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In a move that sent Hyatt Hotels Corporation stock soaring to an all-time high, the company recently reported better than expected earnings while also unveiling a plan to sell many of its hotels.

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Hyatt, a Chicago-based company, has revealed a new plan to sell $1.5 billion of its real estate over the next three years, in a major and significant move that will free up cash that will then be returned to the company's shareholders. This marks a new strategy for a hospitality company that in recent years has become known for an asset recycling strategy, wherein it sells properties before subsequently reinvesting the money into buying more hotels in markers where real estate is less expensive. This new move, however, seems to be a clear indication that Hyatt is instead going to be deploying an asset light strategy, which has become commonplace for companies of its size throughout the hospitality industry in recent years.

Hyatt executives have described this plan to sell $1.5 billion in hotel real estate over the next three years as an evolution of Hyatt's capital strategy, one that sees it poised to shift its strategy to a fee driven business model, which is essentially a way of saying that Hyatt will keep the real estate that it sells in within the Hyatt family by working out long-term management or franchise agreements, thus fitting it into the asset light way of operating within the hospitality space.

It is significant that Hyatt has started to move this route, because the company owns a higher percentage of its own hotels than most of its competitors own. This has long tied up a lot of the company's money in physical assets, leading to its shares trading at a lower rate than many of its peer companies.

The company has also recently reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $180 million in the third quarter, which is a 6.7 percent drop from the year earlier period yet still higher than analysts' initial estimates of $173 million. This beating of expectations sparked a jump in the company's stock to an all-time high of $66.84, which is more than $3 higher than its previous record high of $63.74, which it set back in September of 2014.

Still, Hyatt owns or leases 44 hotels and resorts that total 19,784 rooms, which makes up about 11 percent of its 180,060-room portfolio.

Current Hyatt projects

Let´s take a look at some new projects currently underway by Hyatt Hotels:

Hyatt Regency Oregon Convention Center
The Hyatt Regency branded hotel will include 600 guest rooms and 32,000 sq ft of ballroom and meeting room space [READ MORE…]

Andaz Am Belvedere Vienna
This hotel will be located next to the Belvedere Palace and opposite Vienna's Schweizergarten [READ MORE…]

Grand Hyatt Hotel Bogota
Located along Calle 26, the hotel will be a short distance from Simon Bolivar Park, National University, the La Gran Estacion luxury retail mall, and numerous companies and government ministries [READ MORE…]

More information on Hyatt Hotels Corporation can be found on TOPHOTELPROJECTS,  the specialized service provider of hotel construction information in the hospitality industry.