This week saw one of the UK hospitality industry’s biggest events, the Annual Hospitality Conference, descend on Manchester for another year of talks, networking and more.
One of the fastest-growing players in the UK’s hotels market right now is Hyatt, the Chicago-based multinational hospitality company known for its diverse range of brands.
We had the chance to speak with Anna Corkill, Hyatt’s Regional Vice President of Development for the UK & Ireland, while she was attending AHC earlier this week.
What does Hyatt’s hotel pipeline in the UK & Ireland look like? What can guests expect from these properties?
Hyatt is the world’s fastest-growing hospitality brand. Last year was transformational for us: we led the industry in Net Rooms Growth for the seventh consecutive year, now boasting a record pipeline of 130,000 rooms.
Europe, Africa and Middle East (EAME), has played a crucial role in Hyatt’s global expansion in recent years, hosting a comprehensive portfolio of differentiated brands in priority markets.
The UK & Ireland is a significant cog in this growth strategy, and we are excited by the pipeline of hotels slated to open in the coming years. This includes the highly-anticipated Park Hyatt London River Thames, opening in just a few weeks and marking the debut of the luxury Park Hyatt brand in the UK.
In 2025, Hyatt is expecting to mark its entry in Leeds, with the openings of Hyatt House Leeds and Hyatt Place Leeds. It will also continue its expansion in London with the anticipated openings of Hyatt Place London Paddington and Hyatt Regency London Olympia.
What regions do you see as having the most undiscovered potential or scope for future hotel supply?
Recently, we have witnessed a growing interest in the UK’s ‘second cities’.
The term is often used to refer to a city with the second-highest population within a country. Yet when applied to travel, the ‘second city’ trend is about going beyond typical tourist hot spots and discovering a country’s hidden gems.
With its finger on the pulse of the latest traveller trends and guest preferences, Hyatt has an established and growing second-city offering which spans its wide-ranging portfolio.
In the UK, this is reflected in a growing interest in cities like Manchester and Leeds, while of course the popularity of London’s sought-after tourist hotspots remains unwavering.
Which cities are at the top of your hit list?
There is so much opportunity for growth in the UK.
At the moment, our priority growth markets include Oxford, Cambridge, Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow, Cardiff, York, Bath, Dublin & Belfast.
More broadly, what is Hyatt’s vision for the future in the UK/Ireland?
We remain very optimistic in our growth strategy for the UK & Ireland.
I hope to help maintain the market’s position as central to Hyatt’s expansion both in EAME and globally, whilst continuing to foster relationships with local development and ownership communities.
In an ideal scenario, I would like to see Hyatt represented in all primary cities and at least half of all second cities in the coming years.
What challenges has Hyatt identified for the UK/Ireland hotels market going forward?
The market certainly has its challenges and many of them are shared among the hospitality development community and the real estate community as a whole.
The environment might be most evident in the construction scene, especially outside of London, where it is more important than ever for investors to look for the right and most reliable long-term partners.
Hyatt is shielded from some of the challenges to an extent, due to the fact that our portfolio in certain markets is not yet comparable to the number of properties some of our closest competitors are working with. We still have ample room to grow.
This brings with it an exciting opportunity: not to saturate the market, but to grow strategically, taking the time to ensure aspects like location are aligned with our guest preferences and complimentary to our existing footprint. Seeking the right opportunity in the right market and with the right partner still remains paramount.
What trends are you currently seeing in the UK/Ireland hospitality sector?
Firstly, it’s been great to see the return of business travel following the pandemic. In Europe, we saw more than 31,000 meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) enquiries in Q1 of this year, an eight per cent increase versus 2023.
In 2023, the UK alone saw a 25 per cent increase in business requests. Not only have we seen the return of business travel, but we have also witnessed a shift in business travel preferences: there is greater focus by companies on the creative ways in which they can deliver innovative and quality events.
In addition, bleisure, a combination of business and leisure, has been a key driver in the boom of business travel bookings post-Covid, and is a trend that isn’t expected to slow down.
Another trend we are seeing in the UK & Ireland, and in Europe more broadly, is greater emphasis by guests on wellbeing. This isn’t just about access to a spa, but instead a shifting mindset towards travel experiences that positively impact mental, emotional and physical health, be it through healthier food and drink, fitness, and even sleep tourism, which is expected to grow by over $400 billion between 2023 and 2028 globally.
One of the many exciting parts of the job is understanding how such trends should be reflected in Hyatt’s growth and development strategy, something we pride ourselves on being able to do via our nimble structure and by listening closely to evolving guest preferences.
What type of partners is Hyatt looking for to help it expand across the UK/Ireland?
Hyatt has a loyal community of owners, something which we do not take for granted. This means that maintaining these relationships is key to our development strategy, alongside always looking for opportunities to engage with new partners.
Acquisitions have played a major role in Hyatt’s diversification of offerings in recent years, including the planned acquisition of Standard International and its iconic hotel brands, The Standard and Bunkhouse Hotels.
Elevating Hyatt’s position as a leader in the industry’s premier lifestyle space, the portfolio will follow Hyatt’s asset-light model, and includes management, franchise and license contracts for 21 open hotels with approximately 2,000 rooms, including The Standard, London.
The acquisition of the German lifestyle brand me and all hotels, has brought an additional number of planned openings to Hyatt’s portfolio, combining conversions and new builds in key destinations including Berlin (slated to open in 2024), Hamburg, Leipzig and Stuttgart (all expected to open in 2026).
How is your background of over 14 years in development at IHG informing your approach at Hyatt?
Having worked in the hotel sector for over 25 years, not only am I deeply embedded into the sector’s trends and niches, but I have an extensive network that I have been able to leverage in my approach at Hyatt. I have brought with me this approach to building and maintaining relationships; it’s no secret that people do business with people they like.
Hyatt is an aspirational brand and despite being the smallest of the biggest hospitality brands, the brand awareness is incredible. I see many owners with an appetite to add a Hyatt property to their portfolio, particularly given our high-end focus.
