End of exclusivity of the Ramada franchise for Hospitality Alliance in Germany

Hospitality Alliance, previously "master franchiser" of the Ramada brand in Germany, is losing its exclusivity, although it will keep the hotels and pipeline currently under this brand. It translates strategic changes for both Hospitality Alliance and Wyndham, which is deploying an offensive strategy in Germany.

According to our German confrères at AHGZ, the group Alliance Hospitality, formerly "master franchiser" of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts in Germany, is no longer the exclusive partner in Germany of the American operator, 4th group worldwide. Alliance Hospitality will nonetheless keep the Wyndham brand for its existing hotels and those in its pipeline, even if the group decides to redirect its strategy by putting more emphasis on its own brand H2.

The operator Wyndham, meanwhile, sees this deployment as an offensive strategy on the German market: the group wants to develop a dozen or so properties by 2017 under its budget brand Super8 through a partnership with the group Tristar Hotel GmbH (read our article) and above all in 2013 it signed an agreement that is strategically very important with the group Grand City (read our article), leading to 43 additional hotels under different brands on markets in Germany and the Benelux. The end of the exclusive partnership with Alliance Hospitality thus point to a de facto situation and the American group's clear desire to accelerate development on the German market through multiple partnerships and all its brands.

Wyndham's offensive in Germany began to produce its effects: according to the European Hospitality Report by MKG Group (see ), the group posts the strongest growth in the Top 10 with an increase in its branded supply by 37% on January 1, 2014 with respect to the previous year, sending it into 9th position among hotel groups in Germany, while the impact of conversions within its supply has only just begun.