Wyndham hotels now use AI to answer calls and take bookings

Next time you call a Wyndham hotel, an AI may pick up. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts says its AI phone assistant now handles calls at more than 1,700 hotels worldwide. The company also says guests can book its rooms through AI chat tools such as ChatGPT and Claude. The claims came from an investor presentation on Oct. 21 and an earnings call on Oct. 22.

What changed

Wyndham runs 8,500 hotels in 100 countries under 25 brands. Most are owned by franchisees, who run hotels under the Wyndham name. The company's AI phone platform is called Wyndham AI Concierge. CEO Geoff Ballotti said it is up 17% sequentially, meaning compared with the period just before. He said it handles tens of thousands of calls that used to go unanswered, with no hold times.

Rooms are also bookable through Google's AI Mode, ChatGPT and Claude. The presentation also lists Meta's Muse, Instinct and OpenAI's dots.

The numbers Wyndham shared

• Customer satisfaction improved by 450 basis points, which is 4.5 percentage points.
• Voice conversion, the share of calls that become bookings, improved by 500 basis points.
• Hotels offering AI Concierge bookings saw a 15% rise in average daily rate, the average price paid per room per night.
• Wyndham Connect, a guest messaging platform, is at more than 5,100 hotels and drove 16% growth in upsell revenue this year.

These figures come from Wyndham's own presentation. No outside check is included in the material.

Who it affects

Travelers may find that a hotel call is answered instantly by software, not a person. Hotel owners are the real audience here. Wyndham says the tools raise revenue and cut costs. Small business owners in any field can read this as a preview. Missed calls are lost sales, and AI is now being sold as the fix.

What is not known yet

The material does not say how guests are told they are talking to an AI. It does not say what happens when the AI cannot solve a problem, or what the tools cost franchisees. It also does not say which hotels use them. Wyndham says the results are strong, but only the company has reported them so far.

What to do

If you book travel, expect to meet AI on the phone and in chat apps. If you run a business, check how many calls you miss and whether an AI answering tool could help. Ask any vendor for results from real customers.