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Hyatt Hotels
Type	Public (NYSE: H)
Founded	1957
Headquarters	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Key people	Mark S. Hoplamazian President & CEO
Industry	Hospitality
Products	Hotels
Website	Hyatt Hotels

For other uses, see Hyatt (disambiguation).

Hyatt Hotels Corporation is an international operator of hotels.

Mark S. Hoplamazian is the current President and CEO of Hyatt Hotels Corporation. He took over the position on November 28, 2006.

Hyatt Center (completed in 2005 & located in downtown Chicago at 71 South Wacker Drive) is the headquarters for Hyatt corporation. Prior to this, the corporate headquarters was around the corner at 200 West Madison Street.

[edit] History

Hyatt Hotels Corporation was born upon purchase of the Hyatt House, at Los Angeles International Airport on September 27, 1957. The original owners were entrepreneurs, Hyatt von Dehn and Jack D. Crouch. Von Dehn was eager to get out of the hotel business after a few years, so he sold his share in the hotel to Jay Pritzker. Jay's younger brother Donald took over day-to-day operations of the company and acquired motels and hotels, building a brand that remains among the leading names in the hospitality industry. Under Donald's leadership, Hyatt became the fastest growing hotel chain in the United States until his death in 1972.^[1]

Hyatt became famous after the chain opened the world's first atrium hotel in 1967, the Hyatt Regency Atlanta,^[2] a decade after opening its first hotel.

In 1969, Donald opened Hyatt's first overseas hotel, the Hyatt Regency Hong Kong (which closed at the end of 2005 and was demolished, the new one will open in 2009[1]). In 1980, the Grand Hyatt and Park Hyatt brands were introduced. Hyatt has become known for its resorts after the opening of Hyatt Regency Maui^[3] in 1980. Today Hyatt has over 340 hotels worldwide.^[4]

In 1972, Hyatt formed Elsinore Corporation, a subsidiary to operate the Four Queens Hotel and Casino and the Hyatt Lake Tahoe. After Hyatt became a private company in 1979, Elsinore was spun off into a public company. The company opened the Playboy Hotel and Casino as a joint venture with Playboy Enterprises.^[5]^[6]

In December 2004, Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced it would acquire 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 is being rebranded and converted to a new concept called Hyatt Place. With Hyatt Place, Hyatt Hotels Corporation will better compete with the limited service products Courtyard by Marriott and Hilton Garden Inn offered by industry leaders Marriott International and Hilton Hotels Corp.

In December 2005, Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced a second limited service acquisition, Summerfield Suites. Again the seller was the Blackstone Group. Blackstone had inherited Summerfield Suites from its purchase of Wyndham International. Summerfield Suites will be rebranded as Hyatt Summerfield Suites and positioned to compete in the upscale extended stay market against brands such as Residence Inn, Homewood Suites and Staybridge Suites.

On August 6, 2009, it was reported that Hyatt Hotels Corporation filed plans to raise up to $1.15 billion in an initial share sale. Hyatt plans to list the shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol H. According to the filing, Mark S. Hoplamazian will serve as CEO and Thomas Pritzker will serve as Executive Chairman.^[7] The public offering is a result of the breakup of the Pritzker family empire. Accused of looting family trusts, Thomas and cousins Penny and Nicholas were forced to wrest control of the family businesses when she and other family members were sued by cousin Liesel Pritzker claiming fraud and seeking damages in excess of $6 billion ^[8].

On August 31, 2009 three Hyatt hotels in Boston laid off their entire housekeeping staffs, outsourcing the work to a Georgia company for wages that were approximately half of those of the fired workers, creating strong public backlash.^[9] Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick threatened a boycott of the hotels by state employees traveling on official business.^[10]^[11] 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.

[edit] Brands

The Hyatt Group operates several chains of hotel. The Hyatt Regency brand is the oldest brand in the Hyatt hotel chain, with the Grand Hyatt and Park Hyatt brands being introduced in 1980.^{[citation needed]} Of these properties, some are styled as "Resort" properties, and may feature spas or other recreational facilities.^{[citation needed]}

Other brands include the Hyatt Place concept, designed as a limited service offering targeted to the business traveler. An extended stay chain, Summerfield Suites, was acquired by Hyatt in 2005, and features 20 locations in the United states. Hyatt also launched a new brand, Andaz, in April 2007.^[12] The first hotel to bear this brand is be The Great Eastern Hotel in London, with additional properties planned for New York and Austin, TX.^[13]

In addition to hotels, the Hyatt Group also operates apartment properties. These properties, called the Hyatt Residency, are co-located with Grand or Park Hyatt properties.^{[citation needed]} The group also offers retail home décor and furnishings through Hyatt at Home, an online store featuring luxury products.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Notable properties

Atlanta: The Hyatt Regency Atlanta was built in 1967 and was the first contemporary atrium hotel in the world. The hotel is also notable for being the first Regency hotel in the Hyatt brand. The hotel was influential in helping Atlanta develop into the international destination that it is today, and to this day remains the only major downtown Atlanta hotel with a front drive on the famed Peachtree Street. Architect John Portman designed building was the original Hyatt Regency property, was the first hotel centered around an atrium

Buenos Aires: Hyatt Hotels acquired the Duhau Palace, a Neoclassical former residence inspired in the Château du Marais, in 2002, and following the addition of a 13-story annex at the other end of the property, opened the Park Hyatt Buenos Aires in 2006.^[14]

Cairo: Located on Al-Roda Island, the Grand Hyatt Egypt was built in 1998 with 41 floors and 714 rooms. The hotel includes a shopping mall and there is a rotating restaurant.

