largely in tier 2 cities (about 500 basis points below industry) but hotels held rate flat to prior year. They see early signs of stabilization with PPI and CPI turning positive and pipeline metrics showing a tick up: 3.6 thousand projects in early planning, early planning up 4%, construction starts up 7%, and conversions up over 20%. Two thirds of contracts signed were new construction.
"our hotels were able to hold rate flat to prior year" — Geoffrey A. Ballotti (CEO)
Domestic net growth and Revo clarification
Q (Wells Fargo): Could domestic net growth return to 6% gross / 4% churn next year, and clarify the Revo room counts and what will be retained?
A: They expect sequential domestic net unit growth in Q4 and beyond as transaction volumes and stability resume. On Revo, they started with about 22 thousand rooms, 9.1 thousand left the system, 13 thousand remain, and they expect roughly 20% to 25% (about "5 thousand-6 thousand-ish rooms") to be retained while the rest will leave in Q4.
"We started with about 22 thousand rooms." — Amit Sripathi (CFO)