Travel + Leisure Taps Wyndham for Sports Illustrated Hotels
Travel + Leisure Co. and Wyndham announced a partnership on Monday to expand Sports Illustrated Resorts into hotels, shifting from timeshares and branded residences.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Travel + Leisure and Wyndham partner to grow Sports Illustrated Resorts into hotels
- Travel + Leisure manages the brand, mixed-use development, and operations
- Wyndham supplies loyalty, distribution, marketing, and owner relationships
- The brand's sole operating resort is a 185-suite property in Nashville
Travel + Leisure Co. is teaming up with Wyndham to scale Sports Illustrated Resorts as a dedicated hotel brand, the companies announced on Monday. This move marks a strategic shift for the sports-themed hospitality brand, which since launching in 2022 has primarily relied on timeshares and branded residences while experiencing slow construction progress on the ground.
Under the new partnership framework, developers have the flexibility to construct standalone Sports Illustrated hotels or integrate them into mixed-use projects featuring vacation ownership, residential units, or a combination of both. Travel + Leisure will retain control over brand management, mixed-use development oversight, and overall property operations.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
Meanwhile, Wyndham will contribute its robust loyalty program, extensive distribution channels, marketing expertise, and deep relationships with hotel owners to secure development partners. The two companies, which shared a corporate parent until their split in 2018, did not disclose specific financial terms, fee structures, or target unit numbers for the pipeline.
This alliance represents a crucial tactical pivot to overcome historical development bottlenecks by leveraging Wyndham's massive hospitality network and distribution scale, aiming to capture demand in competitive niche lodging sectors where sports-themed concepts are gaining traction.
The brand's current development pipeline remains thin and delayed: planned projects in Orlando and Ann Arbor have fallen through, the Tuscaloosa ground-up resort has slipped from late 2025 to 2028, and conversion properties in Chicago and Baton Rouge are slated for 2027. Currently, only one fully branded resort is operational—a 185-suite vacation ownership property on Nashville's Music Row.
Wyndham CEO Geoff Ballotti noted that the collaboration targets college towns and major urban markets, mirroring the high-demand demographic that Hilton entered with its acquisition of Graduate hotels. Competition in the sports-themed lodging space is intensifying, underscored by the brand's former Cap Cana property reopening under TAN Resorts, a competitor led by a former Sports Illustrated Resorts CEO.
Source: Skift
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