Wyndham sees real estate bargains as market dips

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Wyndham Worldwide Corp (WYN.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is looking to take advantage of the slump in real estate prices nationwide by picking up properties it can convert into lucrative timeshare resorts, still a strong-growing section of the vacation market.

"The silver lining in the real estate market today is that when you look at where we were a few years ago we were paying top dollar for everything... that's kind of turned around a little bit now," said Franz Hanning, chief executive of Wyndham's Vacation Ownership unit, at the Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit in Los Angeles.

Hanning, who runs the world's largest time share operation, said the company last year bought a development in Panama City, Florida, at bargain prices because sales of the units had stalled.

"It was a great deal for us. I anticipate there will be a few more of those before this turns around," said Hanning.

"Now the phone rings our way with people who either have projects that were originally built as whole-ownership condos that now they can't sell, or people aren't closing on them," Hanning added. "So there's opportunity for us out there and we have taken advantage of those opportunities to acquire product at prices that -- quite frankly -- we haven't seen in a while."

On the downside, Hanning said his company had more work making sure customers stay up-to-date with payments on timeshare properties as economic conditions deteriorate.

"Our collectors have to work a little harder now, to keep people current," said Hanning.

Conversely, the chief executive of Wyndham Hotel Group, Stephen Rudnitsky, said he hadn't seen any ill effects of the slowing economy yet.

Wyndham, which operates hotel brands such as Ramada, Days Inn and Super 8, serves primarily leisure rather than business travelers.

"We haven't seen much stress on the overall business, albeit the noise that we are hearing on the economy," said Rudnitsky at the summit.

Earlier on Tuesday, Wyndham posted higher quarterly profit as its hotel chains turned in strong revenue growth, sending its shares higher.

Wyndham was spun off in July 2006 from travel and leisure franchising firm Cendant Corp, which has since focused on car rental and is now called Avis Budget Group Inc (CAR.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

(For summit blog: summitnotebook.reuters.com/)

(Reporting by Bill Rigby, editing by Phil Berlowitz)