Jay Pritzker founded Hyatt in 1957. He bought the Hyatt House motel near the Los Angeles International Airport. In the next ten years, Jay and his brother Donald Pritzker expanded the company. They worked with the Pritzker family business and turned Hyatt into a North American hotel management and ownership company. It went public in 1962.
Hyatt International was created in 1968 and it also became a public company. The Pritzker family took Hyatt Corporation and Hyatt International Corporation private in 1979 and 1982. By the end of 2004, the Pritzker family had consolidated all their hospitality assets. This included Hyatt Corporation and Hyatt International Corporation. These are now part of Hyatt Hotels Corporation.
Who was Jay Pritzker?
Jay Pritzker, the founder of Hyatt Hotel, was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 26, 1922. He was intelligent and ambitious. Together with his brother Robert, he started the Marmon Group and Hyatt Hotels. His father, Abram Nicholas Pritzker, led the wealthy Pritzker family in the US. Jay was one of his three sons.
From a young age, Jay showed great promise. He attended the University of Chicago at just 14 years old. Later, he earned law and bachelor’s degrees from Northwestern University. Although law was the family profession, Jay chose a different path. In 1953, he and his brother Robert established the Marmon Group. This group managed the Pritzker family’s investments. Over time, they invested in a variety of manufacturing and transportation businesses.
Jay Pritzker’s Founding of Hyatt in 1957
In 1957, Jay Pritzker was on a business trip in Los Angeles. He realized that businesspeople like him might want to stay near the airport for short trips. He found the nearest motel to the airport was full. So, he made a deal with the owner, Hyatt Von Dehn, to buy it for $2.2 million. This motel was known as Hyatt House.
Jay and his brother Donald began to grow the Hyatt brand. Their second property was another Hyatt House motel near San Francisco International Airport. They expanded beyond California, establishing hotels near airports and in city centers nationwide. In 1967, they opened the Regency Hyatt House in Atlanta. It was the first hotel with an atrium design. People were unsure about it, thinking hot air might cause rain inside the atrium. But this design became a signature of Hyatt Regency hotels. The first international Hyatt, the Hong Kong Hyatt Hotel (now Hyatt Regency Hong Kong), opened in 1969.
Jay died on January 23, 1999. At that time, he and his brother Robert had built a fortune estimated at around $13.5 billion. Jay’s legacy includes the annual Pritzker Architectural Prize, which awards $100,000 to exceptional architects, and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago’s Millennium Park, finished in 2004.
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The history of HYATT
In 1957, Jay Pritzker bought Hyatt House. It was a small motor lodge near LAX. In 1967, the first Hyatt Regency property opened in Atlanta. Its 22-story atrium lobby was dramatic and its design was groundbreaking. This made Hyatt a leader in global hospitality. In 1969, Hyatt Regency Hong Kong became Hyatt’s first international location.
In 1972, Hyatt opened a central reservations office in Omaha, Nebraska. It had a dedicated toll-free 800 number. In 1980, Grand Hyatt New York and Park Hyatt Chicago opened. These added two iconic brands to Hyatt’s portfolio. In 1987, Hyatt launched Hyatt Gold Passport as its loyalty program.
In 1995, Hyatt Sunset Harbor opened in Key West, Florida. This marked Hyatt’s entry into the vacation ownership market. In 2006, the Hyatt Place brand was introduced in Lombard, Illinois. At the same time, Hyatt bought Summerfield Suites to expand into the extended stay market.
In 2007, the stylish Andaz brand debuted on Liverpool Street in London. In 2009, Hyatt went public on the NYSE. It trades under the ticker symbol H.
In 2011, Hyatt Thrive was launched as Hyatt’s global corporate responsibility platform. In 2012, Hyatt Summerfield Suites was renamed as Hyatt House. In 2013, Hyatt introduced the Hyatt Ziva and Hyatt Zilara brands in Mexico. These brands marked Hyatt’s entry into the all-inclusive resorts segment.
In 2015, the Hyatt Centric brand was launched. Its first location was in Chicago. It offered chic lodgings in prime city locations for cosmopolitan travelers. In 2016, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt became the 12th brand in Hyatt’s portfolio. It offered guests a new range of experiences.
On March 1, 2017, World of Hyatt was launched. It was a reimagined loyalty program designed to engage more with Hyatt’s loyal guests. In 2018, the new World of Hyatt Credit Card was launched. It rewarded members for their lifestyle, work, and travel. It included an industry-first Bonus Points fitness category. In the same year, Hyatt acquired Two Roads Hospitality. This expanded its hotel and resort portfolio with brands like Alila, Destination by Hyatt, JdV by Hyatt, and Thompson Hotels.
In 2019, Hyatt announced two new hotel brands. Caption by Hyatt was a lifestyle brand designed to inspire personal connections. UrCove was a brand developed with BTG Homeinns Hotels Group. It catered to China’s growing upper-midscale market of frequent business travelers. World of Hyatt continued to grow. It added a newly designed mobile app, expanded Small Luxury Hotels of the World destinations, and formed new alliances with American Airlines and Lindblad Expeditions.
On January 15, 2020, Hyatt announced a global wellbeing collaboration with Headspace. Headspace is a leader in mindfulness and meditation. Members could access a selection of meditations and sleep exercises in the World of Hyatt app and in-room at participating Hyatt hotels.
On November 2, 2021, Hyatt announced the acquisition of Apple Leisure Group (ALG). ALG is a leading luxury resort-management services, travel, and hospitality group. It has a unique collection of resort brands with the AMR™ Collection. This consists of more than 100 hotels and resorts across 10 countries.
