Wyndham Hotel Group Franchise Appoints SVP of Global E-Commerce

By: Wyndham Hotels & Resorts | 5 Shares 96 Reads

October 04, 2010 // Franchising.com // PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Wyndham Hotel Group (NYSE: WYN), the world's largest hotel company with nearly 7,200 hotels, today announced the appointment of Gareth Gaston as senior vice president, global e-commerce, responsible for driving the company's online strategy and presence.

An experienced hospitality and e-commerce executive, Gaston is charged with leading the relaunch of the company's global brand Web sites to enhance the consumer experience and help drive bookings. Other responsibilities include optimizing Wyndham Hotel Group's marketing spend to drive increased Web site traffic and implementing improved tracking of e-marketing activity to further enhance campaign effectiveness.

"Gareth is a talented and well-rounded professional who has a comprehensive background in both hospitality and the electronic and web marketing field," said Flo Lugli, Wyndham Hotel Group executive vice president of marketing. "His knowledge and experience will play a pivotal role in enhancing the experience for our online users and will help drive increased bookings for Wyndham Hotel Group brands.

Prior to joining Wyndham Hotel Group, Gaston served in distribution and marketing roles for various hospitality and travel companies including long time Wyndham Hotel Group franchisee Ramada Jarvis Hotels as well as Hilton Worldwide and Stakis Hotels.

Most recently Gaston served as the managing director and chief executive officer for Octopus Travel, an online hotel retailer owned by Travelport and based in London. While in that role, he successfully realigned company resources to improve effectiveness and efficiency, while transitioning to a business to consumer offering resulting in growth for the company for the first time in several years.

Wyndham Hotel Group, part of the Wyndham Worldwide family of companies is the world's largest hotel company with nearly 7,200 hotels and approximately 607,000 rooms under 13 hotel brands: Wyndham Hotels and Resorts®, Planet Hollywood Hotels®, Ramada®, Days Inn®, Super 8®, Wingate by Wyndham®, Baymont Inn & Suites®, Microtel Inns & Suites®, Hawthorn Suites® by Wyndham, TRYP by Wyndham, Howard Johnson®, Travelodge® and Knights Inn®.

All hotels are independently owned and operated excluding certain Wyndham and international Ramada hotels which are managed by our affiliate or through a joint venture partner. Wyndham Hotel Group is based in Parsippany, N.J. Additional information is available at www.wyndhamworldwide.com.

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