Scoop: Tamara Lohan on Leadership, Motherhood, and Redefining Luxury in Her New Role at Hyatt

Hyatt announced this week that Tamara Lohan has been appointed the interim global brand leader for the company’s luxury division, a move that signals a new chapter for Hyatt’s fastest-growing segment and a sharper focus on identity, emotional resonance and authentic brand storytelling. Just hours after the news broke, she sat down with me for hertelier (and this article in Luxury Travel Advisor) at ILTM Cannes for her first interview in the role. Scoop!!

The timing could not be more significant. Hyatt’s luxury footprint is expanding at an unprecedented rate with nearly 125 properties worldwide and more than 170 in the pipeline. Lohan, who joined the company through Hyatt’s $66 million dollar acquisition of Mr and Mrs Smith in 2023, now oversees strategy and guest experience standards across Park Hyatt, Alila, Miraval and The Unbound Collection by Hyatt.

But what becomes quickly apparent is that her mandate is not simply operational—it is emotional, philosophical and deeply personal.

Luxury Travel as a Personal Experience

When Lohan talks about luxury, she doesn’t reference square footage or marble counts. She talks about feeling. “Luxury is personal,” she told me. “My luxury is different from your luxury. It depends on why you’re traveling, the mode you’re in and the generosity of the service.”

Her goal is not to scale uniformity across Hyatt’s luxury brands but to protect their individuality—and, in many many ways, their soul. “When you’re in an Alila, you should know you’re in an Alila,” she said. “When you’re in a Miraval, the experience is completely different.”

She explained that Alila properties are rooted in place and culture; Miraval focuses on wellbeing and intention; Park Hyatt offers calm, residential-style luxury in global gateway cities; and The Unbound Collection celebrates narrative-rich, character-forward independent hotels.

This is not theoretical positioning, it is the framework she refined over two decades at Mr and Mrs Smith, where always, the question was: What makes this place feel like itself? Storytelling, she said, is how guests understand that. “Every property is unique. To bring it to life, you tell the story.”

Hyatt’s Luxury Growth and Brand Evolution

Hyatt’s growing slate of openings puts this philosophy into motion. In 2026, Miraval will open internationally for the first time with Miraval The Red Sea, an adults-only retreat on Saudi Arabia’s Shura Island. Park Hyatt is entering a major expansion cycle with new properties in Cabo del Sol, Cancun, Mexico City, Vancouver and Phu Quoc, along with the emotionally charged reopening of Park Hyatt Tokyo.

“People have such a deep emotional connection to that hotel,” she said of the Tokyo property, made iconic by the film Lost in Translation. “The pressure is extraordinary, but it’s beautiful to see how much they care about preserving the feeling guests have when they walk in.”

She referenced Hyatt co-founder Jay Pritzker, who envisioned Park Hyatt as small, intimate and art-driven decades before boutique was a category. “He cared about creating a place that felt intimate and expressive. That’s the DNA,” she said. “Our job is to protect it while opening the door to the next generation of travelers.”

Women, Ambition, and the Reality of “Balance”

Perhaps the most resonant part of our conversation was her candor about motherhood. “People talk about balance,” she told me, “but the truth is it doesn’t really exist. Some days you feel like you’re doing too much work. Some days you feel like you’re ignoring work because of family commitments. The perfect day is rare.”

She recalled the early years of Mr and Mrs Smith, when her children were small and the business was consuming. Their nanny would send photos during the day. “Every photo was like a stab in the heart—because that should be me,” she said. “But I still wanted the photos.”

Her honesty reflects a reality many women navigate quietly: the dual ache of wanting to be fully present at home and fully committed at work. Now, with her children aged sixteen and eighteen, she is in a different chapter, but the leadership lessons remain. “You figure it out day by day,” she said. “None of us get it right all the time.”

The Power of Women’s Networks

When I asked who supports her, Lohan’s answer revealed a vital part of her leadership story. She belongs to a group of senior women leaders called WITSEND, a circle that has sustained her through the realities of executive life.

“It became a forum where I could literally ask anything,” she said. “We all appear composed, but we have kids, we are running businesses, and life is a lot. Everyone needs that kind of network.”

In moments of doubt, she turns to them. “I messaged one of them recently and said I felt out of my depth,” she told me. “She replied: put your big girl pants on, you’re brilliant. And that was all I needed.”

This is the emotional infrastructure too often missing for women in business, and Lohan is intentional about nurturing it. The WITSEND group has grown from nine to over 200 women.

Championing Women Through Leadership

One of the clearest through-lines in Tamara’s career is her instinct to pull other women forward. When she speaks about women she works with, her tone shifts. It becomes softer, more proud, more deliberate.

She lit

Emily Goldfischer and Tamara Lohan at ILTM media center

up most when talking about Natasha Shafi, her longtime colleague and now CEO of Mr and Mrs Smith. “To see her thriving in that role, in her early forties, is brilliant,” Tamara said. “She was always the right person for it.”

Tamara believes deeply in sponsorship, not just mentorship. It’s not just offering advice; it’s opening doors, preparing women behind the scenes, advocating when they aren’t in the room, and stepping back so they can step forward.

“Supporting women in their careers—that’s a very fulfilling part of what I do,” she told me. “When you’ve been through the intensity of building a business, you want the next generation to have champions.”

A New Chapter for Hyatt—and for Tamara

After the acquisition of Mr and Mrs Smith for $66 million, people may have assumed Tamara might step back. She could have. Instead, she stepped forward.

“You would never ask a man that question,” she said with a laugh when I asked why she chose to take on such a demanding new role. “The opportunity is too interesting. I see how I can help. And I am too young to stop work. If I stopped working, I’d be very annoying to my children. They would become my project.”

I agreed that men never get asked questions like that, and we shared a laugh, but beneath the humor sits a deeper truth: women do not need permission to stay ambitious.

In advance of this interview, I discussed the news of Tamara's promotion with co-founder and columnist Nancy Mendelson. It inspired her to write this widely shared piece, “‘She Doesn’t Need to Work.’ Oh Really?”, a look at how women’s professional drive is questioned in ways men’s rarely are.

Tamara offers her own answer.

“When you no longer have to worry about finances, you can focus on things that are fun, interesting, where you can make an impact.”

Hyatt is entering an important chapter: one defined by brand evolution, ambitious openings, and a sharpened global vision for luxury.

Under Tamara’s direction, that vision won’t be luxury by scale. It will be luxury defined by feeling, context, and story... and by women supporting women at every step. And we can't wait to see her impact!