Hyatt Place & Hyatt House Target Business Travelers

Hyatt Place and Hyatt House, which lean strongly toward business travel, are in the midst of innovation research as they rethink the overall guest experience "from guestrooms to lobby experience to [food and beverage] and, certainly, technology," said Steven Dominguez, VP of global brands. Soliciting traveler feedback through surveys (see sidebar), social media and customer research guides the growth of the brands. "We want to make sure that our growth is done with intent and specifically with our guests in mind," he said.

Additionally, the larger Hyatt Hotels Corp. brand has been revamping its World of Hyatt program to better cater to the experience-based traveler, Dominguez said. Hyatt Place and Hyatt House have been working to increase loyalty benefits so more amenities are offered at the select-service level for World of Hyatt members.

The brands also have improved back-of-house technology to optimize the check-in experience for Hyatt team members. Such changes, Dominguez said, free staff up to provide a more authentic connection with guests when they first arrive.

Select-service brands have been a strong growth driver for Hyatt in recent years. As of Dec. 31, 2017, select-service hotels comprised 39 percent of rooms in Hyatt's pipeline. Dominguez said Hyatt Place and Hyatt House have grown 42 percent during the past five years. The brands expect to continue the strong growth rate, he said, particularly as they introduce more attractive products and prototypes to developers.