Hotel chain Hyatt beefs up for EMEA expansion

Hotel chain Hyatt has created two new senior vice president roles to support its growth across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Peter Norman, leading Hyatt’s development efforts in the region since 2006, has been appointed as SVP of corporate development and owner relations, with a focus on strategic owner relations and portfolio expansion. Felicity Black-Roberts, formerly vice president of development for Western Europe, has been promoted to SVP of development for EMEA. She will be tasked with leading Hyatt’s growth initiatives across the region, overseeing a diverse and growing team of subregional developers. Javier Águila, group president for EMEA, said: “The EMEA region plays a crucial role in Hyatt’s global expansion efforts. Over the past five years, Hyatt has achieved 79% growth in EMEA. This jump in scale has leveraged the long-standing strategy focusing on capital cities and urban centres, which built the foundation for growth in secondary destinations, resorts and leisure spaces.” He added: “We are confident that our strengthened development and transactions structure will allow us to explore new avenues of growth, ultimately accelerating expansion into new markets and segments.” Black-Roberts said the company had some 70 properties in its pipeline for the region and saw opportunity for significant growth, with a dedicated franchise team and on-the-ground operations team. Key growth targets will be around expanding its lifestyle and resorts brand, doubling down on those cities where it already has more business-focused hotels. The Nordics will be a key area in which it wants to build a solid foothold, along with North Africa and Saudi Arabia. Black-Roberts said the business was feeling confident about the hotels sector, with the post-Covid boom in travel and experience-led trips showing no signs of slowing and increasing interest from investors. “The creation of these new roles is to ensure that we can grow our brands and that we are putting them in the right places,” said Black-Roberts. “We have had a lot of growth in the region already, but there is still plenty of opportunity and a lot we can achieve.” Photo © Hyatt Hotels Corporation