Hyatt has become the latest US-based hotel firm to announce stronger demand for business travel, particularly from large corporate companies.
The company said that its business travel revenue increased 10 per cent year-on-year in the final quarter of 2024, with Hyatt’s executives describing this growth as part of a broad-based return to travel among large corporates.
"We continue to see our large corporate customers back on the road, and we experienced an increase in both demand and average rate in the quarter," said Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian during an earnings call last week.
Hoplamazian called the increase in business travel demand "relatively balanced", noting that IT and banking and finance were up more than 20 per cent in 2024 compared with the previous year, while consulting and pharma increased by “double digits” year-on-year.
“So it's not like one sector is blowing the doors off and everything else is flat or down. It's actually relatively well spread," he said.
Business travel revenue for the whole of 2024 increased by 12 per cent year-on-year, added Hoplamazian.
Hyatt’s results and commentary came after rivals Marriott and Hilton also announced similarly positive trends for business travel demand.
Chief financial officer Joan Bottarini added that business travel demand was "continuing the momentum" in January.
The company revealed that revpar for all of its “systemwide” properties was up by 5 per cent year-on-year to $140.87 during Q4 of 2024, while average daily rate (ADR) increased by 1.8 per cent to $204.40 and occupancy improved by 2.1 percentage points to 68.9 per cent.
For the whole of last year, Hyatt’s revpar rose by 4.6 per cent year-on-year to $142.48, while ADR was up by 1.6 per cent to $203.70 and occupancy increased by two points to 69.9 per cent.
Hyatt’s revenue for 2024 was down by 0.3 per cent year-on-year to $6.65 billion, but net income increased to $1.3 billion last year from $220 million in 2023.