Hyatt Hotels Corporation has put digital product, engineering, infrastructure, enterprise technology, data, AI and cybersecurity under one executive, and that executive reports to the company’s Chief Commercial Officer. Danny Miles joined on November 9 as Chief Digital & Information Officer, leading what Hyatt calls a “newly combined Digital and Technology organization.”
Operators should note where that job sits. Hilton made its own senior technology hire a month earlier and placed it differently: Jeff Moore, Hilton’s new Chief Technology Officer from Uber, reports to president and CEO Chris Nassetta. Two U.S. hotel companies have now hired technology leaders from consumer platforms within five weeks, and they have wired those jobs into the business in two different places.
What Hyatt announced
According to Hyatt’s announcement, Miles joins the Senior Leadership Team and reports to Mark Vondrasek, Chief Commercial Officer. His remit covers digital product and experiences, engineering, infrastructure, enterprise technology, data, AI and cybersecurity. Hyatt says he will use that combined organization to “accelerate technology modernization, strengthen hotel operations and develop more personalized experiences” across its brands.
Advertisement
Vondrasek framed the hire as the next step in work already under way: “We’ve already made significant and meaningful investments in modernizing our systems platforms and putting AI to work across the business.” The release puts a number on part of it. Hyatt says its portfolio of personalization tools “has driven over $100 million in incremental booking revenue to Hyatt properties,” and that it has built proprietary AI-enabled tools that give hotel leaders insight across a hotel’s full operation.
Where Miles comes from
Miles has spent most of his career in consumer commerce. Hyatt lists him as Chief Technology Officer at Under Armour, where his work spanned e-commerce and mobile, omnichannel order management, loyalty platforms and enterprise data, including AI for demand planning and financial forecasting. Before that he was CTO at Dollar Shave Club, running the technology behind its e-commerce, subscription and membership businesses, and Vice President of Direct-to-Consumer Technology at Nike, where he led the cloud migration strategy. Earlier, at International Game Technology, he led development of what Hyatt calls the industry’s first server-based casino gaming system.
Miles described the brief in his own words: “Hyatt has a unique opportunity to bring the best of modern consumer technology into hospitality while staying true to its purpose of care.”
Two hotel companies, two reporting lines
Hilton’s release says Moore led a global organization of 2,500 engineers at Uber supporting Uber Eats, Uber for Business and Uber’s growth and marketing technology, after leadership roles at Amazon that included Fulfillment by Amazon and the Kindle, Fire TV and Echo device lines. Hilton gave October 26 as his start date as Executive Vice President and CTO, with a seat on Hilton’s Executive Committee.
The hiring pattern is the same at both companies: engineering leaders from e-commerce, subscription and on-demand platforms, brought in to run technology for brands with large loyalty bases. Hilton counts more than 270 million Hilton Honors members, and Hyatt’s portfolio covered more than 1,500 hotels and all-inclusive properties in 84 countries as of September 30, 2026.
The org charts differ. At Hilton, technology reports straight to the CEO. At Hyatt, technology, data and security now sit inside the commercial function, alongside the teams that run sales, distribution and loyalty. In our reading, that placement tells owners how Hyatt will score technology projects: by what they do for bookings and guest revenue first. The release supports that reading with its choice of proof point, which is incremental booking revenue from personalization.
What it means for owners, franchisees and management companies
Vondrasek’s quote names owners alongside colleagues and guests as the people the new organization should “deliver value for.” For owners and the management companies that run Hyatt-branded hotels, a combined digital and technology group under the commercial chief changes who sits across the table when brand technology is discussed.
Owners and asset managers
The $100 million figure is the number owners will hear in brand meetings. The release does not say over what period it was measured, how “incremental” was defined, or how it was split across properties. Spread evenly across more than 1,500 hotels, it would come to roughly $67,000 per property, a figure that only means something once the period and the attribution method are known. Asset managers should ask for both before the number shows up in a fee discussion.
Franchisees and management companies
Hyatt says Miles will advance “the core technology platforms that support hotels, commercial operations and guest experiences.” For a management company that runs several brands, a modernization program means new certification requirements, integration work and training on the property side. The time to ask which platforms come first, on what schedule, and who pays for property-level changes is before the roadmap is set.
Security and IT leads at the property and portfolio level
Cybersecurity is listed inside Miles’s remit, which places it under the commercial organization at Hyatt. Portfolio IT leads who coordinate with the brand on incidents, PCI scope and access to shared systems should confirm their escalation contacts under the new structure and whether existing agreements change.
What it means for vendors selling to hotel groups
Hyatt has merged digital product and enterprise technology into one organization with one leader. A vendor of PMS, CRS, CRM, guest messaging or data tools that pitched those teams separately now meets a single executive whose stated goals are modernization, hotel operations and personalization, and whose boss is measured on commercial results. Expect proposals to need a revenue case that a commercial chief can sign.
The same shift is visible elsewhere in our coverage. Marriott’s third quarter showed how much of a franchisor’s fee line now comes from loyalty and co-branded cards, and Accor’s partnership with Hard Rock turned a loyalty and distribution platform into something one company offers another. Technology that feeds those programs is commercial technology, and Hyatt has organized for that.
What to do now
Owners and management companies with Hyatt-branded properties can take three steps before the first roadmap announcement:
- Ask the brand for the measurement behind the $100 million personalization figure: the period, the attribution method and the property-level split.
- Ask which core platforms the combined Digital and Technology organization will modernize first, and how property costs, certification and training will be handled.
- Confirm security escalation contacts and any changes to shared-system access agreements under the new reporting structure.
Vendors selling into large hotel groups should map who owns technology spend at each brand they sell to. At Hilton that line runs to the CEO, and at Hyatt it now runs through the Chief Commercial Officer.
Source: Hyatt Hotels Corporation
