We asked Julia Vander Ploeg, senior vice president, global head of digital and technology, Hyatt, about how she plans to help lead her organization through post-pandemic recovery. Vander Ploeg provided detailed explanations of her approach and hopes regarding the future. Our interview with Vander Ploeg is part of Women Leading Travel & Hospitality’s recent report, Leading Through Crisis, which details how nine executive-level women in the travel and hospitality industry reacted initially to the pandemic, sustained their companies and teams over the last year-plus, and are now looking optimistically to the future.

Women Leading Travel & Hospitality: What is your outlook for the travel and hospitality industry for the remainder of 2021? The next two years to three years?
Julia Vander Ploeg: While COVID-19 remains a challenge for our deeply impacted industry, we’re confident in a long-term recovery as the human desire for connection will inspire people to experience the joy of travel again. We’re seeing strong pent-up demand for travel, with leisure travelers coming back first.  

Everything we do at Hyatt is grounded in listening and fueled by care. By really leaning into this at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have developed digital and operational innovations that will likely remain with us as best practices beyond this crisis, including enhanced cleanliness protocols and contactless digital solutions that give our guests more control over their stay, and increase our colleagues’ comfort and confidence while at work. While there are still many unknowns about the future of travel, we’re embracing this time and using it to experiment with new offerings to advance our business.    

The pandemic shed light on the essential need of caring for one’s well-being, which has been a priority at Hyatt for many years. This increased focus on the practice of self-care will carry over into travel planning for years to come; guests will increasingly seek out experiences and destinations that allow them to relax and unplug. 

Julia Vander Ploeg, Senior Vice President, Global Head of Digital and Technology, Hyatt

WLT&H: What steps is your company taking to plan for recovery in the sector?
JVP: The safety and well-being of our guests and colleagues are top priorities at Hyatt. We’ve always been intensely focused on listening to our guests to understand their needs, and this has never been truer than in 2021. 

Throughout 2020, Hyatt rolled out enhanced digital amenities through Hyatt.com and the World of Hyatt app that give guests more control over their experiences with us. Digital Key capabilities are available at more than 600 Hyatt properties worldwide, giving our World of Hyatt members the opportunity to bypass the front desk and access their guest room and other public spaces directly from their smartphone. Many Hyatt properties are also finding great success with on-property digital mobile ordering experiences. Our Digital team has worked quickly to ensure our hotels can seamlessly adopt QR code technology, making it easy for food and beverage teams to support mobile menus and payment for restaurant order pick-up or knock-and-go room service. This agile approach to product development made a significant impact on our guests’ and colleagues’ experiences. 

For meetings and events, Hyatt is offering audio-visual technology that will help customers execute successful hybrid meetings. Hybrid meetings use multiple locations — either spread out through one hotel or across several properties — to accommodate distancing and use technology to combine virtual and in-person experiences. One technology that assists in the hybrid meeting planning process is Social Tables, a digital meeting room diagramming tool available at full-service hotels globally. Our Hyatt event planners can use it to illustrate various meeting room set-up options with social distancing, which in turn allows for optimal in-person and virtual attendee experiences. We believe hybrid meetings offer value to planners even once restrictions on in-person gatherings are lifted. We’re currently developing solutions that will allow planners to extend reach of meetings programming in the future.

WLT&H: What advice/tips would you offer to others as they prepare crisis management strategies for future crises?
JVP: At Hyatt, our purpose — to care for people so they can be their best — is our North Star, and care has guided every aspect of our COVID-19 response. All business decisions are made through the lens of our purpose, which informs how we have and will continue to support members of the Hyatt family, including our guests, colleagues, customers and owners. As a company, we’re moving out of this crisis with a renewed focus on human connection, a mindset of collaboration and inclusion, and a keen sense of experimentation that will advance our business, our offerings and our care. 

Navigating challenging situations requires consistent communication and transparency. Keeping our guests, members and colleagues apprised of the steps we’re taking to advance care through enhanced protocols and new programming is key. It’s also important to be intensely flexible and agile so we can take meaningful action that makes a difference. One way Hyatt is doing this is by providing guests peace of mind with our extended flexible cancellation policy, with the ability to cancel reservations up to 24 hours prior to arrival with no penalty through July 31, 2021.

WLT&H: How are you handling the challenge of budget planning and forecasting during the crisis without the benefit of historical data and an uncertain future for the sector?
JVP: COVID-19 has had such a significant impact on the hospitality industry that previous data models and historical information aren’t very useful for planning. As we move forward in our recovery journey, we’re focused on emerging from this crisis in a position of strength. At the height of the pandemic, our colleagues creatively reimagined our business and its offerings to care for our guests in new ways and help them rediscover the joy of travel. We continue to rely on this sense of experimentation and employ a “test and learn” approach, with data and analytics informing our areas of focus.

WLT&H: What does the recovery planning process look like for your company? What external resources/data points are you reviewing (e.g., vaccination rate)?
JVP: Since the beginning of the pandemic, we believed widely available vaccines or therapeutics would be critical for the travel industry’s full recovery. Progress on the global rollout of vaccines is extremely encouraging, and represents a major milestone for our industry, for the economy, and for people around the world. The vaccine — along with advances in accessibility of rapid, high-quality and low-cost testing — will improve people’s confidence in and mindset around travel. We continue to monitor and respond to evolving travel requirements, most recently launching on-site COVID-19 testing at all Hyatt resort properties in Latin America to assist travelers with new guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

We’re engaging in ongoing conversations with guests and customers to determine how we best meet their new expectations. We know that for our colleagues, guests and customers to feel confident returning to our hotels, their peace of mind is critical.   

In April 2020, we introduced Hyatt’s Global Care & Cleanliness Commitment, which enhances operational practices at Hyatt hotels during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. This commitment examines the entirety of the hotel experience, from health and hygiene, to technology, to how spaces are designed and used. Hyatt is also working with the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) to guide decisions around our cleaning equipment, chemicals, and processes in an effort to make sure our guests and colleagues feel confident that everything we do is with their safety and well-being top of mind.