Wyndham Worldwide Named as a 2015 World's Most Ethical Company by the Ethisphere Institute

PARSIPPANY, N.J., March 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN) has been recognized as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere Institute, an independent research center promoting best practices in corporate ethics and governance. This is the third time the Company has received the prestigious designation since Ethisphere first began recognizing companies in 2007.

"Acting with integrity is one of our core values, and how we do business in nearly 100 countries around the world," said Stephen P. Holmes, chairman and chief executive officer, Wyndham Worldwide. "Our success has been built on a drive to not only do what's right for our business, but what's right for our customers, associates, and communities. Our values-based approach has enabled us to grow as one of the best performing hospitality companies in a way that is responsible and responsive to the world around us."

The designation is given to companies that continue to raise the bar on ethical leadership and corporate behavior, and is based on a company's understanding of the correlation between ethics, reputation and daily interactions with its customers and others. Wyndham Worldwide is one of only four companies in the hospitality sector honored this year. 

Based in its Count On Me! service philosophy, integrity and accountability are part of the culture at Wyndham Worldwide, which maintains a strong focus on compliance and ethical practices and policies. One example is the Company's Compliance Champion network, where individuals from various departments across the company are designated as leaders in advancing compliance awareness and understanding for their department and colleagues. In addition to promoting compliance-related updates and policy information, the Champions serve as a local connection to the company's compliance officers, creating a network of information sharing among the company's many corporate locations and hospitality properties.

"Compliance and ethics are deeply engrained in our corporate culture, and it's a responsibility shared by everyone at Wyndham Worldwide," said Scott McLester, executive vice president and general counsel, Wyndham Worldwide. "Our Compliance Champions reflect an overall commitment to ethical leadership that starts with our Board of Directors and is shared by our associates at every level and every location throughout our organization."

The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute's Ethics Quotient (EQ)™ framework developed over years of research to provide a means to assess an organization's performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies, rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics. The EQ framework and methodology is determined, vetted and refined by the expert advice and insights gleaned from Ethisphere's network of thought leaders and from the World's Most Ethical Company Methodology Advisory Panel.

Scores are generated in five key categories: Ethics and Compliance Program, Corporate Citizenship and Responsibility, Culture of Ethics, Governance, and Leadership, Innovation and Reputation.

About Wyndham Worldwide Corporation

One of the world's largest hospitality companies, Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN) provides a wide range of hospitality services and products through its global portfolio of world-renowned brands.  The world's largest hotel company based on the number of properties, Wyndham Hotel Group is home to many of the world's best-known hotel brands, with over 7,600 franchised hotels and approximately 661,000 hotel rooms worldwide. Wyndham Exchange & Rentals is the worldwide leader in vacation exchange and the world's largest professionally managed vacation rentals business, providing more than 5 million leisure-bound families annually with access to over 107,000 vacation properties in over 100 countries through its prominent exchange and vacation rental brands. The industry and timeshare ownership market leader, Wyndham Vacation Ownership develops, markets, and sells vacation ownership interests and provides consumer financing to owners through its network of over 200 vacation ownership resorts serving approximately 904,000 owners throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific. Based in Parsippany, NJ, Wyndham Worldwide employs over 34,000 associates globally.

For more information, please visit www.wyndhamworldwide.com.

About the Ethisphere Institute

The Ethisphere® Institute is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that fuel corporate character, marketplace trust and business success. Ethisphere has deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data-driven insights that help companies enhance corporate character. Ethisphere honors superior achievement through its World's Most Ethical Companies® recognition program, provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA) and showcases trends and best practices in ethics with the publication of Ethisphere Magazine and The World's Most Ethical Companies Executive Briefing. Ethisphere is also the leading provider of independent verification of corporate ethics and compliance programs. More information about Ethisphere can be found at http://ethisphere.com

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