Illustrator Dennis Balogh

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Mark Hoplamazian

How do you attract and retain employees?

Hyatt Hotels Corp. (H) President and CEO Mark S. Hoplamazian describes the company’s mission as “providing authentic hospitality.” He explains: “That means we make a difference in the lives of the people we touch every day.” And the only way to accomplish that mission, he says, is through engaged associates at Hyatt’s 434 hotel properties in 45 countries. “A lot of companies talk about the importance of their people,” Hoplamazian says, “but think about it from our perspective. Our associates are the vehicle through which we deliver services to our guests and define our brands. This is not conceptual for us. It is real.”

The expression “authentic hospitality” was adopted shortly after Hoplamazian, 46, became CEO in 2006. The company, which until 2004 was a collection of separate businesses owned by the Pritzker family, had been unified on paper 
by then, but “we needed a direction and expression of what the company stood for to bring us together as a single entity,” he says.

While communicating the newly stated mission, Hyatt developed an entrepreneurial framework to put the authentic hospitality mission in employees’ hands. What the CEO calls “the Hyatt family” is a very decentralized company, with each general manager responsible for his or her hotel’s operation. Within that structure, work units of as few as six individuals are required to create a plan with goals to improve the group’s processes for the benefit of guests. Through an annual “engagement” survey, various tracking mechanisms and constant guest evaluations, Hyatt monitors progress toward the goals and rewards employees accordingly. When the company talks of “succession planning,” says Hoplamazian, it is talking of a career path for every employee. — Sharon Kahn