Wyndham International, the fifth largest US hotel chain and the largest hotel
brand in the Caribbean, will become a major player in Dominican travel as of 1
December. Under a 10-year strategic alliance agreement, the seven Viva Resorts
properties in the Bahamas, Mexico and the three in the Dominican Republic are
being re-branded as Viva Wyndham Resorts and incorporated into the Wyndham
marketing portfolio.
Fred Kleisner, chairman and CEO of Windham, announced that the marketing
partnership will allow them to expand both into new Caribbean and Mexican
markets, with guests who seek all-inclusive resort experiences. In an interview
with El Caribe newspaper, Kleisner said the DR has all it needs to become a
leading destination with US travelers. ?The people are perfect, the beaches are
perfect, the resorts are perfect, the destination is perfect, but you can?t keep
it all a secret,? he said. He feels more marketing muscle is needed. He said the
US traveler has the perception that the DR is a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10. In his
own opinion, after traveling the country, he said the DR deserves a 9.
"Building a strong partnership with a brand like Wyndham is the key component to
ensuring our guests enjoy a consistent, upscale hotel product," said Viva
Resorts president, Ettore Colussi. The Dominican partners expect Wyndham’s
highly-regarded industry reputation will help them fast-track the chain?s
awareness in the US, pulling in more US travelers.
Rafael Blanco Canto, executive vice-president of Viva Resorts, said the alliance
is a big step forward towards delivering what appeals most to the US market.
Viva Wyndham properties in the DR as of 1 December are:
The 500-room Viva Wyndham Dominicus
Beach ? La Romana-Bayahibe
The 330-room Viva Wyndham Dominicus
Palace ? La Romana-Bayahibe
The soon-to-open, 223-room Viva
Wyndham Tangerine ? Cabarete
The Viva Wyndham resorts in the
Dominican Republic and Bahamas bring Wyndham’s Caribbean portfolio to 16
properties on eight islands, including Aruba, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Dominican
Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Dutch Antilles and US Virgin Islands.
Founded in 1997, Viva Resorts built a reputation on selling value-packed,
all-inclusive vacations that provided a culturally-inspired ambience,
high-energy atmosphere with international accents on food and service.
Wyndham operates 200 hotels in the US, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom and the
Dominican Republic, for a global inventory of 42,000 rooms.