Cleveland: The Hyatt Regency Cleveland, is located in the 1890s built Cleveland, Ohio Arcade. The Cleveland Arcade was a shopping center, but between 1998-2002 was renovated as the Hyatt Regency Hotel. There is some retail on the two stories, and the rooms follow after that. In addition there is a five-star restaurant named 1890, a reference of the year the Cleveland Arcade opened.

Connecticut: The Hyatt Regency Greenwich, located in Old Greenwich, CT is on the site of the former world headquarters of Conde Nast Publishing and retains the original building's corner tower.

Dallas: The Hyatt Regency Dallas, along with the fifty-story Reunion Tower, were featured prominently at the beginning of the opening credits of the television series Dallas.

Hollywood: The Continental Hyatt Hotel was in the movie Almost Famous starring Kate Hudson (2000), and its pool has featured in several films including This is Spinal Tap (1984), and the Park Hyatt Hotel in Century City was the scene of the famous "6th floor into swimming pool" scene in the 1989 movie Lethal Weapon 2 starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover.

New Jersey: The Jersey City Hyatt Regency is also used as headquarters for the NJ Clean Energy Conference.^[15]

San Francisco: The Hyatt Regency San Francisco formerly provided a rooftop revolving restaurant called Equinox, offering 360-degree views of the city and the bay – the restaurant is now an elite club for certain hotel guests only and it no longer rotates. This hotel was sold for close to $200 million to Dune Capital Management and DiNapoli Capital Partners in January 2007 – roughly $250,000 for each of the hotels 802 rooms.^[16] The property has been used several times as a filming location, featured most prominently in the 1977 Mel Brooks comedy High Anxiety.

Shanghai: The Grand Hyatt Shanghai^[17] is located in the Jin Mao Tower (floors 53 to 87). It has a ballroom for 1200 people, and meeting rooms which seat 400 comfortably. The Park Hyatt occupying the 79th to 93rd floors of the Shanghai World Financial Center, is considered the highest hotel in the world. SWFC measures 492 meters and has 101 stories.

Tokyo: The Park Hyatt Tokyo was featured prominently in the movie Lost in Translation, and also in an episode of I Survived a Japanese Game Show where that episode's winning team stayed in the suite featured in that movie worth $12,000/night, plus a personal chef.

[edit] World events and Hyatt

Trinidad – The 2009 Summit of the Americas, to be held at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad

Australia – The 2006 G20 Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors was held at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne between November 18 and November 19, 2006.

Israel – On November 17, 2001, Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi was assassinated in the Jerusalem Hyatt Regency on Mount Scopus.

Jordan – On November 9, 2005, the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Amman, Jordan was targeted by a series of coordinated terrorist attacks along with a Radisson SAS and a Days Inn hotel.

Philippines – The Hyatt Terraces Baguio in the northern city of Baguio collapsed after a July 16, 1990 earthquake.

United States

During Hurricane Katrina, the Hyatt Regency Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana received significant damage as almost all of its windows were blown out and the bottom floor was torn apart by flood damage. This hotel located in the Central Business District has not re-opened.
The Hyatt Regency Kansas City in Kansas City, Missouri was the site of one of the worst hotel disasters in US history. On July 17, 1981 two of the three skybridges that transversed the hotel's lobby collapsed during a tea dance. The walkways were packed with people when a structural failure occurred causing one bridge, which was hung from the bridge above it, to pull both bridges loose from the ceiling and collapse. 114 people were killed and over 200 were injured. The hotel was later renamed the Hyatt Regency Crown Center.

Main article: Hyatt Regency walkway collapse

During Hurricane Alicia in 1983, the Hyatt Regency Houston in Downtown Houston sustained damage where 74 windows were damaged; Alicia was a Category 3 storm.

[edit] Hyatt Gold Passport

Hyatt Gold Passport is Hyatt's hotel rewards or loyalty program. Membership is free and can be completed either online or with the assistance of a reception desk agent at the hotel. Points can be accumulated and used for redemption nights, upgrades or converted into airline miles with partnering airlines.

[edit] Membership levels

Gold- The basic level of membership. You can start accumulating points towards free nights starting with the first stay.
Platinum- Earned after 5 eligible stays or 15 eligible nights, whichever comes first.
Diamond- Earned after 25 eligible stays or 50 eligible nights, whichever comes first.

[edit] Gallery

Looking up inside the 32-story atrium of the Shanghai Grand Hyatt, part of the Jin Mao Tower	Hyatt West Hollywood in West Hollywood, California	Hyatt Regency in Atlanta, Georgia	Hyatt Regency in São Paulo, Brazil
Hyatt Regency in Delhi, India	A Hyatt Regency in Cologne, Germany. The KölnTriangle is in the background	A Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara, California, in the United States, Westin Hotel	Hyatt Regency at Orlando International Airport
Hotel Hyatt Regency Kiev in Kiev, Ukraine	Hyatt Regency in Cleveland, Ohio	The Park Hyatt of Buenos Aires, Argentina