BERLIN – Hyatt Hotels Corp. is focusing on expanding its resort, luxury and lifestyle portfolios, with a particular focus on opportunities to grow its footprint of all-inclusive resorts in Europe.
Speaking at the International Hospitality Investment Forum in Berlin, Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian, described the luxury all-inclusive segment as “very underpenetrated.”
“We have been slower in our growth in Europe; we found it more challenging,” he said. However, he said openings in the pipeline such as Thompson hotels in Vienna and Madrid had given the group “newfound momentum” alongside its acquisition of Apple Leisure Group, filling its resort representation gap, particularly in the Mediterranean.
Hyatt acquired luxury resort manager Apple Leisure Group from KKR and KSL Capital Partners six months ago. The acquisition expanded Hyatt’s European brand footprint 60 percent, doubled its global resort footprint and added 11 new European markets to its portfolio.
Speaking during the same interview, Alejandro Reynal, CEO of Apple Leisure Group, said the integration of the two companies had been “really smooth” due to similar cultures: “For me and for many of our colleagues it was an amazing opportunity to finally find a home. This time around we were really joining a great family, and this is a place we’re going to stay for the long term.”
He agreed that there was a “huge opportunity” for all-inclusive resorts in the south of Europe and that the “great returns” the group had observed in its operations in the Americas could be replicated there, although with a product tailored for the European customer.
Reynal reaffirmed the business’s confidence in the leisure market and said that even airlines were redistributing business destination capacity to leisure destinations, including in Europe.
Following Hyatt’s acquisition of wellness and resort brand Miraval in 2017, Hoplamazian also revealed the business was in dialogue to bring the brand to at least three locations in Europe, as well as to Asia, while its wellness offering was being repackaged for Hyatt’s corporate customers and for dissemination across its other resort brands.
“We believe in time the Miraval experience is something we can extend,” he said. “It will establish a different mindfulness-based well-being practice that’s distinct from other brands.”
He said the impact of COVID-19 had translated into “tremendous demand” for self-care among guests, something he believed will “be with us for a long time to come.”
Despite the focus on leisure, he added that business activity was “very significant,” particularly meeting, incentive travel, conference and exhibition bookings, although with the caveat that recovery was “not going to be a smooth curve.”
Hyatt’s portfolio includes more than 1,150 hotel and all-inclusive properties in 70 countries across six continents.