Hyatt Creates New Team for Franchise and Owner Relations

Hyatt Hotels Corporation today announced a new Global Franchise and Owner Relations organization, dedicated to advancing care for owners and operators, enhancing the guest and customer experience and supporting accelerated franchise growth.

In close consultation with its hotel owners and operators, Hyatt is dedicating focused resources to support this key stakeholder group in an effort to expand the franchise portfolio and increase property performance by further elevating Hyatt’s guest and customer personalization strategy.

The group will be led by Hyatt veteran Jim Chu. In his expanded role as EVP Global Franchising and Development, Chu will oversee the global strategy for owner/operator relations and development. He will continue to report to Chuck Floyd, Global President of Operations.

“At Hyatt, we feel strongly that the best way to operate is with a diverse portfolio of owned, managed and franchised properties,” said Jim Chu. “As a fellow owner, we have a critical understanding for what our owners and operators are experiencing – in both the good times and the challenging times – which enables us to collaborate with a heightened sense of empathy and focus.”

Hyatt’s new dedicated Franchise Operations team will be focusing on driving superior financial performance and will be led by Paul Daly in his new role as SVP Franchise Operations, reporting to Jim Chu. Daly will lead a cross-functional team covering commercial services, performance, operations and learning & development. Through this highly-coordinated approach, the team will provide resources designed to help franchisees achieve operating excellence and fully tap the power of the brand to drive revenue.

“Hyatt is experiencing tremendous growth illustrated by our industry-leading net rooms growth and the recent milestone of our 500th Hyatt House/Hyatt Place property in operation,” said Paul Daly. “We are growing at a fast rate and we see a tremendous opportunity at this moment in time to create a dedicated team laser-focused on cultivating closer relationships and providing franchise owners and operators with support and enhanced tools designed to maximize performance.”