Hyatt is adding more than 30 hotels in 7 European countries, focusing on Germany and Central and Eastern Europe, by partnering with Lindner hotels to bring their properties into the Hyatt brand and loyalty portfolio.
Most of the Lindner properties will become JdV by Hyatt hotels, converting existing Lindner Hotels & Resorts, me, and all hotels brands. This will give Hyatt 15 new markets. It’s not a large deal in the context of Hyatt’s overall footprint, growing their portfolio by a couple of percent, but it continues to cement the chain’s European expansion.
Hyatt’s CEO emphasizes (for investors) that they aren’t buying real estate, just signing on the Lindner chain and offers,
The addition of Lindner’s desirable hotel portfolio will substantially grow Hyatt’s brand footprint in Germany and bring our guests and ultimately our World of Hyatt members to a variety of new destinations across Europe including Kiel, Leipzig, Sylt, Bratislava and Interlaken. We are grateful for the trust the Lindner team is placing in us and are excited to strengthen our collective guest offering through strategic capital investments being made by Lindner into the portfolio
Each new hotel makes Hyatt a viable alternative to the larger Accor, IHG, Hilton and Marriott ecosystems. No timeline for integration has been announced but I’d expect we’ll start to see progress in 2023.
This looks like Hyatt’s version of Protea. Except unlike Marriott buying Protea, Hyatt is merely partnering with Lindner to incorporate them into the Hyatt booking channel and loyalty program. So, maybe it’s more like Design Hotels.
Aren’t Jdv properties supposed to be upscale, boutique hotels? Some of the Lindner properties look pretty basic.
Hyatt should have bought Radisson.
It seems like Premier Inn and Scandic are the next brands ripe for a takeover by Hyatt or, maybe, Marriott but probably Hyatt.
I just wish Hyatt would focus on growth in North America. There are way too many markets and even entire states without a single Hyatt property, let alone a full-service brand. I am sick and tired of staying in dumpy Hyatt Place properties run by Aimbridge.
@FNT – I’m with you 100% on the Hyatt Place’s and Hyatt Houses. Honestly, if the option is Hyatt House or Choice Hotels, I almost am willing to consider Choice simply because then I can redeem at the Preferred Hotels, whose footprint is almost as large as all of Hyatt’s worldwide footprint and are just as nice (and often better) than most Hyatt properties.
I also think these Lindner hotels are awful but typical for 3-star European hotels in secondary markets. I think JdV is probably more akin to Marriott’s Tribute Portfolio rather than Design. Hyatt’s Unbound is probably in line with Marriott’s Autograph Collection.
Either way, I don’t think about this as a huge win; each of these towns has much better hotels that I’d choose. Agreed that Hyatt should have bought Radisson. Even better idea: Accor buys Hyatt, but retains World of Hyatt as the loyalty program.
@Bobby J: Hyatt’s only growth in North America seems to be resorts and limited-service Hyatt Place and Hyatt House. I wonder if that’s because many markets have a surplus of middle-level full-service hotels, thanks to all the Marriotts, Sheratons, Renaissances, and Westins.
I can’t blame owners and developers. I’m not sure I would want to build a downtown or suburban office park full-service hotel right now, especially if there were existing properties under other brand flags
Radisson in North America wasn’t a huge brand but there were enough full-service Radisson properties in markets without a Hyatt flag. Maybe Hyatt thought the investment to bring them up to par was too much.
I could be wrong but one thing helping customers but hurting Hyatt is the fact that most full-service Hyatt branded properties are managed by Hyatt. They don’t franchise their best brands nearly as much as Marriott, Hilton or IHG, the latter of which is almost entirely franchised. At Marriott, over 70% of all properties across all brands are managed by the franchisee or the third-party management company hired by the franchisee. Hiring Hyatt or Marriott to manage a property is significantly more expensive than doing it yourself or hiring Aimbridge.
For me it’s Hyatt diluting itself.It has enough challenges getting North America back in good shape.Food and beverage is sagging except abroad and some of Hyatts properties are in desperate need of refreshing and need of service improvements
Just more noise around the edges that distract it from being a better brand
Bigger is better when it’s great properties they are adding
Buy Accor I would get excited or something on that magnitude
@Dwondermeant: You really want Novotel, Ibis and Mercure in the Hyatt portfolio? Fairmont and Sofitel would be nice additions, but even then there are a lot of very mediocre Fairmont properties that are on par with an average Hyatt Regency/Grand Hyatt, Intercontinental or JW Marriott.
IHG clearly sees its growth in resorts plus Asia-Pacific full-service properties. It’s hard to see Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express growing in the United States and Canada because it seems like every town has a HI or HIE. Nobody seems interested in opening new Intercontinental or Crowne Plaza properties in the United States.
Like IHG, Marriott sees its growth internationally as well as in limited-service and extended-stay brands in the US and Canada. Every city has a Marriott, Sheraton, Renaissance or Westin. That’s why Marriott is so committed to 30 brands. Their entire model is based on more room keys. Period. I don’t know why any owner or developer would want to build a new Marriott or Sheraton in the United States because their investment would be weakened by all the dumpy old Marriotts and Sheratons that Marriott won’t de-flag.
Hyatt doesn’t seem to have a strategy.
Sure, Hyatt has a strategy. It is called growth by “mergers and acquisitions” (M&A), as opposed to “organic growth” (OG) by which Hilton CEO, Chris Nassetta, swears.
M&A achieves “explosive” growth but is highly risky due to the possibility of brand “dilution”, loss of standard and high costs, if integration of different management styles is botched and/or disrupts core operations and standards; OG, on the other hand achieves slow to moderate growth, depending on size of investment, but ensures management style consistency and retention of core operations and standards.
LOL. Beware what you ask for.Just ask SPG (R.I.P) loyalists!
Hyatt regencys and grands are outdated for the most part with over priced, average at best restaurants. Gimme a new hyatt house room anyday and I will visit a local place for my meals.