Further sadness in the hotel industry

We received more bad news yesterday, with the announcement that Hyatt executive Steve Hymans died on Sunday due to complications from heart surgery. Last week, Marriott International Vice President Doug Ely died in a freak auto accident in which a load of lumber from a truck fell from a freeway overpass onto his car. The tragedy occurred in suburban Washington, DC as Ely was on his way to work as assistant general counsel for the hotel giant.

Hymans was vice president of the Southeast region for Hyatt Select Hotels and its AmeriSuites and Summerfield Suites brand. Before that post, which he took last September, Hymans was senior VP-operations for the Hawthorn Suites brand of US Franchise Systems.