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Hyatt’s China business is down 90% in February from coronavirus fallout

2020/2/23 22:57:16
Talk of coronavirus overshadowed Hyatt Hotel’s strong finish to the year during Thursday’s quarterly earnings call.

CEO Mark Hoplamazian began by acknowledging the company’s staff in the Asia Pacific region, which he said is operating in “extraordinary circumstances and demonstrating a profound commitment to care for their families, for our guests and our customers, for our hotel owners and for the communities in which our hotels operate that have been hard hit by the reduction in travel associated with COVID-19.”

Hyatt — which has had a presence in China for more than five decades —has already closed 26 properties in the country in response to the virus, with many others running at extremely low occupancy. Hyatt currently operates 86 hotels throughout Mainland China and several in Hong Kong. In Singapore, a cluster of coronavirus cases was traced back to a multinational business meeting held at Grand Hyatt in the city-state in January.