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The first Hyatt House opened in 1954 by entrepreneurs 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 $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 motels near San Francisco International Airport and Seattle–Tacoma International Airport.In 1967, the company opened their Regency Hyatt House in Atlanta, Georgia . 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 International opened its first hotel, when it was awarded the management contract for the President Hotel in Hong Kong. The President Hotel was renamed the Hong Kong Hyatt Hotel .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. 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.Donald died in 1972 and Jay continued to run the company.The Hyatt Regency brand is the oldest brand in the company, with the Grand Hyatt and Park Hyatt brands being introduced in 1980. Some of these are styled as "resort" properties, and may have spas or other recreational facilities. One of the first of these was the Hyatt Regency Maui in 1980.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.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 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.
As of 30 November 2015, Hyatt had over 627 hotels worldwide.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.
