Wyndham added more gross rooms to its development slate last year than during any year in the company’s history.

The Wyndham Istanbul Kalamis Marina

　　BERLIN—When trying to expand into new markets, you can either knock on the door and wait for an answer or kick it down and rush in. Eric Danziger prefers the latter.

　　Though Wyndham Hotel Group’s president and CEO would never consider himself a particularly brash or aggressive person, he hopes to kick his way into several new markets as the company continues its unprecedented global expansion.

　　Wyndham added more gross rooms to its development slate last year than during any year in the company’s history. As of 31 December 2012, the group had approximately 930 hotels and 110,700 rooms in the pipeline, of which 59% were new construction and 56% were outside the United States.

　　More recently, the group executed a handful of portfolio transactions that expanded its presence by what Danziger called “quantum leaps.”

　　Wyndham made its first splash when it struck a deal with Colony Capital to rebrand 56 former Jameson Inn properties in the United States. Only a few weeks later, the company signed on to rebrand and manage eight hotels in the U.S. for FelCor Lodging Trust.

　　“It’s infinitely better for the owners and the brand if you go into a country in a significant way instead of one followed by another one followed by another one because the hotels can get up to speed a little bit faster,” he told HotelNewsNow.com earlier this month during a break at the International Hotel Investment Forum.

　　Going forward, Danziger will focus more of his energy outside of Wyndham’s domestic base—as made evident by the group’s 20 February announcement that it would rebrand 43 of Grand City Hotels’ properties in Germany under various Wyndham flags.

　　“That is the large growth opportunity,” Danziger said of portfolio deals outside of the U.S. “Coming into Germany, instead of knocking on the door and coming in with one (hotel), we sort of kicked down the door and ran in. … We’re going to do a good job because we’re going to have critical mass.”