Hyatt signs master franchise deal to expand Hyatt Select in mainland China
Hyatt signs master franchise deal to expand Hyatt Select in mainland China
https://hotelsmag.com/news/hyatt-signs-master-franchise-deal-to-expand-hyatt-select-in-mainland-china/
Hyatt Hotels Corporation has signed a master franchise agreement with Huanyue International Holdings (Hainan) Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Dossen Group, to exclusively develop and operate Hyatt Select brand hotels in the Chinese mainland.
The agreement combines Hyatt’s global brand platform with Dossen Group’s local operations network. Hyatt Select, part of Hyatt’s Essentials portfolio, is designed for the upper-midscale segment, with flexible development pathways from new builds to conversions. The brand connects to the World of Hyatt loyalty program, which has more than 66 million members globally.
“This collaboration with Dossen Group is a pivotal step forward in our thoughtful growth strategy for China,” said Stephen Ho, president, Greater China and Growth, Asia Pacific, Hyatt. “Dossen’s proven scale, deep market expertise, and innovative, tech-driven approach make them the ideal franchisee to bring the Hyatt Select experience to travelers across the country. The introduction of the Hyatt Select brand in our Essentials portfolio strengthens our ability to serve a wider range of stay occasions and reinforces our commitment to this priority market.”
“The strategic collaboration with Hyatt reflects our shared values and long-term vision,” said Xinhua Cheng, founder, chairman and CEO of Dossen Group. “Hyatt’s global brand strength and innovative approach bring strong commercial resources and proven operating systems, while Dossen’s deep China market insight, nationwide network and efficient execution provide end-to-end support for Hyatt Select hotels. Together, we will leverage our complementary strengths to drive high-quality growth of the brand in China.”
“This collaboration underscores our confidence in the long-term potential of China’s upper-midscale segment,” said Owen Xing, executive managing director of Growth & Operations, Greater China, Hyatt. “Hyatt Select hotels are purpose-built to meet the needs of modern travelers in this market — offering reliable quality, smart design and a seamless stay experience. With Dossen’s strong execution capabilities, we are well positioned to scale the brand quickly and successfully across key destinations in China.”
“As a subsidiary of Dossen Group responsible for the exclusive development and operation of the Hyatt Select hotels in China, we have strong confidence in its long-term success in the market,” said Ji Hongjun, chairman and CEO of Huanyue International Holdings (Hainan) Co., Ltd. “By combining Hyatt’s global quality standards with our local market expertise and development capabilities, we are well equipped to build a highly competitive brand that resonates with both owners and guests, and to drive its sustainable growth across the market.”
Why Do People Shrink-Wrap Their Luggage at the Airport?
Rob Wilson/Shutterstock
https://www.fodors.com/news/travel-tips/the-reason-why-travelers-will-shrink-wrap-their-luggage-in-airports
This widely seen airport ritual isn’t just about protecting your belongings—it’s about managing uncertainty in one of travel’s most stressful moments.
We’ve all come across them at airports: those pre-security kiosks where you can quickly get your suitcases wrapped in yards of brightly-colored cellophane. Depending on your perspective, you may roll your eyes and tell yourself how the practice is a complete waste of money, or pull out your credit card and get in line, eager to safeguard your belongings with a few millimeters of plastic.
Either way, you may also be curious about why this quirky travel ritual not only endures, but thrives, especially in certain regions. Why exactly are passengers still shelling out for this service? And perhaps more interestingly, how can it be viewed as a commentary on the psychology of travel?
What Shrink-Wrapping Can (and Can’t) Actually Do
While it’s still a head-scratcher for many U.S. travelers, shrink-wrapping suitcases is commonplace in airports across South Africa, Latin America, and parts of Europe. There are some practical considerations why fliers might consider it, according to Georgene Rada, vice-president of luggage manufacturer Briggs & Riley.
“Shrink-wrapping primarily protects from moisture and dirt,” Rada explains. That includes places prone to inclement weather, such as thunderstorms and typhoons, where baggage may linger on the tarmac before being loaded or unloaded. “It could also prevent some abrasion, but it’s not going to prevent damage from significant impact.” Fabric-based suitcases are less apt to be scratched or dinged than their hard-sided counterparts, and if you’re really worried about damage to the bag itself, luggage manufacturers, including Briggs & Riley, sell covers designed to fit your model of bag.
