Hyatt Hotels Corp. executives said sustained strong,
transient demand and improving group demand in the Americas would pave the way
for corporate rate increases in 2014.
At U.S. full-service Hyatt properties, transient revenues
were up 9 percent year over year during the quarter ending Sept. 30, and group
revenue was up nearly 7 percent, with particular strength in Atlanta and
Anaheim, said president and CEO Mark Hoplamazian. Occupancy at full-service
properties in the Americas during the quarter increased by 2.5 percentage
points to 78.4 percent, and select-service occupancy edged closer to 80
percent. As such, Hoplamazian during the company’s earnings conference call on
Wednesday said he expected ongoing corporate rate negotiations "to yield
solid increases in average daily rates" for the coming year.
Although group business had been tepid in the past few
quarters, Hoplamazian said the company is beginning to "see signs of
stable recovery" for the segment. Though much of the business going on the
books is association business for 2015 and beyond, the pace for group bookings
for 2014 also has increased, he said.
The U.S. federal government shutdown only cost Hyatt a few
million dollars during the third quarter, said Hyatt CFO Gebhard Rainer. While government travel
continues to be down as a result of the sequestration, it is a small part of
Hyatt's overall business, he added.
Hyatt's performance
outside of the Americas was not as strong, Hoplamazian said, with average daily rates down in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Southwest Asia as
well as the remainder of the Asia/Pacific region. Hoplamazian noted that in
Europe, performance metrics suffered from unfavorable comparisons in London
because of last year's Olympic Games. Excluding London, he said the region as a
whole fared much better.