Wyndham Hotels & Resorts launched a new partnership with Grubhub on July 17, enabling guests and hotel team members to have F&B and convenience items delivered to their doorstep with no delivery fees. The service is available across Wyndham’s entire U.S. portfolio—nearly 6,000 hotels spanning 20 brands. To order, users simply open the Grubhub app while onsite at a participating hotel or scan one of the Grubhub QR codes featured on hotel marketing materials, where available.
“We view this as a win-win,” Charmaine Taylor, Wyndham’s senior vice president of financial partnerships, told LODGING. “From the guest perspective, we make travel easier and more rewarding. From the owner perspective, our franchisees are the heart of Wyndham, and this partnership gives them a turnkey way to stay competitive.”
Filling a Service Gap
Mobile-based food delivery services rose in popularity during COVID, when people didn’t want to eat in restaurants, and today have become an expected service at many hotels. Wyndham had not partnered with a food-delivery provider since COVID, Taylor noted. “There was a gap in our partners, and we didn’t have anything that filled that need. And so, last year we began to look at who might be the right fit for us. We launched a team at Wyndham that’s part of the financial partnership team to really focus on new partners and [revenue] streams that we haven’t thought about in retail, in food delivery, in data monetization—all different types of partners.” The group identified Grubhub as the ideal partner in the food-delivery area, for various reasons. “We move with speed and agility at Wyndham, and so we were looking for a partner who could match that speed and agility,” she explained. “We needed a partner who also had the scale, the technology, and the vision to match our extensive footprint. … Grubhub had that vast network of restaurants and other vendors. They had the expertise to really deliver a seamless experience nationwide. They also shared our goal of building a branded program that benefits the guests, our team members, and our franchisees.”
Wyndham franchisees who don’t operate full-service restaurants were the fastest adopters of the new service and have seen the most usage, Taylor added. “It’s been impactful for them. We’re able to help them close the gap and stay more competitive—the result being higher guest satisfaction, better reviews, and stronger repeat business.”
Digital Experience
Once guests or staff connect to Gubhub, they are taken through a branded digital experience allowing them to activate a complimentary six-month Grubhub+ membership, which unlocks $0 delivery on eligible orders, lower service fees, and a 5 percent credit back on pickup orders. No credit card information is required to sign up, which makes the process even more convenient. “We have been focused on the digital experience because increasingly, people are using their phones more than any other way to connect with Grubhub and with Wyndham,” said Taylor. “And what’s great is, once you take advantage of the membership, the benefits extend beyond [your stay at a Wyndham property]. You now have Grubhub+ plus wherever you are and can enjoy it.”
Onboarding Franchisees
Getting thousands of franchisees up and running with the new service was also a seamless process for both the Wyndham corporate team and franchisees. “Grubhub had the technology to be able to geofence our properties, so that’s how we know when somebody is at a Wyndham location or not. That was probably the biggest lift. But [it involved] nothing for the franchisees to do. Wyndham supplied the addresses, and Grubhub implemented the geofencing. So, whenever a property is added to the Wyndham network, we just provide the address to Grubhub,” Taylor explained. “Once the technology was integrated with our systems, it was just a matter of when we could turn it on.” Thus, most of the preparatory work for the corporate team involved communicating to franchisees and franchisee councils about the new offering. In addition, franchisees were sent key cards with the Grubhub QR code for guests to use.
Measuring Success
Although the partnership is still fairly new, the Wyndham team has been steadily tracking Grubhub’s usage among guests and staff. “We have a baseline of how many people were ordering Grubhub prior to the launch and how many are ordering now [and have seen] a significant uptake there. The frequency of orders has been quite high, both from team members and guests,” Taylor noted. Assessing the impact of that usage is also a priority. “We’re looking at the engagement. … Is it driving repeat stays? Is it differentiating our brands?” she said. “We’re still collecting information around satisfaction, but our franchisees are very excited about the partnership.”
She concluded, “Our focus is on combining hospitality with technology to create simple, relevant, scalable solutions to enhance the stay, with minimal lift for the franchisees. … [Adopting Grubhub] requires no cost for our franchisees or additional staff, but it enhances the guest experience immediately.”
