Wyndham Worldwide Corp, franchiser of Days Inn, Ramada and Super 8 hotels, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday and revealed it was fetching a three times more quarterly dividend.

The company witnesses its net income of $73 million, or 40 cents per share compared to a net loss of $1.36 billion, or $7.63 per share, hit by charges linked to its vacation ownership program, a year earlier.

However, analysts had expected the company to fetch a 37 cents earning on average, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Hotel owners are facing difficulties to lure customers after last year's recession spurred vacationers and business travelers to cut back. Wyndham reduced construction and other costs at its timeshare unit as demand dropped.

Its fourth quarter revenue rose to $913 million from $911 million a year earlier. In its hotel group, revenue per available room fell 11.9 percent.

The company said it would boost its quarterly dividend to 12 cents per share from 4 cents and would resume share repurchases under an existing $200 million buyback plan. The repurchase program has $157 million in remaining capacity. The timing of buybacks is subject to market conditions.