Hyatt

Infobox Company
company_name = Hyatt Hotels
company_
company_type = Hotels| foundation = 1957
location = Chicago, Illinois
key_people =
area_served = International
industry = Hospitality
products = Hotels| revenue =
operating_income =
net_income =
num_employees =
parent = Global Hyatt Corporation
subsid =
homepage = [http://www.hyatt.com Hyatt Hotels] | footnotes =

Hyatt is an international brand of hotels within the Global Hyatt Corporation that operates numerous properties.

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

History

The Hyatt Corporation was born upon purchase of the Hyatt House, at Los Angeles International Airport on September 27, 1957. The original owners were entrepreneurs, Hyatt R. von Dehn and Jack D. Crouch. Hyatt R. 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. Mr Pritzker heard the hotel was for sale while sitting in its coffee shop, called "Fat Eddie’s", waiting for a flight. He scribbled a bid for $2.2 million dollars on a napkin, and the Hyatt Corporation was born.Fact|date=February 2007 (That’s the equivalent of $15,770,581 in 2006). Jay Pritzker and Jack D. Crouch remained partners until 1965, opening airport hotels in several cities including San Francisco, Seattle, and San Jose. Crouch stepped away from Hyatt to pursue other hotel ventures, while Jay and his younger brother, Don continued to run Hyatt.

The Hyatt became famous after the chain opened the world's first atrium hotel in 1967, the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, [ [http://atlantaregency.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp Atlanta hotels] ] a decade after opening its first hotel.

In 1969, Hyatt opened its first hotel overseas, the Hyatt Regency Hong Kong (which closed at the end of 2005 and was demolished, the new one will open in 2009 [http://www.nwd.com.hk/html/eng/press_release_news.asp?itemID=178] ). 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 [ [http://maui.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp Maui Hotels] ] in 1980. Today Hyatt has over 340 hotels worldwide. [ [http://www.hyatt.com/hyatt/features/index.jsp Hyatt Locations] ]

In December 2004, Global Hyatt 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, Global Hyatt 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, Global Hyatt 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.

In June 2008, Harmit Singh was named as the new Chief Financial Officer. He is expected to be one of the main influences for huge growth in the Hyatt brand in the next 5 years. [http://www.hotelinteractive.com/hi_index.asp?page_id=5000&article_id=10778]

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.Fact|date=June 2008 Of these properties, some are styled as "Resort" properties, and may feature spas or other recreational facilities.Fact|date=June 2008

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. [ [http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070413/4/308se.html Global Hyatt Corporation Announces Andaz(TM) ] ] 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. [ [http://www.hotelnewsresource.com/article29431.html Hyatt's New Andaz Brand to Open in Austin's East Avenue Development :: Hotel News Resource ] ]

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.Fact|date=June 2008 The group also offers retial home décor and furnishings through Hyatt at Home, an online store featuring luxury products.Fact|date=June 2008

Notable properties

Atlanta

The [http://atlantaregency.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp 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.

Shanghai

The Grand Hyatt Shanghai [ [http://shanghai.grand.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp Shanghai Hotels] ] 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. It claims the title of "Highest Hotel In The World" and welcomes guests in a 33 floor atrium.

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

Jersey City Hyatt Regency, also used as headquarter for the NJ Clean Energy Conference [http://www.njcleanenergy.com/] .

San Francisco

The Hyatt Regency San Francisco provides a rooftop revolving restaurant called Equinox, offering 360-degree views of the city and the bay. This hotel was sold [ [http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2007/01/08/daily3.html San Francisco Regency] - 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. The property has been used several times as a filming location, featured most prominently in the Mel Brooks comedy "High Anxiety".

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.

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".

World events and Hyatt

Australia - The 2006 G20 Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors was held at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne between 18 November and 19 November 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. Repair work saw the hotel reopen for business in Fall 2007.

* 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.

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

Notes

External links

* [http://www.hyatt.com/ Hyatt Hotels Official Site]
*Hyatt Place - [http://www.hyattplace.com/ Business Travel Hotel]
*Summerfield Suites - Extended Stay [http://www.summerfieldsuites.com/ Hotel Suites]
*Hyatt Vacation Club - Time share [http://www.hyatt.com/hvc/index.jhtml?icamp=hyattHVCLogo Vacation Ownership]
* [http://www.hyattcentraleurope.com/ Hyatt Hotels Central Europe]
* [http://www.yattit.com/ yatt'it- a hyatt travel community]