Steven Vigor, travel advisor and CEO of Revigorate, a luxury travel concierge and bespoke trip-planning company, points out that shrink-wrapping is also used as a theft deterrent.
“In places like South Africa or Latin America, your chances of tampered-with luggage rise significantly,” adds Vigor. “While it won’t stop a determined thief, it makes a quick grab-and-run much less appealing due to added complications.” Given the option of a lock that can easily be picked in a few seconds or a bag that requires the use of a box cutter and a fair amount of time, an opportunist will most likely prefer to pilfer the former.
When Mariana Anchante, senior manager of public relations for Jive PR + Digital, lived in Lima, Peru, the shrink-wrapping station was always her first stop at the airport, especially as the proud owner of white luggage. She also recalls a trip to Panama when items were stolen from her luggage, and the airlines wouldn’t accept responsibility.
“The counter representative even said they often receive similar complaints, which increased my fear of traveling with completely unprotected luggage,” Anchante says.
But the perceived and actual benefits of shrink-wrapping also come with an environmental tradeoff: shrink-wrapping typically involves layers of single-use plastic that are removed and thrown away as soon as you land.
andrey shalari/iStock
Does Shrink-Wrapping Your Luggage Make You a Target for Additional Screening?
Though it may seem like wrapping your bags is just asking for them to be opened and rechecked, it doesn’t raise red flags with security or make you more susceptible to advanced or secondary screenings, according to a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spokesperson.
“Wrapped bags aren’t more likely to require manual inspection or additional screening than unwrapped bags,” the TSA spokesperson said. “Each bag is evaluated individually using different methods such as x-ray screening, K9 inspection, physical search, and explosive trace detection, and the decision to open a bag is based on the results of these evaluations.”
However, while agents will generally reapply your nylon strap or fabric covering after inspection, they won’t replace disposable plastic wrap. Some airport-based wrapping services, including Secure Wrap, will rewrap any item that’s been opened for additional screening free of charge.
What About the Psychology Behind the Plastic?
Though there are potential benefits to shrink-wrapping your luggage, the risk of theft or damage is relatively low compared with the number of pieces of baggage handled each day. So, what’s really behind this persistent practice? According to psychologists, it comes down to the principle of the “illusion of control.” When people feel out of control in a situation, they’ll engage in behaviors designed to compensate, regardless of whether they actually alter the outcome.
“Passengers continually remind themselves of how vulnerable they are: they relinquish custody of their luggage; they undergo security screening, and they rely on numerous other third parties,” explains Monica Clayborn, MS, licensed professional counselor and vice-president of quality and outcomes at BasePoint Breakthrough, a mental health treatment provider focused on therapy and behavioral care. After we leave our luggage at the airline counter, it’s out of our sight for hours or more, with minimal feedback on its whereabouts or status beyond our luggage receipt or maybe a tracking text.
But shrink-wrapping translates abstract risk into something tangible and observable. “There is tactile feedback, the bag feels sealed, and the barrier is easy to see,” says Hannah Lewis, the counselor and psychotherapist for Compare My Health Insurance. The limited personal influence we have in airline travel, coupled with layers of procedures, tight timelines, and putting our faith in the hands of strangers, from pilots to baggage handlers, makes the illusion of control compelling.
“When outcomes are opaque, small actions that offer immediate, visible reassurance, like shrink-wrapping, can feel disproportionately meaningful.” Lewis likens it to other practices like cable-tying zippers, photographing luggage at check-in, and vigorously wiping down airplane seats and tray tables, whose emotional impact often outweighs any actual risk.
Security, Habit, or Peace of Mind? Why Has the Trend Persisted?
For all the debate over whether it actually works, shrink-wrapping is still popular for a simpler reason: it makes travelers feel better. Flying can be frenetic and fraught with stress, and fliers are forced to let go of many of the details during the journey; shrink-wrapping can help offset that vulnerability and diminished feeling of control.
