The Hoseasons Group has changed its name to Wyndham Vacation Rentals UK to avoid confusion between its corporate and customer brands and increase awareness of its parent company in the trade.
However, the brand names of the group’s businesses in the UK, including Hoseasons, cottages4you, Canvas Holidays, English Country Cottages and James Villa Holidays, remain unchanged.
Wyndham Vacation Rentals created The Hoseasons Group as an umbrella brand for its UK travel businesses since it acquired Hoseasons and Holiday Cottages Group in 2010. It is part of Wyndham Exchange & Rentals, a division of US parent company Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, which also owns brands such as Howard Johnson and Wyndham Hotels.
Managing director Geoff Cowley said the switch to Wyndham Vacation Rentals UK would remove any confusion that could arise from having the name Hoseasons as the umbrella UK brand as well as its domestic operator. The move will also align the group better with its other global businesses, he said.
Cowley added: “We created The Hoseasons Group when we brought the Hoseasons and Holiday Cottages Group businesses together in 2010 and wanted a group brand name that the travel industry would recognise and understand.
“Since then, we’ve added the James Villa Holidays and Cumbrian Cottages businesses to our family, which means the overall group has grown in scale and breadth of product, and THG corporate brand no longer reflects our range and position in the same way.
“We have created a stronger profile for Wyndham Vacation Rentals at a global level. With this change of group name, we can avoid any potential for confusion between our corporate and customer brands in the UK, and align ourselves with other Wyndham Vacation Rentals businesses in Europe and North America.”
Cowley insisted the its existing holiday brands would remain “as strong and distinctive as ever” but said it would create “greater clarity” and increase awareness and visibility of the Wyndham Vacation Rentals and its brands in the travel industry.