In preparation for HYATT's F2Q 2013 earnings release tomorrow, we’ve put together the recent pertinent forward looking company commentary.
GOLDMAN SACHS CONFERENCE (June 4)
- “We have the Park Hyatt New York, which is expected to open in the second quarter of next year, which will bring us a very important luxury presence in this market. We're also developing a Grand Hyatt in Rio, another key market in Latin America.”
- “Bookings for 2014 have increased by 10%. So the short-term booking trend is still very volatile. It's still very sensitive on a month-to-month basis and we continue to see that long-term bookings 2014, 2015 and even into 2016 look very healthy, look very promising. We don't see any issues there yet. Although, when you go back to last year August, September, October and you looked at 2013 and the booking trends were and compare it to where we are now with 2013, there has been quite of a wash, cancellation and push out into future years, and we continue to see that trend.”
- “Overall, we see our booking experience as an indication that the booking window is lengthening.”
- [How PCLN/Kayak will impact margins] “Well, I think the first thing to note is that the proportion of our total business that flows through online travel agency, broadly defined, without differentiating for a moment between aggregators and front ends like Kayak or opaque sites like Priceline is relatively modest. So it's, in the aggregate, not quite in the double digits."
- “So one think I would, just to note is that, our primary application of our capital base on our balance sheet is to support our growth, that's our number one priority. We have been, more formally over the last year, been in the market and repurchasing shares."
- “Dividend will continue to be on the table for discussion in the future.”
YOUTUBE FROM Q1 CONFERENCE CALL
- “As we look to the future, we're encouraged by several data points. First, group pace. Even though realized revenue for group business was down in the first quarter, overall group revenue production was up over 3% in the quarter.”
- “Second, transient demand, the overall business climate in the U.S. was strength in manufacturing, technology, housing and other sectors, is supporting robust transient demand levels. Therefore, while we expect group demand to improve relative to what we saw in the first quarter, we still expect transient business to be a stronger driver of improved results this year.”
- “Third, the economic and market conditions around the world are evolving. As we look around the world at various regional and individual economies, we believe that the hotels in Americas and ASPAC regions are likely to see stronger levels of RevPAR growth than hotels in the EAME/Southwest Asia regions over the remainder of 2013.”
- “In China, the focus by the new leadership on austerity has and will continue to hurt F&B revenue, in particular in the short-term.”
- “In India, the economy is starting to stabilize, while the country enters a national political process leading up to general elections in 2014. Nonetheless, the positioning of our existing portfolio as well as the hotels expected to join our portfolio over the coming year in each of China and India is very encouraging.”
- [Renovations impact] "We expect the impact to be towards the lower end of the previously mentioned $3 million to $6 million range per quarter for the next quarter or two. The impact is expected to decline as renovations of managed hotels are completed and year-over-year comparison issues recede.”
- “As we discussed on our last earnings call, we are exploring sale options for six full service hotels in the U.S. This effort is moving ahead and we will update on the sale if and when closed. In all cases, we intend for these hotels to continue in our portfolio under long-term management or franchise contracts.”
- “The $100 million to $120 million estimate on investment spending this year really relates to JV projects, which would include, for example, the Andaz Wailea Resort, which continues to make great progress. We expect a third quarter opening. And we have other construction projects that are underway in the U.S. and in Latin America through existing or new JVs, or in the case of our Hyatt Place construction projects in Omaha, it's on balance sheet development. So I would say that our activity and focus on new opportunities through both JVs and whole ownership continues to be a significant area of activity and a focus for us. And that's why we wanted to simply track this over time.”
- “Our intention is to continue to be active through the cycle on both the buy-side and the sell-side.”
- [Affordable Care Act impact] “We have already absorbed some of the costs for things like 100% preventative care and coverage of dependents through age 26. We know that the impact of implementation costs lie ahead and we can't really know how many associates who currently opt out from our plans will choose to participate beginning in 2014. However, we expect healthcare costs to continue to exceed inflation in the next few years and add some significant cost elements to the portfolio. But to be specific in quantifying the impact, it is too early at this stage.”
- “I think the modeling disruption beyond the end of this year, we know now and we mentioned that the renovations in the key markets in Asia would continue into next year.”
- “There are a couple of properties on which we continue to focus on our alternatives to what we have currently, places like Miami and Toronto, which if they come to pass and we start planning for something significant in terms of redevelopment, we will update you on that. But in terms of major renovations in our owned portfolio, we don't have any plans for anything like that in the foreseeable future.”