“People usually react to how scary a certain risk appears to them, not necessarily how probable it really is,” believes Claire Law, a psychologist and legal contributor at Custody X Change, a co-parenting and child custody planning software company. Shrink-wrapping is a rational strategy to make an uncertain environment more predictable. It’s endured, she says, because if your luggage makes it to baggage claim unscathed, there’s no way of actually knowing if the covering had anything to do with it.
In other words, whether or not it truly protects your bag, the simple act of wrapping it offers something just as valuable: peace of mind.
5 things to know for May 18
Today’s headlines: Corvex Management renews demands for Whitbread sale; Oil prices rise again following renewed Trump threats to Iran; India hotel industry sees 58% investment increase; Rio hotel performance bolstered by free May concert; Japanese hotel check-in system leaks info of 1 million guests
The cost of Brent crude oil rose to above the $110-per-barrel mark following comments from U.S. President Donald Trump that more military action against Iran is a possibility. A vessel leaves the Port of New York and New Jersey, the United States, on April 29. (Getty Images)
https://www.costar.com/article/1317583521/5-things-to-know-for-date?
1. Corvex Management renews demand for Whitbread sale
Corvex Management, which claims it manages funds tied to more than 11.8 million shares of Whitbread PLC — or approximately 7% of parent company of the Premier Inn brand — has one again written to the board of the British firm and its shareholders demanding “a rigorous and comprehensive sale process for Whitbread.” According to Whitbread’s latest earnings results, published on May 13, Corvex owns approximately 9.35 million, or 5.3% of the company. Corvex made a similar request last December.
In its latest letter, Corvex said Whitbread’s current strategy is a “status quo [that] is untenable” and added that it “continues to trade at an unacceptable discount to intrinsic value, and with the challenges facing the business today, the need to pursue meaningful strategic and structural reform has become unignorable.”
In its recent earnings results presentation, Whitbread outlined a new five-year plan that, among other points, said it “would become a pure-play hotel business by 2031, with all of its 197 restaurant brands either repositioned in an integrated food and drink model or converted into a total of 8,000 more rooms.”
2. Oil prices rise again following renewed Trump threats to Iran
The price of Brent crude oil increased 1.7% on Monday to $111.13 following U.S. President Donald Trump's latest threats against Iran. The BBC reports Trump will reconvene his top security advisors on Tuesday to consider “options for military action regarding Iran.”
Elsewhere in the Middle East, on Saturday, the United Arab Emirates said three drones had “entered the UAE from the western border direction.” Two were intercepted, but the third had “struck an electrical generator ‘outside the inner perimeter’ of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in Abu Dhabi, sparking a fire,” the BBC added. Iran lies to the north of the UAE.
3. India's hotel industry sees 58% investment increase
In the first three months of 2026, the Indian hotel industry has seen investment of $185 million, a 58% increase year over year, according to the Economic Times of India. In the same period in 2025, Indian hotels saw investment of $117 million.
The news comes days after India’s prime minister Narendra Modi called for Indians to forgo international travel and instead take their vacations within the country.
4. Rio hotel performance bolstered by free May concert
Performance in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro on the first Saturday of May has yet again been music to the ears of hoteliers. Now in its third year, “Todo Mundo no Rio," or “Everyone in Rio,” featured Shakira and drove hotel performance in Rio all weekend, according to an analysis from Nick Seaman, hospitality forecaster at STR, CoStar’s hotel analytics division.
Shakira’s concert on May 2 saw luxury hotel revenue per available room increase 12.1% year over year. Upscale RevPAR rose by 5.1%, although RevPAR dipped in the upper-upscale segment by 1.9%.
In 2025, Lady Gaga performed on the corresponding Saturday in May, while the first event in 2024 was headlined by Madonna. Seaman said added hotel occupancy was at its highest level for that Madonna show, but ADR and RevPAR over the following two years “have steadily increased.”
5. Japanese hotel check-in system leaks info of 1 million guests
Hotel check-in system Tabiq, maintained by a Japanese company Reqrea and used by hotels across Japan, has leaked sensitive information from “more than 1 million [global customers],” according to an independent IT security researcher, Anurag Sen, and reported by TechCrunch. Tabiq has been taken offline while the situation is being analyzed and corrected.
