Eugene Mardell, General Manager, Hyatt Regency Houston Downtown

Invest: spoke with Eugene Mardell, general manager of Hyatt Regency Houston Downtown, about the positive momentum in Houston’s hospitality sector. “Houston is on par with London, Paris, New York, and Tokyo, but it offers that at a much discounted price,” Mardell said.

What trends are shaping demand at Hyatt Regency Houston Downtown?

The first quarter of 2026 was strong. March, in particular, was one of the most prosperous months we have seen in a long time, going back to the Super Bowl in 2017. There was a lot of compression in the market and a lot of activity in the city from a tourism standpoint.

Some of that has been driven by the convention center. Austin does not have a convention center at the moment, and Dallas is halfway under construction, so Houston has done a really good job of gaining some of that business, with the hope of retaining it beyond the construction of those other centers.

We started March strongly with the city hosting the National Cheerleaders Association event for the first time. It had 84,000 attendees across the city. That created a lot of compression, which helped our business. On top of that, we had the rodeo, the Sweet 16, and the Elite Eight, so there were a lot of events in the downtown area.

Our consistent business includes flight crews and key business accounts, especially in energy. We sit right next to Chevron’s headquarters and are surrounded by the energy base of downtown. Chevron’s acquisition of Hess and the rehousing of colleagues to this side of the Central Business District have benefited us, and we have seen a nice uptick in business from Chevron.

The medical sector also continues to be a great growth opportunity in Houston. I have worked in many cities across the United States, and the one thing Houston has that I think is quite unknown, and that it needs to promote better, is that it is, depending on who you ask, the third or fourth-biggest city in the United States. It is extremely diverse, has an amazing restaurant scene, and has everything a lot of big cities have, while the cost of living is fantastic.

There continues to be a huge amount of investment in Houston, which is exciting to see. It is a great place to live, and there is a lot of influx of people and investment coming here. That is not just in Houston; it is a similar story across Texas.

How is convention momentum and the planned expansion of the convention center influencing your outlook?

Like most hotels, we want to play in both markets. We want in-house group business because we get all the auxiliary spend, but it is also great to have a state-of-the-art convention center on our doorstep. The expansion is exciting because it keeps Houston up with other Texas cities that are expanding their convention centers.

Increasing the square footage and footprint allows us to attract even larger groups to the city. Downtown is walkable. A lot of people do not know about the tunnels, but the streets are equally great. Even though the Houston metro area is huge, the Central Business District is well served by public transportation, and it is not as large as people think.

We are on the west side of downtown and close to the convention center. The Marriott Marquis and Hilton are attached to the convention center, but we benefit from convention center business as well. There is Discovery Green, a lot of outdoor space, and many things the city does to keep downtown vibrant.

Sports are also important. It is an event-driven downtown district. We have Toyota Center, which hosts the Rockets and many other events, and Daikin Park, which houses the Astros. Their strong run of postseason baseball has helped activity around pop-up hotel stays, as well as food and beverage, restaurants, and bars.

How are mega events like the FIFA World Cup shaping your strategy?

We expect to see a lot of vibrancy in the market. What is nice about something like the FIFA World Cup is that many people may be coming to Houston for the first time. It is a great opportunity for the city to showcase what it does well. This is not our first rodeo. The city does well with large-scale events.

The difference between the FIFA World Cup and a one-time event is that it is drawn out over an extended period, which is extremely beneficial. Businesses need to look at those long-term windows. We will see peaks and troughs around game days, with occupancy spikes on game days and probably pre- and post-game days.

For many international travelers, this might be their first or only time in the United States. It is a great time to showcase not only the city, but also the country, and hopefully welcome them back downtown for the next game. If they choose to stay for an extended period, there is so much to do in the Houston area, from NASA to world-class museums.

I cannot stress the restaurant scene enough. I have worked from Los Angeles to New York and many places in between, and Houston is on par from a standpoint of the diversity of its restaurant scene. It is unbelievable. These are vibrant restaurants, not just weekend restaurants. They are packed Sunday through Saturday every week and have a great atmosphere. Every nationality is represented in Houston.

What is your outlook for the next two to three years?

The outlook is good. Houston and Texas are still cost-effective places to do business, and you can see that across the major metro areas through consistent growth. The statistics do not lie when it comes to the influx of investment and population. It is an attractive place.

We feel positive about the next two to three years. The city is hosting the RNC conference in 2028, and there is a lot of great citywide business already on the books over the next three-, five-, and 10-year windows.

Some of the short-term business over the next three to five years has benefited from Dallas and Austin having construction in their main convention spaces. Selfishly for Houston, we do not want that business to go back. We want to retain it. If we do a good job as a city and as individuals within the city, we will gain that business, and it will benefit Houston long term.

The first quarter of 2026 was an amazing start, and March in particular was one of the most prosperous months from a hotel standpoint that the city has seen. For the rest of the year, cautiously optimistic is probably the best way to describe it, which in today’s world is a huge plus.

Houston’s affordability is huge. It is a world-class city that offers world-class amenities for business and for people moving here. Houston is on par with London, Paris, New York, and Tokyo, but it offers that at a much-discounted price. That is why it continues to grow at such a rate.