John Pritzker, son of Hyatt Hotels Corp. founder Jay Pritzker, is buying a majority stake in Joie De Vivre Hospitality Inc., an operator of boutique hotels in California, via his Geolo Capital firm,
the
Wall Street Journal
reported.
Pritzker has also contributed $150 million of his own money to a Geolo fund to buy more small hotels, the article said.
Geolo’s majority stake in Joie De Vivre includes only the hotel management operations and brand; it does not include the real estate, the
Journal
reported.
Mr. Pritzker had worked for 26 years at Hyatt Hotels Corp., the hotel chain his family built, but left to pursue other investments in 1988. The Pritzker family is in the midst of a 10-year plan to divest many of its holdings, including its huge Hyatt stake.
John Pritzker’s new venture will potentially put him in competition with Hyatt, which manages four boutique hotels under the Andaz brand and has more in development, the report noted.
Geolo and Joie De Vivre “expect to buy $300 million to $500 million of hotels within three to five years,” the
Journal
article said. (Source:
Wall Street Journal,
June 7, 2010.)
-
759 reads