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1. Hyatt’s Pritzker retires amid Epstein connections
Thomas J. Pritzker, executive chairman of the board of directors at Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced his retirement from that role with immediate effect and has stated he will not seek re-election at the hotel firm’s annual meeting in May. The Chicago-based firm appointed president and CEO Mark Hoplamazian to the role, also effective immediately.
The New York Times cites Pritzker's retirement letter to the Hyatt board, in which he stated: "Good stewardship also means protecting Hyatt, particularly in the context of my association with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell which I deeply regret. ... [I] exercised terrible judgment in maintaining contact with them, and there is no excuse for failing to distance myself sooner.”
Epstein, a convicted sex offender and financier was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges before committing suicide in jail. Maxwell was sentenced to prison time over her links to Epstein.
2. IHG celebrates record hotel signings with new brand Noted
During a presentation of its full-year 2025 earnings results, management at IHG Hotels & Resorts launched a new soft brand called Noted Collection and a new share buyback program valued at $950 million, reports CoStar News Hotels. CEO Elie Maalouf said Noted will represent hotels that straddle the upscale and upper-upscale segments, and discussions are underway with owner partners interested in joining the brand.
In the last year, IHG reached and surpassed the one-million rooms mark, and had a year of record signings.
3. Mandarin Oriental signs two iconic Nile River hotels
Mandarin Oriental signed two hotels in Egypt, both famed hotels on the banks of the River Nile and both of which are undergoing renovation before reopenings in 2027.
The company will take over management of The Old Cataract Hotel, to be renamed the Mandarin Oriental Old Cataract, Aswan; and the Winter Palace hotel in Luxor, to be called the Mandarin Oriental Winter Palace, Luxor. Both developments are partnerships with Egypt’s Talaat Moustafa Group, and were formerly branded under Accor's Sofitel brand umbrella.
4. UK unemployment moves closer to five-year high
The rate of unemployment in the United Kingdom reached a near five-year high in the period between October and December 2025, according to the government’s official statistical body, the Office for National Statistics. The rate now is 5.2%, according to official data. That's an increase of 0.1% above the prior three-month period of September through November.
The ONS added on Feb. 17 that those in employment saw in the new period an increase in average annual pay of 4.2%, with the private sector seeing a 3.4% increase and the public sector a 7.2% increase. It added the number reflected “weak hiring activity,” resulting, many commentators feel, by the government’s chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves’ 2024 budget decision to increase National Insurance contributions and the national minimum wage.
5. Zimbabwean hotel firm African Sun seeks delisting
Management at Zimbabwe’s largest hotel firm, African Sun, said it proposes to delist from the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange and seeks shareholder approval at an extraordinary general meeting to be held on March 4.
The Harare-based firm recently agreed the sale of its 243-room Monomotapa Hotel, with adjacent parking lot, to Zimbabwe’s Public Service Pension Fund for $18 million, and its 56-room Great Zimbabwe Hotel, along with the operations of that hotel’s true owner, division Laclede Investments, for $4.2 million to domestic family office Mewame. It also is in negotiations to offload its 83-room Caribbea Bay Sun, also to the PSPF. Its portfolio contains seven hotels, including the storied Victoria Falls Hotel, which opened in 1904.