Hyatt Announces Senior Leadership Changes Amid Evolution to More Brand-Focused Enterprise

Rhea-AI Summary

Hyatt Hotels (NYSE: H) has announced significant leadership changes as part of its evolution toward a more brand-focused enterprise. Marc Jacheet will join as Group President of Europe, Africa and Middle East (EAME) effective March 17, 2025, with full transition by July 1, 2025. Jacheet brings 25+ years of management experience from luxury brands like De Beers and Louis Vuitton.

Javier Águila, current EAME leader, will become Chief Growth Officer and President of Inclusive Collection effective July 1, 2025, overseeing Hyatt's development strategy and transactions. Jim Chu, current Chief Growth Officer, will transition to Head of Owner Relations.

These changes align with Hyatt's strategy to focus on five distinct brand portfolios: Lifestyle, Luxury, Inclusive, Classics, and Essentials. As of December 31, 2024, Hyatt's portfolio included more than 1,400 hotels and properties across 79 countries.

Positive

• Strategic leadership restructuring to enhance brand focus
• Appointment of experienced luxury brand executive (Jacheet) with 25+ years global experience
• Significant global presence with 1,400+ properties in 79 countries
• Strengthened focus on owner relations with dedicated leadership position

Negative

• None.

Marc Jacheet joins Hyatt to lead EAME region; Javier Águila appointed as Chief Growth Officer; Jim Chu named Head of Owner Relations

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE: H) today announced a series of changes to its Senior Leadership Team, emphasizing the company's evolution towards a more brand-focused and agile enterprise.

Marc Jacheet will be joining Hyatt as Group President, Europe, Africa and Middle East (EAME). (Photo: Business Wire)

Marc Jacheet will be joining Hyatt as Group President, Europe, Africa and Middle East (EAME), effective March 17, 2025, with a full transition into his new role effective July 1, 2025. Jacheet is an international business executive with 25+ years of management experience in Europe, Asia and the U.S. across a wide range of leadership roles at global luxury and leading consumer brands such as De Beers, Louis Vuitton, Moët & Chandon, and Evian. Jacheet also led Tiffany & Co.’s operations for both the Asia Pacific and Europe, Middle East and Africa regions. Jacheet will be based at Hyatt’s EAME Hub in Zurich and report to President & CEO Mark Hoplamazian.

Javier Águila, who has been leading Hyatt’s EAME region to significant growth and performance since 2022, is being appointed as Hyatt’s new Chief Growth Officer, effective July 1, 2025, in addition to his recently announced role as President, Inclusive Collection, effective March 1, 2025. In his new global role, Águila will oversee Hyatt’s overall growth through development strategy and execution as well as transactions. He will remain in the EAME leadership role and support Jacheet in his transition between March 17 and June 30, 2025, after which time both will fully assume their new roles and Águila will continue to report to Hoplamazian.

Jim Chu, who has served as Hyatt’s Chief Growth Officer since 2022, will assume a new position as Head of Owner Relations, effective July 1, 2025, bringing even more focus and dedication to this important stakeholder group. Chu will continue to report to Hoplamazian.

These leadership changes further strengthen Hyatt’s commitment to becoming a more brand-focused organization that is set up to care even more for the differentiated needs of guests, owners and developers across five distinct brand portfolios: Lifestyle, Luxury, Inclusive, Classics and Essentials.

“Today's announcements highlight two key points for Hyatt,” said Mark Hoplamazian, President & CEO, Hyatt: “First, bringing in top business leaders with deep brand and operating expertise like Marc Jacheet will lead to building EAME’s momentum in performance and growth and accelerate our evolution toward a more brand-focused, high-performance enterprise. Second, assigning new strategic roles to Hyatt leaders like Javier Águila and Jim Chu demonstrates the agile leadership capabilities we are developing for the future.”

Hoplamazian continues: “I am delighted to welcome Marc to the Hyatt family. He brings extensive global operations experience from leading consumer brands, a fresh perspective on our industry, and importantly, aligns closely with our culture. Javier’s expertise in organic and inorganic growth as well as extensive M&A and strategic investments experience derives from his time at private equity firms in Europe. Considering the growth momentum the EAME region has experienced under his leadership since 2022, I am confident he will expertly guide the next chapter of Hyatt’s global growth journey across all five brand portfolios. Jim’s 20 years in owner- and operator-focused roles at Hyatt perfectly position him to drive innovation and deliver exceptional value to this key stakeholder group in a more focused way.”

The term “Hyatt” is used in this release for convenience to refer to Hyatt Hotels Corporation and/or one or more of its affiliates.

About Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading global hospitality company guided by its purpose – to care for people so they can be their best. As of December 31, 2024, the Company's portfolio included more than 1,400 hotels and all-inclusive properties in 79 countries across six continents. The Company's offering includes brands in the Luxury Portfolio, including Park Hyatt®, Alila®, Miraval®, Impression by Secrets, and The Unbound Collection by Hyatt®; the Lifestyle Portfolio, including Andaz®, Thompson Hotels®, The Standard®, Dream® Hotels, The StandardX, Breathless Resorts & Spas®, JdV by Hyatt®, Bunkhouse® Hotels, and Me and All Hotels; the Inclusive Collection, including Zoëtry® Wellness & Spa Resorts, Hyatt Ziva®, Hyatt Zilara®, Secrets® Resorts & Spas, Dreams® Resorts & Spas, Hyatt Vivid Hotels & Resorts, Sunscape® Resorts & Spas, and Alua Hotels & Resorts®; the Classics Portfolio, including Grand Hyatt®, Hyatt Regency®, Destination by Hyatt®, Hyatt Centric®, Hyatt Vacation Club®, and Hyatt®; and the Essentials Portfolio, including Caption by Hyatt®, Hyatt Place®, Hyatt House®, Hyatt Studios, and UrCove. Subsidiaries of the Company operate the World of Hyatt® loyalty program, ALG Vacations®, Mr & Mrs Smith, Unlimited Vacation Club®, Amstar® DMC destination management services, and Trisept Solutions® technology services. For more information, please visit www.hyatt.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Forward-Looking Statements in this press release, which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include statements about our plans, strategies, senior leadership expectations and expected performance, growth expectations, prospects or future events and involve known and unknown risks that are difficult to predict. As a result, our actual results, performance or achievements may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "may," "could," "expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue," "likely," "will," "would" and variations of these terms and similar expressions, or the negative of these terms or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by us and our management, are inherently uncertain. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to: general economic uncertainty in key global markets and a worsening of global economic conditions or low levels of economic growth; the rate and pace of economic recovery following economic downturns; global supply chain constraints and interruptions, rising costs of construction-related labor and materials, and increases in costs due to inflation or other factors that may not be fully offset by increases in revenues in our business; risks affecting the luxury, resort, and all-inclusive lodging segments; levels of spending in business, leisure, and group segments, as well as consumer confidence; declines in occupancy and average daily rate; limited visibility with respect to future bookings; loss of key personnel; domestic and international political and geopolitical conditions, including political or civil unrest or changes in trade policy; hostilities, or fear of hostilities, including future terrorist attacks, that affect travel; travel-related accidents; natural or man-made disasters, weather and climate-related events, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, droughts, floods, wildfires, oil spills, nuclear incidents, and global outbreaks of pandemics or contagious diseases, or fear of such outbreaks; our ability to successfully achieve specified levels of operating profits at hotels that have performance tests or guarantees in favor of our third-party owners; the impact of hotel renovations and redevelopments; risks associated with our capital allocation plans, share repurchase program, and dividend payments, including a reduction in, or elimination or suspension of, repurchase activity or dividend payments; the seasonal and cyclical nature of the real estate and hospitality businesses; changes in distribution arrangements, such as through internet travel intermediaries; changes in the tastes and preferences of our customers; relationships with colleagues and labor unions and changes in labor laws; the financial condition of, and our relationships with, third-party owners, franchisees, and hospitality venture partners; the possible inability of third-party owners, franchisees, or development partners to access the capital necessary to fund current operations or implement our plans for growth; risks associated with potential acquisitions and dispositions and our ability to successfully integrate completed acquisitions with existing operations; failure to successfully complete proposed transactions (including the failure to satisfy closing conditions or obtain required approvals); our ability to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures; declines in the value of our real estate assets; unforeseen terminations of our management and hotel services agreements or franchise agreements; changes in federal, state, local, or foreign tax law; increases in interest rates, wages, and other operating costs; foreign exchange rate fluctuations or currency restructurings; risks associated with the introduction of new brand concepts, including lack of acceptance of new brands or innovation; general volatility of the capital markets and our ability to access such markets; changes in the competitive environment in our industry, industry consolidation, and the markets where we operate; our ability to successfully grow the World of Hyatt loyalty program and manage the Unlimited Vacation Club paid membership program; cyber incidents and information technology failures; outcomes of legal or administrative proceedings; and violations of regulations or laws related to our franchising business and licensing businesses and our international operations; and other risks discussed in the Company's filings with the SEC, including our annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, which filings are available from the SEC. All forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements set forth above. We caution you not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which are made only as of the date of this press release. We do not undertake or assume any obligation to update publicly any of these forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, new information or future events, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting forward-looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable law. If we update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that we will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.

HHC-FIN

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250305188634/en/

MEDIA CONTACT:

Franziska Weber

franziska.weber@hyatt.com

INVESTOR CONTACT:

Adam Rohman

adam.rohman@hyatt.com

Ryan Nuckols

ryan.nuckols@hyatt.com

Source: Hyatt Hotels Corporation

FAQ

When will Marc Jacheet start as Hyatt's (H) EAME Group President?

Marc Jacheet will join Hyatt on March 17, 2025, with full transition into the EAME Group President role by July 1, 2025.

What is Javier Águila's new role at Hyatt (H) in 2025?

Javier Águila will become Chief Growth Officer and President of Inclusive Collection, effective July 1, 2025.

How many hotels does Hyatt (H) operate globally as of 2024?

As of December 31, 2024, Hyatt's portfolio included more than 1,400 hotels and properties across 79 countries.

What are the five brand portfolios Hyatt (H) is focusing on?

Hyatt is focusing on Lifestyle, Luxury, Inclusive, Classics, and Essentials brand portfolios.