Sen told TechCrunch that Tabiq/Reqrea inadvertently “set one of its Amazon cloud-hosted storage buckets, which the check-in system uses to store customer data, to be publicly accessible. The data inside could be viewed by anyone using a web browser, without needing a password, by knowing only the bucket name: ‘Tabiq’.”
Hotel legal experts say investors must ensure they know all the details of a deal
Those who don't work with legal counsel to understand terms will 'pay later on'
(Getty Images)
https://www.costar.com/article/1851519130/hotel-legal-experts-say-investors-must-ensure-they-know-all-the-details-of-a-deal
By Bryan Wroten
HOUSTON — Deal-making in the hotel industry is not a simple process, as both new and experienced investors have to navigate a challenging path to success.
During the "Financing structures, legal landmines and deal risk" panel at the Hospitality Law Conference, hotel industry and legal experts shared their advice on what any investor needs to know when trying to make a deal.
The debt game
Getting financing for a new-build project is different from financing for a stabilized property, said John Keeling, executive vice president of Valencia Hotel Group. For the types of hotel development projects that Valencia does, the company works mostly with regional banks. These banks stepped back for a few years after the pandemic but have been coming back to the market.
Without them, another option would be to go to a debt fund, which is “very expensive and has all kinds of ugly things that you have to settle for,” he said.
The most recent funding Valencia received for a hotel project came in December from a regional bank the company has had a working relationship with for years, he said. Funding from regional banks can be expensive, and many projects have a loan-to-value of about 65%, and borrowers will want to get a lower rate with a higher debt-to-value percentage.
For Valencia, that means going to commercial mortgage-backed securities loans, which “is basically syndicated debt,” he said. It can be unattractive because CMBS will lock a borrower into the debt for 10 years, so if they want to sell in six years, they have to make the lender whole in what was expected out of 10 years.
“We have the advantage of never selling, so we can go into a CMBS loan at 70% loan to value and be happy as a clam because we have no intention of selling,” he said.
A potential problem is if the CMBS loan is closed in a high-interest-rate market and rates drop, so the borrower wants to refinance, he said. Over the last year or so, CMBS loans have become available in five-year deals because everyone expects the rates to go down, and nobody wants to lock themselves in for long.
Jennifer Nellany (right), of the law firm Cozen O'Connor, speaks alongside Jonathan Falik, of JF Capital Advisors, at the Hospitality Law Conference about the hotel deal-making process. (Bryan Wroten)
When setting the loan-to-value rate term size, there’s no one right answer, as it’s dependent on the property, said Jonathan Falik, founder and CEO of JF Capital Advisors. Some people have lower leverage tolerance, while others have higher.
One differentiating factor is if the sponsor or affiliate of the sponsor is willing to provide a certain amount of recourse, he said. If the loan is fully non-recourse, there are certain lenders who cap out at a finite level. His company has worked on deals that are anywhere from 50% to 80% loan to value.
When working with clients on deciding which loan to pursue, Falik said his firm often advises against the cheapest or lowest interest rate loans. These are usually the least flexible.
“It is very difficult for hotels, which is an operating business sitting on a piece of real estate where things are cyclical, things are seasonal, things change,” he said. “So, we rarely advocate for the lowest cost of debt. We think much more about which is the most flexible in terms of matching our portfolio or our asset.”
CMBS debt is great until there’s a problem, said Dan Lesser, co-founder, president and CEO of LW Hospitality Advisors. When there’s a problem, even as a long-term holder, there’s no one to talk to about it.
When the pandemic hit, hoteliers were trying to figure out what to do, Falik said. Operators weren’t sure whether to hold on to employees or furloughed or lay them off and shut down the hotels when demand dropped out.
“There's local guidance, there's state guidance, there's national guidance on what to do,” he said. “We're looking at our loan documents, where we have a covenant to continuously operate the hotel, but we also have a covenant to basically to safeguard and protect.”
Working with lenders also means having all the bases covered. Jennifer Nellany, member at the law firm Cozen O'Connor, said she was representing a lender in a hotel deal that was ready to close, but the borrower ran into litigation when someone at the property fell off scaffolding and died. The details of it weren’t exactly clear, but New York has strict liability for scaffolding requiring specific insurance coverage for scaffolding.
