Hyatt CEO Says Second Wave of Virus Will Curtail Hotel Industry’s Ongoing Recovery
Photo Credit: Hyatt's CEO warned investors Thursday of a potential rough winter performance amid rising coronavirus cases around the world. Hyatt Hotels Corp.
Skift Take
Hoteliers have been generally optimistic about the hotel industry’s pandemic recovery pattern heading into the winter, typically a drop-off for leisure travel. Hyatt’s CEO Mark Hoplamazian just gave the industry a much-needed wake-up call.
Booking data may show the hotel industry continues to steadily improve from record low demand levels seen in early April. But Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian is worried about the rest of the year.
The hotel industry has kept an optimistic tone this earnings season with respect to coronavirus case surges around the world. Hilton CEO Chris Nassetta, while mentioning the second wave, didn’t sound any alarms during his company’s earnings call earlier this week, nor did Choice Hotels CEO Patrick Pacious earlier Thursday. Both executives pointed to positive monthly occupancy trends for their reasoning.
But Hoplamazian cautioned data isn’t telling the full story when it comes to the hotel industry’s prospects heading into winter.
“If all I did was look at the data that we’ve realized to date, we’d have no caution in our tone, but that’s not really helpful,” he said Thursday during an investor call. “Unless you’re asleep, you’d see the case loads a
