Hyatt Reimagines Hotel Experience for Guests, Workforce

With a focus on safety first and wellbeing, Hyatt Hotels Corp is reimagining the hotel journey with new amenities and offerings and taking comprehensive steps to implement enhanced protocols that help colleagues feel comfortable and confident at work.

As an extension of Hyatt’s recently announced Global Care and Cleanliness Commitment, Hyatt is collaborating with medical experts to fine-tune reopening and operating procedures such as colleague reorientations, enhanced cleaning and safety protocols, and a Hygiene and Wellbeing Leader at every property.

“Over the past few months we have been intensively engaging with and listening to guests and colleagues, and we are implementing new offerings with their safety and wellbeing in mind,” said Mark Hoplamazian, president and CEO, Hyatt. “While the most important element of opening our doors is doing it safely, we have gone beyond cleaning to advance care across the entire hotel experience to proudly and confidently welcome back our guests, World of Hyatt loyalty members and colleagues.”

New Guest Experiences

With creativity and care, Hyatt is giving guests and members greater control of their hotel journey and focusing on a more holistic sense of wellbeing from pre-arrival to checkout and beyond. Hyatt is reimagining places and spaces to make social distancing not feel that way.

• Wellbeing Where You Are: Through a new, exclusive collaboration with Headspace, guests, members and colleagues may access mindfulness exercises, guided meditations and sleep content via the World of Hyatt app either on in-room TVs or on the road. Guests can also enjoy enhanced fitness and wellbeing amenities in-room at some hotels, such as Exhale on Demand TV content, fitness equipment delivered to the guestroom (bikes, treadmills, weights), or spa kits and treatments available for delivery. In some cases, hotels have created outdoor workout spaces.
• Less Contact, More Care: Hyatt hotels are working to roll out enhanced digital amenities through the World of Hyatt app that will give guests more control over how they connect with Hyatt. The new features, available in select markets and rolling out on an ongoing basis, will allow guests to manage preferences like scheduling housekeeping, choosing between pick-up or knock-and-go food orders, mobile key entry, contactless check-in and checkout, and more. For meetings and events, Hyatt hotels are exploring audio-visual technology that will help offer customers hybrid meeting options – on-property and remote – for large-sale events with social distancing in mind.
• Feeding the Senses: Hotels are experimenting with new food and beverage offerings such as individual buffet-style meals that are curated and proportioned for each dining table. New QR codes display menus so guests can browse options.
• The Luxury of Space: At some hotels, on- and off-property events and excursions are being reimagined as private bookable leisure activities with plenty of space such as garden or rooftop yoga classes, private beekeeping, or exploring outdoor paths with guided maps on foot.
• Curated with Care: Guestroom décor and amenities will be curated to remove some extraneous high-touch items, while still providing the high quality Hyatt experience for which our brand is known including engaging art and distinguished design.
• Halfway Points: Soon, Hyatt will help inspire new ways to travel and connect with family and friends by helping pinpoint hotel locations that are convenient halfway points for friends and family to reunite.

“We’re continuing to evolve the guest experience as we listen and seek to understand what’s most important to our guests,” said Amy Weinberg, senior vice president global brand, loyalty, data & analytics, Hyatt. “Flexibility and peace of mind are essential to our guests right now, and we’re delivering personal care in everything we do throughout a guest’s travel journey.”

Based on guest feedback, Hyatt is now offering flexibility with cancellation at no charge up to 24 hours before scheduled arrival for most reservations for stays through July 31, 2021. 

Hygiene & Wellbeing Leader

In response to COVID-19, Hyatt has also reimagined the colleague journey to include new work procedures, colleague resources, and reorientations, in an effort to ensure colleagues’ safety and wellbeing. Daily colleague surveys have been introduced to measure colleague comfort and wellbeing, enabling hotel leaders to address opportunities, make adjustments as necessary and meet colleagues’ needs in real time.

As part of the Global Care & Cleanliness Commitment, by July 2020, every Hyatt hotel will have at least one person on property trained as Hygiene & Wellbeing Leader who is responsible for their hotel adhering to new operational guidance and protocols. Each Hygiene & Wellbeing Leader will help maintain his or her hotel’s mandatory GBAC STAR  accreditation, including a cleaning, disinfection and infectious disease prevention program that will focus on establishing hotel environments that are sanitary, safe and healthy.

The new hotel colleague journey also includes:

• Daily temperature checks of all global colleagues upon arrival to the hotel
• Wellbeing check reminders sent to colleagues prior to arriving at work
• Personal protective equipment like face coverings required by all colleagues
• Social distance guidance and additional hand sanitizer stations in colleague areas and
• Complimentary access to Headspace for Hyatt colleagues to practice mindfulness and self-care.