The story
Founded by Jack D. Crouch on Sep 27, 1957, in Los Angeles.1
Foundation and early years
The first Hyatt House was opened in 1954 by business partners Hyatt Robert von Dehn and Jack Dyer Crouch as a motel near Los Angeles International Airport. In 1957, the hotel was purchased by entrepreneur Jay Pritzker for US$2.2 million. His younger brother, Donald Pritzker, also took on an important role in the company. Considering the growing use of air travel for business, the Pritzker brothers realized that locating a high-quality hotel near a major airport was a valuable business strategy. Within two years, they opened Hyatt House Hotels near San Francisco International Airport and Seattle–Tacoma International Airport.
The company went public in 1962 as Hyatt Corporation. It had two divisions: Hyatt House Hotels and Hyatt Chalet Motels (renamed Hyatt Lodges in 1966).
In 1967, the company opened the Regency Hyatt House in Atlanta, Georgia (today named the Hyatt Regency Atlanta). The futuristic hotel was designed by Atlanta architect John Portman, who would go on to design many other hotels for the chain. It featured a massive indoor atrium, which soon became a distinctive feature of many Hyatt properties.
In 1968, Hyatt International was formed, to operate hotels outside the United States. It would soon become a separate company. In 1969, Hyatt opened its first international hotel, when it was awarded the management contract for the President Hotel in Hong Kong, which was renamed the Hong Kong Hyatt Hotel (later known as the Hyatt Regency Hong Kong).
In 1972, Hyatt formed Elsinore Corporation, a subsidiary to operate the Four Queens Hotel and Casino and the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa & Casino. Donald Pritzker died in 1972 and Jay Pritzker continued to run the company.
Hyatt became a private company in 1979, when the Pritzkers bought the outstanding shares. Elsinore was spun off as a public company. The company opened the Playboy Hotel and Casino as a joint venture with Playboy Enterprises.
Alongside the Hyatt Regency brand, the company introduced the Grand Hyatt brand in 1980, with the opening of the Grand Hyatt New York (now Hyatt Grand Central). That same year, the boutique Park Hyatt brand was also introduced.
The Pritzkers took Hyatt International private as well, in 1982. However, Hyatt and Hyatt International remained two separate companies until June 2004, when substantially all of the hospitality assets owned by the Pritzker family business interests, including Hyatt Corporation and Hyatt International Corporation, were consolidated under a single entity called Global Hyatt Corp. On June 30, 2009, Global Hyatt Corporation changed its name to Hyatt Hotels Corporation.
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Development since the 2000s
In December 2004, Hyatt Hotels Corporation acquired AmeriSuites, an upscale chain of all-suite business class hotels from affiliates of the Blackstone Group, a New York-based private equity investment firm. Blackstone had inherited AmeriSuites from its 2004 acquisition of Prime Hospitality. The AmeriSuites chain was rebranded and called Hyatt Place, a competitor to the limited-service products Marriott International's Courtyard by Marriott and Hilton Worldwide's Hilton Garden Inn.
In December 2005, Hyatt acquired limited service company Summerfield Suites from the Blackstone Group. Blackstone had inherited Summerfield Suites from its purchase of Wyndham International. In January 2012, Hyatt Summerfield Suites were rebranded as Hyatt House in 2012 to compete in the "upscale extended stay market" against Residence Inn, Homewood Suites, and Staybridge Suites.
Hyatt launched its first lifestyle brand, Andaz, in April 2007. Hindi for the word 'style', Andaz is positioned as a luxury brand, with the first hotel being a rebrand of the Great Eastern Hotel in London, followed by hotels in San Diego, West Hollywood, Shanghai and New York City.
In August 2009, it was reported that Hyatt Hotels Corporation filed plans to raise up to $1.15 billion in an initial share sale. That November Hyatt completed an initial public offering and began trading publicly on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol H. According to the filing Mark S. Hoplamazian was to serve as CEO and Thomas Pritzker as Executive Chairman. The public offering was a result of the acrimonious breakup of the Pritzker family empire. Accused of looting family trusts, Thomas and cousins Penny and Nicholas took control of the family businesses when they and other family members were sued by cousin Liesel Pritzker, claiming fraud and seeking damages of over US$6 billion.
On August 31, 2009 three Hyatt hotels in Boston laid off their entire housekeeping staffs, outsourcing the work to a Georgia company creating strong public backlash. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick threatened a boycott of the hotels by state employees traveling on official business. The housekeepers, who were fired without previous notice although some of them had worked for the Hyatt for over 20 years, became collectively known as the Hyatt 100. In December 2009, Hyatt was named the "Massachusetts Scrooge of the Year" by Jobs with Justice.
On September 1, 2011, Hyatt acquired Hotel Sierra, which had 18 properties in 10 states. Along with Hyatt Summerfield Suites hotels, several of these properties were rebranded as Hyatt House in January 2012.
In November 2013, Hyatt introduced their first all-inclusive resort brands, Hyatt Ziva and Hyatt Zilara, with the first resorts being opened in Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos and Rose Hall, Montego Bay, Jamaica.
On October 28, 2015, Hyatt announced that they were in advanced talks to acquire Starwood Hotels in a cash and stock transaction. The transaction was not completed, and Starwood was acquired by Marriott International instead.
In 2018, Hyatt saw expansion with the acquisition of Two Roads Hospitality. This added the Joie de Vivre, Destination, Alila, and Thompson hotel brands to the Hyatt portfolio, a growth of 85 hotels in 23 markets.
In March 2021, Hyatt announced the official opening of Hyatt's 1,000th hotel worldwide, Alila Napa Valley in St. Helena, California.
In August 2021, Hyatt acquired Apple Leisure Group (ALG), a luxury resort-management services, travel and hospitality group, from affiliates of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and KSL Capital Partners for $2.7 billion in cash. ALG's hotel portfolio consists of over 33,000 rooms operating in 10 countries. The acquisition will extend Hyatt's brand footprint into 11 more European markets.
In November 2022, Hyatt acquired Dream Hotels Group, a lifestyle hotel operator for $125 million, with up to an additional $175 million over the next six years as properties come into the pipeline and open. Dream Hotels Group's portfolio include 12 managed or franchised lifestyle hotels under four brands.
In April 2023, Hyatt acquired Mr and Mrs Smith, a UK-based platform offering direct booking access to over 1,500 boutique and luxury properties worldwide for £53.0 million in cash consideration.
In June 2024, Hyatt acquired the me and all hotels brand from Lindner Hotels AG, for which Hyatt has entered into a strategic collaboration with in 2022, consisting of six lifestyle hotels and over 1,000 rooms in central city locations across Germany.
In August 2024, Hyatt announced the planned acquisition of Standard International, an upscale boutique hotel operator, for $150 million, with up to an additional $185 million over time as additional properties enter the portfolio. The acquisition consists of 21 open hotels and more than 30 future properties under The Standard, Bunkhouse Hotels, Peri Hotels, The StandardX, and The Manner brands. With the transaction, Hyatt will form a new dedicated lifestyle group, managing all lifestyle brands and operations led by Standard International's Executive Chairman Amar Lalvani.
Hyatt acquired Standard International in August 2024.
That same month, Hyatt Regency Orlando, one of the region's largest convention hotels, was sold for $1.02 billion to Los Angeles-based Ares Management and Houston-based Rida Development — the nation's highest hotel sale in 2024. The sale of the 1,641-room hotel at 9801 International Drive came to about $622,000 per guest room.
In 2025, Hyatt closed on the sale of the real estate portfolio acquired from Playa Hotels & Resorts for $1.98 billion.
From Wikipedia’s article on Hyatt, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7