Top Stories in Hotels: Hyatt, Maui, and Top Managers
15.09.2023 - 09:43
/ skift.com
/ Mark Hoplamazian
/ Sean Oneill
Here are the top stories from the Daily Lodging Report newsletter in the past week. Get news on hotel deals, development, stocks, and career moves. Sign up here now.
JP Morgan analysts reported on investor meetings they held with Hyatt, saying they came away incrementally enthused about Hyatt and its multi-year opportunities and transformation to an increasingly asset-light business model.
Hyatt said the seasonally driven transition to group and individual business transient travel mix is starting in the U.S. and should replace leisure for the balance of 3Q23 and 4Q23, accelerating RevPAR growth relative to the summer.
In the near to medium term, Hyatt conveyed confidence in sustaining above-peer net rooms growth and growing fees per room in excess of net rooms growth.
In a report, Truist continues to have Hyatt as its favorite name among hotel groups for potential stock performance. Truist gave forward-looking booking and pricing trends for U.S. hotels, and see no signs of demand slowdown. In fact, Truist sees U.S. RevPAR growing stronger in the fourth quarter than in the third quarter.
Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian spoke at the Bank of America Conference a week ago. He said they are picking up on signs that more people in big cities are returning to offices, which he feels will lead to more business transient travel. Hyatt’s hotels in New York City are seeing increased levels of local traffic, which means people are back in the office, a clear difference between now and the beginning of the year.
Skift Take: We summarized highlights from Hoplamazian’s comments in Hyatt Sees Signs of a U.S. City Rebound That Could Boost Business Travel. See Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian speak on-stage at the Skift Global Forum in New York City on September 27, 2023.
The wildfires that recently devastated Maui’s western region were a major tragedy, and Skift has reported that tourism there faces a “long recovery.”
That said, if you zoom out to the perspective of hotel companies across the Hawaiian island, you may see less of a business and operational impact than many feared.
Sunstone Hotel Investors, an investor in roughly a dozen prestige hotels, gave a business update this week. As Daily Lodging Report summed up: “It looks like the Maui wildfires’ impact was less bad than feared, or less of an impact than expected. August company revenue per available room (RevPAR) growth was 1.4%, better than analysts expected.”
Host Hotels & Resorts, America’s largest hotel owner by property count, said it had avoided any reported property damage to the company’s hotels or golf courses on Maui. All its hotels remained open and operational through the wildfires.
The company’s hotels provide food and shelter for employees, their