Skift Take
Most CEOs at the largest hotel companies ended 2022 with less actual overall compensation than they might have. We know this fact thanks to a splendid new U.S. reporting requirement, which cast pay packages in a fresh light.
Rob Goldstein, CEO and chairman of Las Vegas Sands Corp., was last year’s best-compensated public hotel company CEO, collecting $40 million. The second-most was Patrick Pacious, president and CEO of Choice Hotels International, who earned $27 million in total compensation.
Yet the newsiest detail in hotel CEO pay was something else. Most major hotel company CEOs ended 2022 with less actual overall compensation than first awarded. A new regulatory measure this year made it easier to see the difference between what CEOs aimed for and what they actually got.
A new rule this year required U.S. companies to more clearly report the equity awards that account for pay packages for top executives. In the past, companies reported compensation as valued when awarded. This year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission required companies to disclose a “compensation actually paid” measure — which provides a clearer picture of the paper gains and losses of top bosses for the three most recent years.
Hotel CEO pay packages begin with a salary and then add a buffet of incentives tied to meeting performance targets or the shifting value of company stock. An annual bonus, stock share awards, and ot