Two well-placed sources tell me that Hyatt is a finalist to acquire Two Roads Hospitality which manages and operates Alila Hotels & Resorts, Destination Hotels, Joie de Vivre Hotels, Thompson Hotels, and tommie Hotels.
- Destination Hotels is 47 properties
- Joie de Vivre is 19 properties, with their largest presence in California
- Alila is 17 plus 3 in pipeline, with a concentration in Indonesia and India
- Thompson Hotels has 10 locations
- And tommie has 1 coming
Alila Uluwutu, Bali
That’s nearly 100 hotels, acquiring the group would grow Hyatt’s footprint by about 15%. That’s not as big as what they would have accomplished if they had been successful acquiring NH Hotels and doesn’t add very much in Europe but represents a very good fit with Hyatt’s upscale brand and gives them a number of luxury properties in the U.S. and Asia especially.
Two Roads Hospitality has been getting shopped. I’m told that it’s a deal several chains have looked at, and that Loews may have been a finalist, but it appears things tilted towards Hyatt this week. A Co-Chairman of Two Roads is John Pritzker of the Hyatt Pritzkers.
Hyatt isn’t in a position to catapult themselves up to the size of their larger rivals like IHG, Marriott, and Hilton.
- They tried to grow by buying Kimpton, but wouldn’t overpay as much as IHG did.
- They tried to grow by buying Starwood, but their complicated stock structure — the Pritzker family has outsized voting rights — was a challenge.
There are plenty of smaller chains left. Most are like Omni and Loews which would hardly move the needle. Even chains with several hundred properties that are left are mostly regional.
Still Hyatt is clearly looking to do deals that grow their footprint and which fit with their upscale brand. If this deal materializes it will be great for Hyatt members, though will still leave Hyatt in need of additional deals to compete with larger rivals and still leave Hyatt weaker in the lower end space.
Hyatt wouldn’t confirm or deny an acquisition, but a spokesperson shared “It is not our policy to comment on potential transactions. However, we continue to evaluate opportunities to invest in the growth of our business while maintaining our commitment to reduce our portfolio of owned real estate.”
Alila Seminyak, Bali
At this point it isn’t clear the counters of any potential deal. For instance Two Roads also manages properties that are part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection, Aloft and Luxury Collection, as well as Hilton brands Curio, DoubleTree, Hilton, and Embassy Suites.
As a Hyatt top tier elite member I’d be excited to see this deal come to fruition.
I believe you mean Two Roads Hospitality.
@Mike yes I corrected this after I got several emails 🙂 I typed this while I was on the phone and admittedly distracted. Ooops!
Joie de Vivre would be a great fit. Locally eclectic like Park Hyatt.
However, yeah, the small geographic footprint makes this somewhat of a yawner.
I am in favor of this deal. Hyatt needs to make sure not to dilute the brand, I think buying this company avoids doing this.
Alila operates beautiful resorts in Bali. Should be a very nice fit
This is great news and hopefully they can close the deal! It would be great to have the Joie de Vivre options, like Carmel Valley Ranch and many more options in SF beyond just the Grand Hyatt and HR. These would be awesome additions to the Unbound Collection.
Isn’t John Pritzker the main shareholder of Two Roads?
@michael
Yah he is. Wasn’t a secret and that would have been something to mention in the first sentence of this blog. they have other equity investors and lenders just an outright sale to Hyatt would have been silly without trying to see if they can get someone to dramatically overpay first. That said I’ve been told they still haven’t settled on a price but that’s not all that atypical either as well its complicated to arrive at a fair price. I still don’t get why they didn’t link to Hyatt but stay somewhat independent (kind of like Kessler and Marriott) unless they need the buyout…