Hyatt’s all-inclusive resorts shine amid leisure travel challenges: Travel Weekly

Amid softening leisure demand and a “choppy” travel environment, all-inclusive resorts are a bright spot, said Hyatt Hotels Corp. in its Q1 earnings report. 

During the earnings call, Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian told analysts, “Our all-inclusive business, in terms of pace in the second quarter, is up 7%, and if you look at the actualized revenues in April for our all-inclusive business, it’s up 9%.”

Hoplamazian partially credited some of the strength to a shift in travel patterns, with Canadian travelers increasingly “flying over” the U.S. to vacation in Mexico and the Caribbean as well as “consistency” from the dominant U.S. market.

“We have seen increases in Canadian travelers into Mexico and the Caribbean,” said Hoplamazian. “The Canadian travelers are basically adding a boost to overall results in Q1.” Booking Holdings reported a similar phenomenon in its Q1 report.

Hyatt’s Inclusive Collection has 120-plus resorts across Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe, with brands like Hyatt Ziva, Hyatt Zilara, Zoetry, Secrets, Dreams, Hyatt Vivid, Sunscape and Alua.

Luxury and upscale hotels are top performers

All-inclusive growth contrasted sharply with U.S. leisure performance, which Hoplamazian characterized as “much weaker in the U.S. resorts than in the non-U.S. Americas.”

Systemwide, the company reported RevPAR (revenue per available room) growth of 5.7% in the first quarter. Citing recent booking trends, however, Hyatt has revised its full-year RevPAR growth outlook to 1% to 3%. RevPAR for the remaining three quarters in 2025 is expected to be relatively flat.

“We have seen signs of slowing customer booking behavior, particularly in short-term leisure and business transient demand,” said Joan Bottarini, Hyatt’s CFO.

Previously, the company had forecasted 2025 RevPAR growth in the 2% to 4% range.

Broken down by segment, business transient RevPAR grew 12% in Q1, while group RevPAR increased 9% in the quarter.

Luxury and upper-upscale properties, which Hoplamazian said make up approximately 70% of Hyatt’s portfolio, continue to outperform other segments.

“Luxury is very strong through the end of May, and upper-upscale is also positive through the end of May,” said Hoplamazian. He said the booking pace had slowed for upscale and select-service hotels.

Hoplamazian expressed caution about macroeconomic conditions.

“The GDP figures that just came out are not encouraging,” he said, though he added, “It doesn’t necessarily feel like we’re on the precipice of some massive contraction.”

Hyatt reported Q1 net income of $20 million, down significantly from $522 million in last year’s Q1, with the decline primarily attributed to 2024 gains from real estate sales.

The company’s adjusted EBITDA was $273 million, an increase of 5.4%.