Hyatt CEO Says Hotels Will Ban Hate Groups: ‘We Need to Draw the Line’

Hyatt Hotels CEO Mark Hoplamazian said Thursday that there’s no place for hate groups at any Hyatt properties.

“If a group is primarily focused on disparaging a group by virtue of their identity…that’s really where we need to draw the line. We’re going to apply our values to making these decisions along the way,” Hoplamazian said during Skift Global Forum in New York City.

The move follows similar stances by other hospitality groups. Hyatt’s decision to ban hate groups follows criticism the company received over the summer for agreeing to host an anti-Muslim hate group at one of its properties in suburban, Washington, D.C.

Hoplamazian sent a memo to Hyatt employees on Thursday morning explaining the policy change, emphasizing that values such as inclusiveness and empathy “are deeply personal to me.” Still, Hoplamazian said these groups don’t represent a significant amount of total business. “It’s actually quite infrequent,” he said.

Along those lines, Hoplamazian and other hotel and travel CEOs met with President Donald Trump and his staff earlier this month to convey the importance of portraying a welcoming message to international travelers visiting the United States.

“The purpose of the visit was to focus on things that we’re trying to promote as an industry,” said Hoplamazian. “We talked about extending a message of warm welcome to the rest of the world which we feel is critical. Our pitch is that that’s actually most effective when it comes from the top. We didn’t get any commitments on that but we think we made our case.”

Hoplamazian also said the visa waiver program was discussed during the White House meeting. “We were able to get a commitment to go back and look at policies in place that could expand the freedom to travel.”

NH Hotels Upset

Hyatt tried to buy Spain-based NH Hotels earlier this year but the bid failed. “NH also had a number of hotels that operated at the higher end as well,” said Hoplamazian. “The core of their business is what we’d describe as upscale and select service.”

Hoplamazian isn’t letting the failed bid distract him and his team from potential future acquisition and expansion. “Organizationally, there are so many intersections of loyalty, distribution, revenue management, and sales,” he said. “In our case, we also have a significant effort around wellbeing. Having all of those functions under one leadership team was a critical step forward to increase our agility. We launched a new credit card. We also launched a digital experience platform called Find available through our World of Hyatt platform.”

Hyatt is interested in buying brands that are unique and have real brand equity, said Hoplamazian. “These will be asset light in terms of what we focus on,” he said. “There are other places in South America where I’d love to grow faster. Asia has a special focus.”

There’s also a tremendous level of demand for wellbeing offering, which Hyatt is looking to sink its teeth into more in the coming years. “We’re currently working on pilots for meeting planners to allow their meetings to be more effective,” said Hoplamazian. “These will be unique programming because we have experts that have been doing this for decades. These will allow you to have a fundamentally different experience that won’t just be a different breakfast scheme.”

These new wellness offerings will be available to World of Hyatt loyalty members, and Hyatt is starting a 6,000-person pilot focused on well-being practices. “How do we increase relevancy and frequency?” said Hoplamazian.

“Don’t look through the lens specifically as being a hotel company. Our holistic sense of wellbeing was really a big part of that,” he added. “A lot of companies are turning to mindful practices to help people be healthier. We’re looking to try to embed a mindful approach to nutrition, exercise, and mental well-being as well.”

Photo Credit: Hyatt Hotels CEO Mark Hoplamazian (right) and Skift founder and CEO Rafat Ali speaking on stage at Skift Global Forum in New York City on September 27, 2018. Skift



Source: https://skift.com/2018/09/27/hyatt-ceo-says-hotels-will-ban-hate-groups-we-need-to-draw-the-line/

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