The borrower did not have it, and they didn’t do their due diligence in the general contractor agreement, because the general contractor didn’t have it either, she said.
“So, we as the lender turned around and said to them, ‘OK, fine, there’s no insurance for this. There's only one answer: personal guarantee,’” she said.
The borrower was able to find the coverage from a credit-worthy guarantor, and after a three-month-long delay, the deal is on track to close, she said.
Points of negotiation
As an attorney, Nellany said she wants to look at all of her clients’ term sheets. There are typically debt term sheets, joint-venture term sheets, acquisition term sheets and more.
“There are different parties to all of them, and you need to be mindful of who you’re representing,” she said. “If you’re representing the buyer, you may be representing a joint venture, and if you’re representing the joint venture, which side of the joint venture are you representing in the negotiation of the joint venture agreement? So, it’s gets a little complicated.”
Careful reviews of the term sheets by an attorney are necessary because a single missing word or an extra word or two can change the economics or risk profile meaningfully, Falik said. This is important to remember for people new to making deals as well as those who have experience in other real estate segments but not hotels.
“They're going to miss things in the term sheet that are important, they may choose to forego in the term sheet, but if they haven't had a smart conversation with counsel about it, they're going to pay later on.”
Working with counsel and industry advisers can help those new to the hotel deals market catch things they’d like miss on their own, Nellany said. Conditions can change rapidly, not just in what the market is but how someone is situated in the market.
“What’s your relative negotiating strength?” she asked.
Even though they may be smart and sophisticated investors, those new to the hotel industry will often receive term sheets from brand and management companies only to hear that they can't make changes, Lesser said.
"If they go back and say, 'Well, you know, what about this?' and the brand or the management company says to them, 'We've never done that before,'" he said. "I can't tell you how many times I've heard that. 'We've never done it before.' And then we get involved. We're like, wait a second. We can give you five Marriott deals we did [that] do this."
If they don't have good counsel or even just good advice, many times new investors get hit with unreasonable terms, Lesser said.
One of the problems in dealing with the brand franchise agreements is few people have actually reviewed every page, Falik said.
“They haven’t read through the franchise disclosure document in its entirety, which is usually 350 to 450 pages,” he said.
If they don’t fully understand what’s in them, they may see things later on that they don’t agree with when the time for negotiations has ended, Falik said.
“There are things that are negotiable, but there are plenty of things that are not, and it’s very painful if you figure that out five or 10 years later,” he said.
Lesser said he’s been working with a client on a small hotel portfolio to figure out the highest and best brand and highest and best management. They were able to negotiate with two big players to get key money and five-year deal offers.
“When's the last time you heard about a five-year franchise deal?” he said. “Usually they're 20 years, but they were dealing with sophisticated folks between the sponsor and us, and these were highly desirable assets. We created a competitive bid process where they thought it was worth their while to get their name on it for a bid of five years.”
DUHC&S | Strategic Hospitality Consulting & Advisory
We transform hospitality and tourism businesses through strategic solutions, operational efficiency, and comprehensive renovation. With over 40 years of experience working with brands like Hilton, Hyatt, Sheraton, and Sonesta, we enhance asset value and profitability through:
*Operational excellence and brand standards (GSI +90%)
*Market penetration and commercial strategies
*Key partnerships and disruptive innovation
*Hotel openings and repositioning
Proven results :
✅ 48% GOP |
✅ +120% asset valuation growth
✅ Successful projects across 6 Latin American countries
🔹 Let's connect :
📩 Email: diurugeles@gmail.com
📱 WhatsApp: +57 3153259968
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diur_2000/
https://viajes-noticias-duhospitality.blogspot.com
https://viajes-duhospitality.blogspot.com
https://travel-duhospitality.blogspot.com
Disclaimer
DUHC&S shares this information for educational and informational purposes only. The news articles reproduced here are sourced from public and recognized media outlets. We are not the original authors of this content but rather its distributors. All credits go to the original sources cited in each article. If you are the legitimate owner of any material and wish to have it modified or removed, please contact us immediately at diurugeles@gmail.com, and we will address your request promptly.
Comments
Post a Comment