Hyatt’s $2B Flip, Six Senses Shake-Up and Europe’s Heatwave Havoc

For today’s pod we look at Hyatt’s Playa Hotels real estate play, leadership moves at Six Senses, and Europe’s brutal summer heat.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Tuesday, July 1. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Hyatt announced a deal to sell the real estate portfolio of Playa Hotels & Resorts for $2 billion, just two weeks after having purchased it, writes Hospitality Reporter Luke Martin.

The deal lets Hyatt continue its push into all-inclusive resorts while maintaining its asset-light strategy.

Hyatt said it plans to sell 15 resorts to Tortuga Resorts, a joint venture between private equity KSL Capital Partners and investment group Rodina. Hyatt’s net cost to become the manager of Playa’s resorts would be about $555 million.

While Hyatt would retain the management side of Playa Hotels, Martin notes the move supports Hyatt’s ongoing strategy to reduce ownership of hotel real estate. The company now derives over 80% of its earnings from asset-light operations, up from 40% when it went public in 2009.

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Next, Neil Jacobs said he’s stepping down as CEO of Six Senses after having led the ultra-luxury resort brand for 13 years, write Hospitality Reporter Luke Martin and Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O’Neill.

Jacobs led Six Senses through a major expansion and its acquisition by IHG in 2019. Under his leadership, the Thailand-based Six Senses grew from eight Asian beachfront resorts into a globally recognized brand with 26 open properties in locations such as Fiji and the Seychelles.

Since IHG’s acquisition, Jacobs has expanded Six Senses into Europe, the Caribbean, and Africa.

Finally, authorities in several European countries have issued heat-related travel advisories for popular tourist destinations on the continent, writes Climate Reporter Darin Graham.

As a heat wave has swept across the Mediterranean, officials in Sweden and Germany have issued warnings for destinations in several European destinations, including Spain. Sweden’s foreign ministry warned that temperatures in some parts of Spain would top 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Graham notes the extreme heat is the latest example of how Europe, the fastest-warming continent, is increasingly feeling the impact of the climate crisis. Wildfires have prompted evacuations in France while Spanish media recently reported a tourist died from heatstroke in Majorca.