Wyndham may be best known for Days Inn, Super 8 and La Quinta, but there’s a small boutique hotel collection inside its world that still feels oddly easy to miss.
A year ago, I wrote about Origin Hotels, a small collection of boutique properties that participated in Wyndham Rewards but was surprisingly hard to find on Wyndham’s own website.
That part has changed somewhat. Origin Hotels now has its own Wyndham-facing presence, and the properties can be booked through Wyndham channels. But when you look at Wyndham’s broader brand lineup, Origin still doesn’t show up where you might expect it to.
Which makes this less of a “secret hotel partner” story and more of a “why is Wyndham still hiding this in plain sight?” story.
Wyndham Has A Lot More Brands Than People Realize
When most travelers think of Wyndham, they probably think of brands like Days Inn, Super 8, La Quinta, Ramada, Microtel or Travelodge. That’s fair. Those brands make up a huge part of Wyndham’s footprint.
But Wyndham Hotels & Resorts is much bigger than that. Its brand lineup stretches from economy hotels to extended-stay properties, vacation rentals, all-inclusive resorts and more upscale names like Wyndham Grand, Registry Collection Hotels and Dolce.
That’s why I still find Origin Hotels interesting.
It doesn’t really fit the image many travelers have of Wyndham. Origin isn’t a roadside economy brand. It’s a small boutique hotel collection with properties designed around their locations, local restaurants and more of a lifestyle-hotel feel.
And yet, even now, it still feels like a brand many Wyndham Rewards members might never know exists.
Origin Hotels Is No Longer Completely Hidden
When I first looked into Origin Hotels, the strange part was that it seemed to be connected to Wyndham Rewards, but didn’t appear in the normal places you’d expect to find a Wyndham-affiliated brand.
That has improved. Origin now has an official website, and the individual hotels are bookable. The collection currently includes properties in places such as Lexington, Red Rocks, Westminster, Austin, Baton Rouge, Atlanta and Kansas City.
Those aren’t random roadside locations, either. Origin’s whole pitch is that each hotel is supposed to feel connected to its destination.
For example, the Origin Hotel Red Rocks leans into its proximity to the Red Rocks Amphitheater and Colorado’s outdoorsy setting. Origin Lexington plays up Kentucky bourbon, horses and Southern food. The newer Origin Atlanta is in South Downtown, in a converted 1950s-era office building.
That’s very different from what most people picture when they hear “Wyndham.”
But It Still Doesn’t Show Up Like A Normal Wyndham Brand
Here’s where it still gets odd. Wyndham’s brand listings include the expected groups: Extended Stay, Economy, Midscale, Lifestyle, Upscale and Distinctive, along with a separate section for vacation rentals, club resorts and condos.
But Origin still isn’t shown alongside those brands.
That makes the whole thing feel unfinished. Origin isn’t really a secret anymore. It has a website, bookable hotels and ties to Wyndham Rewards. But if you are casually browsing Wyndham’s main brand lineup, it remains very easy to miss.
Why Wyndham Rewards Members Should Care
For most people, this is just a branding curiosity. But for Wyndham Rewards members, it is more useful than that.
Wyndham Rewards often gets overlooked by travelers who focus on Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton or IHG, partly because Wyndham is so closely associated with budget and roadside hotels. There is nothing wrong with that, but it also means some travelers assume the program doesn’t have many interesting redemption options.
Origin Hotels is a reminder that Wyndham’s footprint is broader than many people realize. A boutique-style hotel in places like Red Rocks, Lexington, Austin or Atlanta is a very different use case than redeeming points at a Super 8 off the interstate.
That doesn’t automatically make every Origin property a great redemption. But it does give Wyndham something more distinctive than many travelers expect, which makes it strange that the company doesn’t highlight the brand more clearly.
Final Thought
Origin Hotels isn’t quite the secret Wyndham partner it felt like a year ago. The brand is easier to find now, and the properties are clearly bookable.
But it still feels like Wyndham hasn’t fully decided how much it wants to promote the collection.
That’s a shame, because Origin is exactly the kind of brand that could make Wyndham Rewards more interesting to travelers who usually ignore the program. It is small, quirky and much more boutique than the Wyndham stereotype.
So while Origin may no longer be hidden, it’s still hiding in plain sight.
Cover Photo: Origin Hotel Austin – Credit: Jane Yun
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
