A graduate of McKinsey and the Carlyle investment fund, Javier Aguila entered the world of tourism fully by becoming COO of Spanish tour operator Orizonia in 2012. This operational experience led him to found his own chain, Alua Hotels & Resorts, in 2014. This leisure chain is gradually being taken over by the leader in top-of-the-range all-inclusive Apple Leisure Group as part of its expansion into the European market, with Javier Aguila becoming President for the region. A year ago, following Hyatt's acquisition of Apple Leisure Group, Javier Aguila was entrusted with presiding over the American group's destiny in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Why did you decide to join the Hyatt group?
Javier Aguila - Firstly, because Hyatt is a fantastic company, a large group with an American and international dimension, but also with a family culture since it is still majority owned by the Pritzker family. But, above all, because there was this opportunity to participate in the Group's profound transformation. This is a very exciting time for Hyatt. In 2010, we had just eight brands, compared with 28 today. In 2017, the share of asset light in our property strategy was less than 50%, compared with 75% today. In 2021, we still only had a few resorts in the world, and now we are the world leader in luxury all-inclusives with the acquisition of Apple Leisure Group. On the other hand, Hyatt has long remained focused on the Americas. On our 1,250 hotels worldwideMore than 800 of these are in the US. Last year, while Hyatt recorded the strongest growth in the number of rooms among the major global groups (editor's note: +6.81TP3Q), almost half of this growth was in Europe. And we intend to continue in this vein, because there are plenty of opportunities in the region.
So Hyatt's expansion in Europe is your top priority?
Javier Aguila - In the past, Europe was in some ways only a complement to America, with the aim of offering a place to stay to travellers from all over the world when they came to Europe. Thanks to this opportunistic development around top-class hotels in major cities, we were already a leading player in the EMEA region. Now we want to be a leading player in generalOur strategy is to build our business around European travellers. Our strategy is to build our business around European travellers. That's one of the big changes I'm going to implement.
What are you doing to expand your footprint in the region?
Javier Aguila - We still have a limited number of hotels in the UK, France and Spain... Which leaves us plenty of room to grow. You can expect us to be very active. In key destinations, we will accelerate the development of our eight main brands, including Park Hyatt, Thompson and Andaz. Our upmarket Hyatt Place and JdV also have considerable growth prospects. We can also play on brands tailored to the corporate market, such as Hyatt Regency or Grand Hyatt, with excellent facilities for corporate events. In places with high business traffic, we can also develop combos by mixing short and long-stay brands, as in Paris CDG with a Hyatt House-Hyatt Place duo, or by mixing upmarket and upper upscale brands, as in Zurich, where we have a Hyatt Place-Hyatt Regency combo. I also see a development opportunity for Hyatt Studiosa new long-stay brand recently launched in the United States. That's why I'm so excited about all these prospects.
With this major development on the horizon, will recognition of the Hyatt brands among European customers be strengthened?
Javier Aguila - To become very strong in this market, we need to increase our presence by targeting a dozen countries These include the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Benelux countries, Greece and Turkey. Taken together, these destinations represent 65 % of the European tourism market, and at the same time account for the majority of regional travellers. Rapidly expanding our presence is essential, and that's one of the reasons behind our recent partnership with Lindner HotelsWe are currently looking at similar opportunities in other countries. We are currently examining similar opportunities in other countries.
In France, for example?
Javier Aguila - As long as nothing is signed, I won't give any details about our current projects. But we certainly want to expand in FranceWe also want to strengthen our offering in Paris with one of our lifestyle brands, such as Thompson or Andaz, which is attractive to both tourists and local customers. Andaz is a brand on which we are betting a lot, both in urban destinations like London or Paris and more leisurely ones, why not in Nice or Cannes, as well as in Majorca and Ibiza.
Isn't there a risk, with all these development prospects, of diluting the strength of the Hyatt name?
Javier Aguila - We will grow in a considered way, following a precise strategy, without expanding at any price. We don't want to lose the essence of Hyatt, the desire to be the best in the segments in which we are positioned. Admittedly, we are smaller in size than other major groups. But, whether in luxury, upmarket or leisure, our products are the best. always positioned a notch above in their category. That's what makes us strong. So we're going to grow, we're going to move into other segments, but always with the same idea in mind, never to attack a segment from the bottom.
Following the same strategy, is it conceivable that Hyatt could one day be a player in the budget hotel sector?
Javier Aguila - I think we still have a lot of work to do before eventually entering this market. Especially as we need to be consistent. A customer who discovers Hyatt by starting with one of our mid-range brands could potentially one day frequent our luxury establishments. Nothing is as certain if you go lower. Let's focus on our growth and penetration of the European market. There are so many opportunities to gain market share there in luxury and lifestyle alone.
Over the last ten years or so, Hyatt has greatly expanded its portfolio of brands. Do you intend to continue along this path, or has a ceiling been reached?
Javier Aguila - I think we have the right number of brands at the moment. There's no need to go any further, except possibly on an anecdotal basis, with a brand that strengthens our position in a particular market. I believe that our positioning is unique today. Our luxury brands rival those of specialists such as Four Seasons, Rosewood and Mandarin. With our top-of-the-range brands, we are a notch above the competition in terms of quality. We are focused on our key segments, without spreading ourselves too thin. I think this is the right balance.
Given your professional background, which includes the creation of Alua Hotels, will Hyatt's development in Europe focus more on leisure hotels?
Javier Aguila - Hyatt's focus on the leisure segment had already been established before I joined the group, with the acquisition of Apple Leisure Group. But it's clear that we're going to make the most of itIt's not just a question of signing contracts. It's not just a question of signing contracts. You need to know the destinations in detail, their air connectivity, the quality of the workforce, their source customers, which can differ from one place to another. In Europe, unlike the Caribbean where most of our hotels are purely all-inclusive, we could focus our development on a mixed offer with an all-inclusive establishment and a luxury property on the same site.
The Middle East and Africa are also in your sights. What are your development objectives in these regions?
Javier Aguila - Africa is a big market. But I think that if we do everything at once, we run the risk of spreading ourselves too thin. So we're going to focus our strategy more on Europe and the Middle East. There are two or three markets where we are poorly represented, such as Saudi Arabia or Egypt, which offer excellent prospects for growth. In addition, we will soon be opening an Andaz in Qatar which, having visited it recently, looks fantastic.
More broadly, will your desire to expand into the European market be both supported and fuelled by your World of Hyatt loyalty programme?
Javier Aguila - Our strategy will enable us to welcome more European customers to our loyalty programme. World of Hyatt, which has repeatedly been recognised as the best programme in the world, now has 38 million members. To strengthen its position, particularly in Europe, we recently acquired the Mr & Mrs Smith platformwhich offers a carefully selected collection of 1,850 luxury and boutique hotels for booking, including around a hundred in France. Although Mr & Mrs Smith will continue to operate independently, this acquisition will enable us to reach their two million or so members. In return, they will have access to Hyatt hotels. We are currently considering which hotels from the Mr & Mrs Smith collection would make sense to participate in the World of Hyatt programme. But one thing is certain, for our loyal customers, this acquisition will give us an immediate presence in markets where we haven't been before. So we're very excited.
