Hyatt Doubles Down on Its Asset Lighter Approach

During an investor day event in New York on Tuesday, Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced it would sell off an additional $1.5 billion in real estate asset sales for a total of nearly $3 billion in property sales to be completed by 2022. The Chicago-based company, which has more than 850 hotels worldwide, has traditionally stood out among its larger U.S.-based peers for being relatively smaller in scale, as well as owning and/or leasing a fair number of its hotels. As of December 31, 2018, Hyatt owned or leased at least 40 hotel properties around the world. By comparison, Marriott International, which has more than 6,700 hotels worldwide, owned or leased a total number of 63 hotels by the end of 2018. A number of hotel companies, including Marriott, Hilton, and even Red Lion Hotels Corporation have, in recent years, adopted asset-light growth models because it's a business strategy that frees up capital and allows for faster growth. In November 2017, Hyatt announced its initial