Officials with Playa Hotels & Resorts believe the company is well-poised for a quick rebound in performance for its Caribbean and Latin American all-inclusive resorts in 2022, particularly because the company has resisted cutting rates to induce demand.

Speaking during the company's first quarter 2021 earnings call, President and CEO Bruce Wardinski said maintaining rate integrity is an edict that comes from the highest levels of the organization.

"Going back weeks and months, I told our sales team 'Do not discount,'" he said. "We're not discounting. I'm confident the demand is going to be there, and we don't need to build a base like you may have historically needed to do in more difficult times."

He said in more typical downturns, hotel companies come out discounting to induce demand to build a base then yield for higher rates as occupancy increased. That won't be the case this time around, at least.

"We're not building a base at lower rates," he said. "We're building a base at good rates. And then, I think we'll use our ability to continue to drive [rates] week by week and month by month."

Wardinski said this is a unique approach coming out of a severe downturn, but the downturn itself is rather unique.

"I've been in the hotel business about 35 years, and I've been through a few downturns," he said. "I've never seen a downturn like this. Obviously the cause of it was very different than [a financial crisis]. People have the money and the desire, and they're all waiting for individual reasons before going out there and traveling."

He noted his company is actually coming out of the pandemic with stronger revenue-management tools than it had before, and he's confident his company will be able to yield strong rates in 2022, which is when he expects the rebound to be in full force.

With a portfolio of all-inclusive properties across Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica that are all reliant on international demand and airlift, Playa has been at the mercy of government restrictions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. And while Wardinski believes his company has done a good job navigating those rules and making the most of the situation, he expects to see a strong influx of demand once things like requirements for COVID-19 tests are relaxed and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is no longer warning against travel from the U.S. to those three countries.

"We expected [the CDC's travel recommendations] to have a much worse and much longer kind of duration of an impact, so we were positively surprised that it was really negative right out of the blocks but it diminished really quickly," he said.

He attributed that lessening impact to people becoming more accustomed to dealing with COVID-19 precautions during travel and properties doing things like offering COVID-19 testing to "make it as easy as possible." But once that is all out of the way, he still expects a significant lift, particularly in Jamaica, which has comparatively tougher restrictions.

"The fact is Jamaica is below [our other destinations is] because people don't want to deal with the hassle of getting tested and going into Jamaica," Wardinski said. "If that is lifted, that is going to be hugely positive because there is a big, big group of people who are like 'I don't want to take the risk.'"

The company's Dominican Republic resorts have outperformed its Jamaican properties because of a difference in how highly restricted the two countries are for travel, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Ryan Hymel said. He noted the country had briefly put in travel restrictions in summer 2020, but those were lifted shortly after and "bookings picked up right away." But that doesn't mean there aren't headwinds.

"Airlift in this market remained extremely depressed throughout most of the third and fourth quarters of 2020, but that picked up meaningfully in December as we moved into the high season," he said.

The company continues to build momentum in the Dominican Republic, he said, particularly at its Hyatt Zilara Cap Cana and Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana properties, which he said have "captured market leadership and become the destination in this highly exclusive market."

In the first quarter of 2021, Playa recorded a net loss of $69.7 million with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization at their resorts down 89.2% year over year to $6.5 million.

The company recorded 31.6% occupancy for its portfolio of 22 all-inclusive resorts, with a net package average daily rate of $288.88 and revenue per available room of $91.40.

The company did report significantly better performance among its Yucatán Peninsula properties, which had 41.8% occupancy, $290.91 ADR and $121.66 RevPAR.

As of press time, Playa's stock was trading at $7.11 a share, up 19.5% year to date. The Nasdaq Composite was up 5.8% for the same period.