Hotel Operations

Ramada Encore Crosses 1,000 Keys in India With Three Openings

Ramada Encore passes 1,000 keys in India with 17 hotels after openings in Ayodhya, Vrindavan and Kochi. All are franchised. The release omits fees and occupancy data.

Wyndham’s Ramada Encore Surpasses 1,000 Operational Keys in India with Three New Hotel Openings
Wyndham’s Ramada Encore Surpasses 1,000 Operational Keys in India with Three New Hotel Openings — AI-generated

Ramada Encore by Wyndham has surpassed 1,000 operational keys in India, reaching 17 open hotels after simultaneous debuts in Ayodhya, Vrindavan and Kochi. Every property operates under franchise agreements with local owners. Wyndham holds no bricks in the ground here.

The three openings add 174 rooms in total. That is a small increment against Wyndham's global base of roughly 9,200 hotels. But the placement tells a sharper story about where midscale demand in India is actually growing: pilgrimage corridors, not gateway cities.

Where did the three hotels land?

The distribution follows demand, not vanity addresses.

  • Ayodhya Takpura — 72 rooms, four kilometres from the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple on National Highway 27, with banquet space for weddings and corporate events.
  • Vrindavan Rukmani Vihar — 45 rooms, the brand's first entry into the market, near the city's major temples, with a pool, all-day dining and banquet facilities.
  • Kochi Kalamassery — 57 rooms on the Kochi Panvel Highway, serving InfoPark, Cochin International Airport and commercial districts, with two restaurants, a 24/7 café, spa, sauna, steam room and gym.

Two of the three sit on spiritual travel circuits in Uttar Pradesh. The third targets a mixed business-and-leisure market in Kerala. The source does not disclose room rates, franchise fees or projected occupancy for any of the properties.

What demand is Wyndham chasing?

The Ministry of Tourism recorded more than 4.3 billion domestic tourist visits across India in 2025, according to the company. Ayodhya alone drew over 200 million visitors in the same year, Wyndham said. Those figures are self-cited by the operator, and the release offers no methodology behind them.

Even discounted, the scale is real. A pilgrimage market with year-round volume behaves like a commercial hub: predictable demand, low seasonality, limited internationally branded supply. Vrindavan had no Ramada Encore before this opening. Wyndham is moving into markets where the brand faces thin competition rather than fighting for share in Mumbai or Delhi.

The Eurasia footprint now stands at 18 Ramada Encore hotels, including Nepal. India accounts for 17 of them, which makes the country effectively the whole regional story.

Who pays, and what do owners get?

Wyndham is the world's largest hotel franchising company by property count, with approximately 9,200 hotels across more than 95 countries and roughly 885,000 rooms. Its economics in India follow the standard model: local owners fund construction and operations, and Wyndham supplies distribution, marketing, sales, revenue management and technology under the banner of its "Wyndham Advantage" platform.

The pitch to franchisees leans heavily on Wyndham Rewards. The release cites more than 126 million enrolled members worldwide in the announcement section, while the corporate boilerplate states approximately 110 million. The company does not explain the gap. Members redeem from 7,500 points and earn a guaranteed 1,000 points per qualified stay.

What the release never states is the part that matters most to owners: the cost. Franchise fees, royalty rates and required technology spend appear nowhere. Nor do any RevPAR, ADR or occupancy benchmarks from the existing 14 Indian Ramada Encore hotels. Owners reading this must take the demand thesis on faith.

What comes next?

Wyndham frames these openings as evidence that secondary and spiritual-travel markets can support internationally branded midscale product at franchise speed. The test will be whether the Ayodhya and Vrindavan properties sustain rate through off-peak months, something the announcement promises but does not prove.

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Marcus Bennett

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Market editor covering technology and product news in Restaurant and hotel operations at The Pass Brief.

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