When Dan Hansen fully walked away from Summit Hotel Properties — the real estate investment trust he helped build as chief executive — in 2022, he knew he wasn't completely done with the hotel industry.
But instead of jumping back into building another investment and development vehicle, Hansen decided his next chapter would be completely different, focused on what he believes is the "fun side of the business."
"I feel incredibly fortunate and blessed to have taken a company public and led it as president for over a decade," he said. "Everybody looks at retirement as kind of the end of the game, but I just really missed the industry. I mean, it's filled with great people, many of which are my friends. They're owners. They're developers. They work for brands. There's the tireless workers at the [American Hotel & Lodging Association], all continuing to focus on creating this vibrant and rewarding industry and to serve guests."
Hansen lead Summit at the time it went public in 2011 then spent a decade as president and CEO of the company before Jonathan Stanner to take over the chief executive role. He served as executive chairman of the REIT for a year before fully retiring.
When executives at Hyatt Hotels Corp. approached Hansen about leading the newly launched upper-midscale, extended-stay brand Hyatt Studios, he jumped at the opportunity.
"I really only would've come out of retirement for something that was really meaningful that I felt was a real game-changer, and of course only with people that I trust and were my friends," Hansen said. "Hyatt Studios really hit all those buttons for me."
Hyatt announced the brand in April with a planned development pipeline of 100 hotels. Hansen said he's already felt a wave of new energy and excitement from getting the chance create something new.
"I've always kind of viewed myself as a little bit more of an entrepreneur, and this brand in this space felt like such an overwhelming opportunity," he said. "The white space Hyatt has and the opportunities for growth and to really be a category killer — they just don't exist anywhere else."
Hansen and Hyatt President and CEO Mark Hoplamazian have said Hyatt Studios will seek to push the company into new spaces not just in terms of segmentation but new markets, which means the brand has the potential to be a primary growth driver and significantly expand the World of Hyatt loyalty offering.
Hansen said buying an existing mid-market brand to bolt on and add scale and distribution wouldn't necessarily have lived up to the high standards of Hyatt and its guests.
"Guests want something new or newly renovated, and when you buy an existing brand, it's usually for sale for a reason," he said. "Brands get old. They get tired. The industry has been referenced many times as being under-demolished and not overbuilt. To have a product that is new and consistent that we can deliver at the speed at which we started out, I think that gets us there not overnight but much faster than trying to buy a tired old portfolio and trying to renovate it."
One of the keys for Hyatt Studios' quick growth — with a handful of properties slated to begin construction and open as soon as 2024 — is the flexibility and efficiency for owners.
"That's one of the reasons I'm here," Hansen said. "I come from the developer and owner side. When new brands come out, you ask 'Why?' Is this targeting a new guest or is there actual white space here? ... We always went into this in my prior life as 'What is the strongest brand that we can almost tailor-make to this market?'"
Hansen said when Hyatt executives first contacted him in November 2022, they made it clear his experience as an owner was a huge selling point both to them and to their community of owners and franchisees.
"As we work with the incredibly talented group at Hyatt, we cannot lose sight of a development process and an offering that can create an incredible amount of value for developers and really satisfy this continuing evolution of guest preference," he said.
Hansen said at Summit he was known for a willingness to be vocal across the industry and push for positive change, and that's going to remain consistent in his role at Hyatt.
"I don't know any other way to be other than open, honest and transparent," he said.