The Highest Paid Hotel CEOs

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Skift Take

Have a look at last year’s hotel CEO settlement tables. The top managers succeeded, and why not? Navigating the pandemic was tricky. Yet there was a large variation in the pay in between most CEOs and employees. That’s more difficult to defend.

Sean O’Neill

Rob Goldstein, CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp., was last year’s best-paid public hotel business CEO. Goldstein’s settlement was $31 million.

Mark Hoplamazian, president and CEO of Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, was the second-best compensated hotel CEO in 2021. He made $24 million in total payment.

Goldstein and Hoplamazian led the CEO pay tables throughout a tough year for browsing a choppy pandemic recovery. They also led an eye-raising pattern of CEOs making numerous multiples more than the typical hotel employee.

Just like other hotel CEOs, Goldstein’s and Hoplamazian’s payment plans were greatly weighted in stock and alternative awards, which vest gradually. The quantities are quotes companies produced U.S. monetary regulators. Ultimate payouts might differ depending upon how the stock does.

The truth Goldstein led his peers in pay makes sense because of his settlement of arguably the biggest residential or commercial property deal of the year. Las Vegas Sands sold its Las Vegas homes– The Venetian Resort Las Vegas and the Sands Exposition and Convention Center– for about $6.25 billion to Apollo Global Management and Vici Residences.

Hoplamazian, in turn, led Hyatt through the largest acquisition in its history with a $2.7 billion offer to get Apple Leisure. Offered this outsized deal, one might argue the executive arguably was worthy of to be ahead of his other hotel peers in settlement.

Considered that Hyatt had a net loss of $222 million last year, its board couldn’t easily tie Hoplamazian’s compensation to hitting net income objectives. So Hyatt’s board rather highlighted strategic top priorities in 2021 when setting its reward strategy. These consisted of cultivating the very best talent, driving visitor customization, and principles like “grow with intent.”

Hyatt’s executive group broadly hit the metrics connected to these goals, the board said in its financial filings. The board gave credit to management for hitting an adjusted earnings target.

See the chart below outlining the 2021 compensation for hotel CEOs. We concentrated on popular hotel business, and we neglected real-estate investment trusts that own hotel possessions.

CEO Hotel Group 2021 Pay (all in)
Robert Goldstein Las Vegas Sands Corp. $31 million
Mark Hoplamazian Hyatt Hotels & Resorts $24 million
Christopher Nassetta Hilton Hotels & Resorts $23.3 million
Thomas Reeg Caesars Home Entertainment Group $22.5 million
Anthony Capuano Marriott International $18.4 million
Geoffrey Ballotti Wyndham Hotels & Resorts $18.2 million
William Hornbuckle MGM Resorts International $13.2 million
Matt Maddox Wynn Resorts $12.9 million
Patrick Pacious Choice Hotels International $11.2 million
Sébastien Bazin Accor $4.9 million
Keith Barr InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) $3.9 million
Alison Brittain Whitbread $2.6 million

Initially reported in regional currency and any dollar conversions are approximated. IHG figures are based upon the full workforce, consisting of hiring through third parties, and its CEO’s overall figure of compensation omits a relatively modest variable award. Side note: In early 2022, Matt Maddox left the CEO function, and Craig Billings ended up being CEO. Alison Brittain plans to leave the CEO role. Source: SEC and other monetary filings.

Hotel CEO pay bundles begin with an income, clearly. Yet compensation likewise includes a mix of additionals that, together, amount to far more. An annual bonus, a bundle of long-lasting share awards, extra help with pensions, and so on comprise the majority of the typical hotel CEO’s pay.

At the dozen leading hotel business in 2015, overall compensation for CEOs had a mean figure of $18 million.

Hotel CEO pay was higher than airline CEO pay. In 2015, the highest-paid airline company CEO in the U.S. was Delta’s Ed Bastian– at only $12.4 million.

Hotel CEO pay was also higher than what’s normal at many organizations. A U.S. study by the Institute for Policy Research studies of 300 openly held companies across industries discovered that the typical CEO pay was $10.6 million in 2015. A Wall Street Journal analysis of more than 400 business using MyLogIQ information discovered an average of $14.7 million in pay.

Hotel CEO Pay in 2021

It intuitively makes sense to hand a CEO top pay to handle hard times or to reset a bad strategy.

However some critics argue that the inverse ought to likewise hold true. Leading employers who anticipate additional stock awards while saving business should take a cut when their task ends up being easier in good times.

While some hotel CEOs gave up their salaries throughout the pandemic, total payment, thanks to long-term stock grants and other awards, didn’t drop much. We’re likewise unaware of any hotel CEO who has actually requested their total payment to drop after browsing the choppy rebound.

Today the supreme decision on CEO pay lies with investors. In good news for CEOs, investors who voted on compensation packages have voted to support high executive pay, finding that it remains in line with company performance. Credit where it’s due: Browsing a pandemic and its recovery has been one of the most difficult challenges hotel CEOs have dealt with in decades.

Hotel CEO Pay Ratio Versus Employee Pay

In our list of CEO pay at the lots largest parent hotel companies, we discovered that the median ratio of CEO pay to average worker pay was 442-to-1.

CEO Hotel Group 2021 Pay (all in) Compared to Staff (aside from the CEO)
Robert Goldstein Las Vegas Sands Corp. $31 million 866x average for personnel, $35,879
Mark Hoplamazian Hyatt Hotels & Resorts $24 million 665x average for personnel, $36,186
Christopher Nassetta Hilton Hotels & Resorts $23.3 million 631x typical for personnel, $36,915
Thomas Reeg Caesars Entertainment Group $22.5 million 634x median for personnel, $35,618
Anthony Capuano Marriott International $18.4 million 506x average for personnel, $36,505
Geoffrey Ballotti Wyndham Hotels & Resorts $18.2 million 505x median for personnel, $36,102
William Hornbuckle MGM Resorts International $13.2 million 379x mean for personnel, $34,988
Matt Maddox Wynn Resorts $12.9 million 294x average for staff, $44,048
Patrick Pacious Choice Hotels International $11.2 million 83x typical for personnel, $134,099
Sébastien Bazin Accor $4.9 million N/A
Keith Barr InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) $3.9 million 65x mean for personnel, $54,689
Alison Brittain Whitbread $2.6 million 105x typical for staff, $24,803

Initially reported in regional currency and any conversions are quotes.

In contrast, the U.S. research study by the Institute for Policy Research studies of 300 publicly held companies found that the average pay gap in between CEOs and staff members was 670-to-1.

Contrast both ratios with the trend in 1978, when the CEO-to-average-worker ratio was 30, according to a report by Lawrence Mishel and Julia Wolfe of the Economic Policy Institute.

Has running business truly gotten approximately 15 or 20 times as tough, and deserving of roughly 15 or 20 times as much settlement, over that time? Shareholders who vote on payment packages obviously believe that what matters most is motivating a strong stock performance, which the executives have actually done.

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