Global Hyatt Corp. named Amy Curtis-McIntyre to the newly created position of senior vice president of brand communication, in mid-April. Curtis-McIntyre is a longtime travel industry marketing and communications executive, but perhaps is best known for having been one of the very first employees at JetBlue, serving as that company's founding vice president of sales and marketing.

She helped build the JetBlue brand from the ground up, overseeing product design and development and brand development, as well as internal communication. She also spent time at Virgin Atlantic. HOTELS caught up with her one month into her new role at Hyatt to discuss the hotel company's global brand marketing and communication strategies moving forward.

HOTELS: Hyatt created a new position for you, reporting to the chief marketing officer—whose idea was this and why was it done?

CURTIS-MCINTYRE: I had met Mark Hoplamazian (CEO) and Tom O'Toole (CMO) through an investor in Hyatt that also was one of the original investors for JetBlue. We got together and created this position looking at Hyatt's long-term growth and brand plans. We thought there was a great opportunity to bring in my skill set of brand building at a time where Hyatt's growth plans would need it.

HOTELS: How will your background at JetBlue and Virgin Atlantic inform your work at Hyatt?

CURTIS-MCINTYRE: My experience at JetBlue was unique—I had opportunity to build the product from the inside out with an eye toward marketing. We didn't have any planes or seats to sell (when I started), so as vice president of marketing, the guilt of taking a paycheck turned my attention to product. My philosophy that product and marketing are inextricably linked came from that. Product and marketing together make a brand—they should complement and reflect each other.

I also spent a great deal of my time building communication up through training, orientation, employee collateral, tools and special events. So I hope my commitment to internal communications is going to be helpful here.

HOTELS: Where does Hyatt stand now with its brand positioning?

CURTIS-MCINTYRE: I think Hyatt has been a little quiet in the last couple years in terms of marketing, and we have tremendous product upgrades and property openings to [talk about]. But overall, I'm going to try to get back to the simple message that Hyatt has a phenomenal history of hospitality grounded in the communities and cultures we live in.

HOTELS: And you are responsible for developing both an internal communication strategy and launching Hyatt's first global advertising campaign… How will you tackle such a big job, and what is the timeline for the campaign?

CURTIS-MCINTYRE: First and foremost, we need to find the right agency to do that, and we are engaged in a search to find the right partner to help us bring our message to global light. We also are revisiting the customer research and brand work that our branding strategy partner did last year, and looking to that for guidance on the right kind of clear and simple positioning.

The strongest brands don't try to communicate that they are all things to all people, and don't try to communicate all the things they deliver on, because it is too difficult for consumers to remember all the things they say.

The best brands have a communication strategy that every member of the front-line staff—service people, valets, housekeepers—can articulate, or at least understand. So we are planning to build an internal communication strategy so that what we tell our consumers is also what we are bringing to life in the Hyatt headquarters and in all [locations] around the world.

I would say we'll have our new communication strategy in place in the next few months, and our new messaging out this fall for both Park Hyatt and the global brand (Hyatt).

HOTELS: These days, we hear a lot about the importance of authenticity for brands—what are your thoughts on this? What does it mean to have authenticity?

CURTIS-MCINTYRE: It is a coincidence that you ask that, as Hyatt's global brand positioning we are working off of is 'authentic hospitality.' To me, it is a genuineness and sincerity in service. I believe hospitality has taken place when there's an authentic exchange between an employee and a guest. That's usually related to the kind of people you hire and their desire to have that kind of connection with a guest.

On a more tangible level, Hyatt has built properties all over world that are connected to the communities they are in. I think that's unique. Not all our properties or employees look the same. You can get phenomenal ribs in the Hill Country in Texas, and a week later get sushi at the Park Hyatt Tokyo. By hiring and building so that you are both respectful and celebratory of the environment you're in, there's an authenticity there.

HOTELS: How important a role will the Web play in Hyatt's marketing and communication going forward?

CURTIS-MCINTYRE: The Web is hugely important to us. We have an excellent, new-ish vice president of e-commerce, and I am working closely with him on revamping Hyatt.com so that it communicates all of our products a little more effectively. He and I are collaborating on the messaging.

In addition, Hyatt is building an internal global portal for the first time. It will meet the basic needs of an Intranet, but it will be much bigger than that. Every employee will be able to build his/her own dashboard to organize the portal according to his/her own function and interest. We are putting a tremendous amount of time and effort into that, as I am a huge believer that internal communication should be even better than external communication. If you get that right, you are well on your way to better brand communication.

HOTELS: How will Hyatt incorporate green messaging into its communication in the future?

CURTIS-MCINTYRE: Hyatt has been doing the right thing for the environment longer than many hotel groups, but has chosen not to publicize it, instead doing it just because it is the right thing to do. Now we have a vice president of environmental affairs enabling the 70,000 members of the green team to trade best practices and do their jobs better. Hyatt is highly committed to a sustainable and environmentally correct future, and we are proud of the fact that we have been doing a pretty good job very quietly for a long time.

Moving forward, we will put out communication that makes sense to people. In the conference arena, there are now large conferences that have environmentally compliant positions, so we will produce the necessary communications to win that type of business. But we are more about getting the right thing done than saying we are getting it done and patting ourselves on the back. Of course, I hope to celebrate and make noise about the things we are doing right, but I think humility and generosity of service is part of our brand positioning.

HOTELS: With your brand-building background, how do you feel about what a Hyatt competitor, Starwood, is doing with brand building by bringing in former Nike executives as CEO and chief brand officer?

CURTIS-MCINTYRE: Should brand people be running hotels? What is more lifestyle-oriented than travel and the place you live in on the road? So I think bringing in brand leaders like the guys from Nike makes a lot of sense. Starwood did that with Ross Klein (now with Hilton)—Barry Sternlicht made a very strategic decision when he brought Ross in out of the fashion business.

I think Starwood's commitment to brand differentiation with its products, and its product improvement with all kinds of lifestyle applications and upgrades, is admirable. It has been well done; W in particular over last few years. And Westin is doing a great job of communicating itself as having core lifestyle benefits like spa. Starwood is challenging all of us to upgrade and be savvier about delivering lifestyle products that make customers choose one hotel or another. I love to watch them—it motivates me. It is a very exciting time to be in this business, and I think Hyatt is positioned to do an even better job. We are smaller, and I think our agility and focus on this area is going to make us exciting to watch over the coming months. Because we are playing with a very smart competitive set, it's fun. l

Direct comments to: derek.gale@reedbusiness.com