By Allison Pohle

Hyatt is best known for catering to higher-end travelers, but CEO Mark Hoplamazian sees opportunity in providing them more affordable hotel options across the U.S.

That includes newer extended-stay hotels and those with slightly fewer frills, such as Hyatt Studios and Hyatt Select -- which offer an "upper midscale" experience, as the industry likes to call it. The idea is to serve Hyatt's more affluent guests, but in smaller markets like Marysville, Calif., and Mobile, Ala.

Hyatt's stock hit a new high Thursday, after the company reiterated that it expects net income of between $255 million and $350 million this fiscal year.

Hoplamazian, Hyatt's chief executive for nearly 20 years, spoke with The Wall Street Journal about hotel affordability, its recent loyalty-program changes and whether the U.S. hospitality industry will have a lackluster World Cup this summer. Here are edited excerpts:

WSJ: World Cup bookings this summer haven't quite materialized as expected. What have you seen across your properties in the host cities?

Hoplamazian: Bookings look different by city. Mexico City, for example, is stunning in terms of what the bookings look like. Part of it has to do with local demand. Some of the highest ticket prices, for example, for games are for the opener in Mexico City, not the quarterfinals that are going to be held in Boston.

Demand is going to look different depending on the market, but it will be a net positive. I think some of the procedures put into place for non-U. S. travelers to come into the U.S. to go to soccer matches really did put some constraints on some travelers. The requirements were high, the visa applications were complex and sometimes required financial commitments that people found difficult to meet.

WSJ: How do you think about affordability given the type of client who stays at a Hyatt property?

Hoplamazian: The K-shaped economy is alive and real. I'm not sure that it's -- as a public policy matter -- the best thing for us, but it's real. And we do serve that higher end guest, primarily.

We don't go down into lower midscale or economy or budget hotels. We don't believe that skipping over segments and starting to serve a wildly diverse group of guests is actually strategically sensible.

But we are extending down the chain scales to open up more opportunities for our own guests to have access to great staycations and Hyatt's own conversion of care at a lower price point.

WSJ: You have a very dedicated loyalty-member base. Are some of the recent changes to the program, like expanding from three tiers of redemption to five, a way to stealthily devalue points?

Hoplamazian: Frankly, the reaction's been overall positive. We've maintained a fixed award chart, so you don't have to guess. Some of our competitors and others in the travel industry have gone to a dynamic award chart.

We also have a very unique offering, which is "guest of honor," which allows you to gift your status and your benefits to someone else that you really care about. And while we have adjusted a number of hotels, that's the result of changes in average daily-rate levels and costs.

WSJ: Hotel operating costs are increasing, especially for labor. Unionized hotel workers in New York City will make more than $100,000 a year in several years, and Los Angeles will eventually raise the minimum wage for hotel workers to $30 an hour. How do you view these wage increases?

Hoplamazian: These are our colleagues, first and foremost. And our colleagues really care about what they do when they come to work and how they do it.

So we don't want to be too distracted with the evolution of wage rates. By the way, it's not just in the hotel industry that wage rates are increasing. That's a natural evolution given inflation and other circumstances.

While our owners will be paying more per hour for individuals, if we can really make sure that we create the best possible environment, the result will be continued financial success for our owners.

Write to Allison Pohle at allison.pohle@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 29, 2026 15:03 ET (19:03 GMT)

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