Hyatt Hotels Corporation has long been known as a multinational company which provides upscale lodging to guests over the decades — but have you ever wondered after whom was Hyatt Hotels Corporation named?
After Whom Was Hyatt Hotels Corporation Named?
What is believed to be the first airport hotel property in the world opened as Hyatt House at Los Angeles International Airport in 1953 by two entrepreneurs: Hyatt Robert von Dehn and Jack Dyer Crouch. “While hotel men at the time thought he was making a mistake, the hotel — 80 rooms and a coffee shop, far from downtown Los Angeles — operated at capacity from opening day and added 70 rooms within a year”, according to this article from The New York Times which announced the death of Hyatt Robert von Dehn at 58 years of age on Tuesday, July 31, 1973, leaving behind a wife and two sons. “For the next eight years, Mr. von Dehn’s 150‐room hotel operated at 98 per cent occupancy, a phenomenal figure for an industry used to regarding 65 per cent or more as ‘good.’”
The official Internet web site of Hyatt Hotels Corporation continues the story: “Hyatt was founded by Jay Pritzker in 1957 when he purchased the Hyatt House motel adjacent to the Los Angeles International Airport. Over the following decade, Jay Pritzker and his brother, Donald Pritzker, working together with other Pritzker family business interests, grew the company into a North American management and hotel ownership company, which became a public company in 1962. In 1968, Hyatt International was formed and subsequently became a separate public company. Hyatt Corporation and Hyatt International Corporation were taken private by the Pritzker family business interests in 1979 and 1982, respectively. On December 31, 2004, substantially all of the hospitality assets owned by Pritzker family business interests, including Hyatt Corporation and Hyatt International Corporation, were consolidated under a single entity, now Hyatt Hotels Corporation.”
The purchase price of the Hyatt House property by Jay Pritzker in 1957 was reportedly $2.2 million.
Summerfield Suites was acquired by Hyatt Corporation in December of 2005 from the Blackstone Group, which had inherited the limited service brand from its purchase of Wyndham International. Hyatt Summerfield Suites was rebranded as Hyatt House in January of 2012 to compete in what is considered to be the upscale extended stay market against Staybridge Suites by InterContinental Hotels Group; Homewood Suites by Hilton; and Residence Inn by Marriott International, Incorporated.
Final Boarding Call
Many people are familiar with the Pritzker family as the owners of what is now Hyatt Hotels Corporation; but as I wondered to myself why the lodging company was named Hyatt, I figured I was far from the only person who did not know — especially that Hyatt House was the original name of that first property.
All photographs ©2023 by Brian Cohen.
