GLOBAL UPDATE
ON HOTELSMAG . COM
INTERVIEW :
HYATT ’ S ALL-INCLUSIVE PLANS
Steve Haggerty
During the summer Hyatt Hotels Corp ., Chicago , announced the launch of two new all-inclusive brands — Hyatt Zilara and Hyatt Ziva — coupled with an investment of US $ 325 million in Playa Hotels & Resorts , Fairfax , Virginia , and a franchise agreement for Playa to operate six all-inclusive resorts under these brands .
HOTELS spoke with Steve Haggerty , Hyatt ’ s global head of real estate and capital strategy , who said , “ We are deploying our
capital in a manner that allows us to expand into high-barrier-toentry market segments , and get to scale quickly . The all-inclusive segment has experienced impressive growth — in Mexico alone , the number of all-inclusive inventory more than doubled from 2000 to 2012 — and we believe that we have the opportunity to raise the bar on the allinclusive experience .”
Read the full interview : hotelsm . ag / 155Wbgl
BLOG :
HOTEL INDUSTRY CEOS NO LONGER HOTELIERS
Increasingly , hotel company CEOs are not hoteliers , but instead come up through finance or development . For example , Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts , Toronto , hired the CEO of Prudential Real Estate Investors , and Accor named an executive from Colony Capital .
On his HOTELSMag . com blog HOTELS Editor in Chief Jeff Weinstein asked readers what their thoughts were and received a flood of comments .
“ Will the hotel industry now and forever move forward with a different set of agendas ?” Weinstein asked . “ Will service suffer at the hands of more financially focused and trained leaders ? Will the consumer ever notice the difference , especially if these leaders surround themselves with seasoned hoteliers ? What does this spate of non-hoteliers leading the industry bode for the business long term ? And remember , Barry Sternlicht — a real estate guy by trade — was more or less responsible for creating the W brand , which some would say has been the biggest trend-setting brand of the past 20 years .”
Read the full blog post : hotelsm . ag / 18HihIQ
CEO ’ S REACTION
At the Wyndham Hotel Group 2013 Global Conference , HOTELS asked Eric Danziger , CEO and president , Wyndham Hotel Group , whether he thought hotel company CEOs still need hotel operations experience . Danziger began his career as a bellman at The Fairmont San Francisco . He replied , “ If I get on an airplane and the captain says in his welcoming announcement that he is the world ’ s foremost submarine pilot , I will not feel so good flying on that airplane . At the end of the day it is not the finance business , it is the hospitality business . I believe that it is more beneficial for the company to have someone that understands what the employees have to deliver , and you have to understand hotels to do that .”
20 HOTELS November 2013 www . hotelsmag . com