Research Update: Hyatt Hotels Corp. 'BBB-' Rating Affirmed, Removed From CreditWatch; Outlook Negative

As long as a successful medical therapy for COVID-19 is introduced by mid-2021 in a manner that causes business and group travelers to begin to feel safe to travel again, S&P Global Ratings believes Hyatt Hotels Corp. can ramp up systemwide revenue per available room (RevPAR) and EBITDA, and begin to reduce leverage. However, we believe the recovery in business and group travel and hotel demand will be slower than we expected a few months ago, and may not take hold until the second half of 2021. We are affirming our 'BBB-' issuer credit and senior unsecured ratings on Hyatt because we believe adjusted leverage will decline comfortably below our 3.75x downgrade threshold by 2022 and the company's business and

...- As long as a successful medical therapy for COVID-19 is introduced by mid-2021 in a manner that causes business and group travelers to begin to feel safe to travel again, S&P Global Ratings believes Hyatt Hotels Corp. can ramp up systemwide revenue per available room (RevPAR) and EBITDA, and begin to reduce leverage. However, we believe the recovery in business and group travel and hotel demand will be slower than we expected a few months ago, and may not take hold until the second half of 2021. - We are affirming our '###-' issuer credit and senior unsecured ratings on Hyatt because we believe adjusted leverage will decline comfortably below our 3.75x downgrade threshold by 2022 and the company's business and financial strengths warrant looking this far as long as incremental risk factors do not materialize. We are removing our ratings on the company from CreditWatch, where we placed them with negative implications on March 20, 2020. - The negative outlook reflects significant risks...

Research Update