Graves 601 Hotel Minneapolis Joins Wyndham Grand Collection

Graves 601 Hotel Minneapolis recently joined the Wyndham Grand Collection of luxury hotels, becoming the Graves 601 Hotel Wyndham Grand.

Minneapolis-based Graves Hospitality Corp. will continue to independently own and operate Graves 601, but the 255-room downtown Minneapolis hotel now will use Wyndham Hotels and Resorts’ online reservation system and other distribution channels. Graves 601 currently is affiliated with the Frankfurt, Germany-based WorldHotels.

The change “really allows us to tap into a much larger audience and validates our position in the marketplace from a luxury standpoint,” Graves Hospitality President Ben Graves said. “We really wanted to develop more global exposure.”

Guests won’t notice any onsite changes other than a small tweak to the hotel’s exterior signage to denote the Wyndham affiliation, he said.

The Wyndham Grand Collection is considered the “crown jewel” of Wyndham’s hotel system, featuring its most luxurious hotels from around the world, including London; Budapest, Hungary; and Prague, Czech Republic. The company’s Web site does not list any U.S. hotels.

Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, a subsidiary of Parsippany, N.J.-based Wyndham Worldwide Corp., operates more than 7,000 hotels in 65 countries under 11 brand names. The company also features the industry’s largest loyalty-rewards program, known as Wyndham Rewards.