ggoblogger Prints Entire list of Wyndham Hotel Group "Fun Facts and Figures"

The ggoblogger was cleaning off the Greater Greensboro Open Blog's desk and found this year's Wyndham Championship Press Kit. I started reading the different files and wondered how much of these "fun facts" actually got used in news stories this year. Well, we love our minutia-and we hate to see fun facts so easily cut and pasted into this blog's content go to waste- so here they are in its entirety. Enjoy.

Wyndham Hotel Group Fun Facts and Figures

Wyndham Hotel Group, one of three principal components of Wyndham Worldwide, encompasses more than 6,550 hotels and 551,000 rooms in 59 countries on six continents under the Wyndham®, Ramada®, Days Inn®, Super 8®, Wingate® by Wyndham, Baymont Inn®, Howard Johnson®, Travelodge®, Knights Inn® and AmeriHost Inn® brands. All hotels are owned individually and operated independently or by Wyndham Hotel Management. Wyndham Hotel Group is based in Parsippany, N.J.

Fun & Interesting Facts

MANZANILLO, MEXICO - Wyndham’s Grand Bay Isla Navidad resort is located on a private 1,200 acre island.

RIO GRANDE, PUERTO RICO - The Wyndham Rio Mar has the largest ballroom in the Caribbean and was voted one of the Top Ten Best Family Friendly Resorts this year by Parents Magazine in 2008.

GALVESTON, TEXAS - The Spa at the Hotel Galvez has a new $6 million, 10,000 square-foot spa, salon and fitness center.

RIO GRANDE, PUERTO RICO - The Wyndham Rio Mar is situated on 500-acres between the tropical El Yunque National Rain Forest and a mile-long stretch of Atlantic coastline. The resort features a 7,000-square-foot casino; and two world-class, 18-hole golf courses designed by Tom and George Fazio and Greg Norman.

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI - According to the Roberts Mayfair Hotel, a Wyndham Historic Hotel in St. Louis, the actor Cary Grant was responsible for starting one of the biggest hospitality trends in the hotel business: chocolate on your pillow, which he started in the 1950s. He reportedly laid a trail of chocolates from his parlor suite, through the bedroom, and finally onto the pillow of his female companion. The Roberts Mayfair continued the tradition and it spread to hotels across the country.

WINCHESTER, VIRGINIA - Built in 1924, the George Washington Hotel - A Wyndham Historic Hotel, played host to celebrities including Ed Sullivan and boxer Jack Dempsey.


GALVESTON, TEXAS - Hotel Galvez, the choice for discerning guests for nearly a century, was known as the "Queen of the Gulf" when she opened in 1911. A renowned AAA Four Diamond hotel, a multi-million dollar restoration has returned this hotel to its rightful place as a timeless showplace on the Gulf of Mexico

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISANA - The Whitney - A Wyndham Historic Hotel - Formerly a bank, this nationally-registered hotel offers a unique private dining experience in its famous Bank Vault.

(1972 Greater Greensboro Open General Chairman John Forbis and 1999 Greensboro Jaycee President Kevin von der Lippe will enjoy the following fun fact.)

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - Union Station - A Wyndham Historic Hotel is a stunningly restored, 100-year-old railway station.

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS (TOUR STOP FOR THE VALERO TEXAS OPEN, OCTOBER 9 - 12) - Since first opening its doors, the historic St. Anthony has played host to royalty, presidents and celebrities from the worlds of music, theater and film. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited the Peacock Alley promenade, as did President Eisenhower, and General Douglas McArthur. Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco were honored with a reception in their honor in Peacock Alley during their visit to San Antonio in 1968.

o Many guests from Hollywood's "Golden Era" enjoyed the style and luxury offered at the St. Anthony including: Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Lucille Ball, Fred Astaire, Betty Hutton and Greer Garson. Lyndon Johnson, John Wayne, Gregory Peck and Rock Hudson dined many an evening in the prestigious St. Anthony Club, which today host weddings for San Antonio brides as the Georgian Room.

o The Peraux Room hosted Hollywood current royalty such as: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, Patrick Swayze, George Clooney, Demi Moore, Bruce Willis and Matthew McConaughey during the opening of San Antonio's Planet Hollywood.

GALVESTON, TEXAS - The Tremont House -In the ivoried pages of the century-old register are names now legendary: General Sam Houston, Ulysses S. Grant, Clara Barton, Edwin Booth, Anna Pavlova and Buffalo Bill. From the earliest days of the original Tremont House, built in 1839, the hotel's fortunate Galveston location and its undeniable cachet attracted a fascinating array of visitors from Texas, America and the world. Twice the hotel has been reborn. First, in 1872, following a raging fire that had swept through the Strand district in 1865 and once again, in 1985, forty-five years after the doors of the last Tremont were closed.