What Hyatt’s CEO Learned by Owning Hotels — and the Trend He’s Most Excited About

Photo Credit: Hyatt Chairman, President, and CEO Mark Hoplamazian speaking at the Skift Global Forum in New York City on September 24, 2026. Skift As hotel owners push back on major groups over costs and fees, Hyatt Chairman, President, and CEO Mark Hoplamazian said Thursday his company's response comes down to mindset. “The mindset of being an owner leads you to put yourself in the shoes of an owner, and really understand you have to eat your own cooking every day,” he said at the Skift Global Forum in New York City. For 67 of Hyatt’s almost 70 years, the company was the largest owner of its own hotels, which meant when Covid hit, it was facing the same crisis as every owner in its portfolio. “We thought that the break-even level for some of our larger hotels was about 43% occupancy,” he said. “Within six months we got it down to 22%.” Then it invited Host Hotels, its biggest third-party owner, to its offices and handed over the full playbook