Hyatt Hotels Corp.'s recent
purchase of spa brand Miraval Resorts presents an opportunity to attract
wellness-minded corporates, CEO Mark Hoplamazian said during an earnings call.
With properties in Tucson and Austin and another planned for
Lenox, Mass., Miraval's not exactly located in primary business markets. But
Hoplamazian said he hopes to expand it "way beyond" its current
presence and pipeline.
"There are a number of large corporations that we serve
in our hotel business today that are dedicating increasing levels of time and
resources to their own wellness programming within their workplaces,"
Hoplamazian said. "We have great confidence that we can expand the Miraval
business way beyond the few resorts that we start with because we didn't buy
the brand just to end up with three resorts here. This is a platform and a very
leverageable brand on a global basis."
The company reported systemwide year-over-year gains in
average daily rate and occupancy during the fourth quarter. ADR increased 0.8
percent to $181.93 and occupancy rose 0.6 percentage points to 71.5 percent.
Hyatt saw strength in both the corporate and leisure transient segments, but
group performance fell 2 percent as a result of calendar shifts for Jewish
holidays. Hyatt's fourth-quarter net income grew 10.8 percent to 41 million. For
the full year 2016, ADR grew 0.8 percent to $180.74 and occupancy increased 0.8
percentage points to 73.3 percent.
CFO Patrick Grismer said 75 percent of Hyatt's group business
is already on the books for 2017 and booking pace for that segment has risen by
the low-single digits from this time last year. Increases in corporate
negotiated rates are "trending up in the mid-single digits" for 2017,
he said. Hyatt's 2017 revenue per available room guidance is between 0 percent
and 2 percent, on par with Marriott International, but below Hilton's 1 percent
to 3 percent range.
On the development side, Hyatt expects to almost
double the portfolio of its select-service Hyatt Centric brand by 2019,
expanding it to markets like China, Turkey, France, Japan and Australia. The
brand had 13 properties in its portfolio at year-end. The company added 59 new
hotels to its system in 2016.