On Sunday, blogger Gary Leff noted a post and comments on Reddit’s Hyatt forum that claimed the company had laid off 300 U.S.-based phone agents last week, leaving 35 team members and outsourcing the rest to a call center in El Salvador. A reported 18 managers also were let go.
Responding to a request for comments, a Hyatt spokesperson sent the following response:
To support Hyatt’s continued growth and success in the most effective ways, we realigned our Global Care Center (GCC) operations in response to the evolving nature of guest inquiries and shifting business needs. With this evolution came a reorganization in our Americas GCC operations with a staffing reduction of approximately 30 [percent] across our guest services and support teams. Decisions and conversations with impacted colleagues were handled with utmost respect and care. GCCs continue to operate in Marion, Ill. and Omaha, Neb. We remain committed to delivering elevated levels of care to all of our guests and World of Hyatt members, including Loyalty, Social, Customer Care, and Chat colleagues, as well as dedicated My Hyatt Concierge contacts, who were not impacted by the staffing changes.
At the end of the first quarter, most major U.S.-based hotel companies lowered their guidance for the remainder of the year, suggesting uncertainty in what kinds of profits they can expect even as they reported profits for the quarter. In May, Hyatt reported system-wide revenue per available room growth of 5.7 percent for the first quarter of the year.
“We are seeing softer booking trends for near-term leisure and business transient bookings in the United States, which have been down in the high-single-digits versus last year over the last few weeks, with the greatest impact in our upscale brands,” President and CEO Mark Hoplamazian said during the company’s earnings call with investors.
The move comes just seven months after Marriott International laid off more than 800 corporate employees, and raises questions about the future of customer service roles in the age of artificial intelligence and outsourcing of talent.
The original Reddit poster, who claims to be a former Hyatt employee laid off in November, suggested that future layoffs could be in the future: “If you like your concierge lines you better stress that to Hyatt, because they are likely on the way out too. You can't promote someone to the concierge lines if there's no one to promote from.”