A bold new stage of growth paralleled by a new executive management structure has given Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels Corp. the strength it needs to continue to be a major player in the new millennium. ?We?re a classic balance of opportunism and strategic thinking,? said Nick Pritzker, president of Hyatt Development Corp. in an exclusive sit-down interview with HOTEL BUSINESS? that also included Doug Geoga, who recently vacated the president?s slot at Hyatt Hotels, and Scott Miller, former executive vp at Hyatt Development and now president, Hyatt Hotels. One of the only major first-class lodging companies that is privately held, Hyatt must compete with some of the largest public lodging groups such as Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Marriott International and Hilton Hotels which are all equipped with seemingly unlimited resources, buying power and numerous brands. But Hyatt has never worried about what others were doing? case in point is when it introduced the previously unheard of atrium lobby to the hotel industry in the late 1960s at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, its first full-service hotel. The company has historically adopted an inward operating focus and continues to do so today. Its executive management succession, which took place at the start of 2000, is characteristic of that internal focus, an attribute which has helped the private giant steer a steady course through years of hospitality ups and downs relatively unscathed. That, paired with its opportunistic management philosophy, has allowed Hyatt to not only buck industry trends, but prosper in doing so? gross annual sales rose to $3.6 billion in 1999, up from $3.3 billion in 1998. Miller said that the fact that Hyatt is a private entity that has no ties to Wall Street has allowed it to grow at its own pace, ?not one dictated by the public markets and industry analysts.? But Hyatt?s lack of headline news doesn?t mean that it hasn?t been busily working on growing its portfolio. Unlike many public companies that merged together to capture a larger piece of the pie, Hyatt adopted the single-asset approach to expansion, quietly securing deals, and careful not to overpay for new assets, said Miller, who executed many of the deals that are coming on line this year. ?Hyatt?s growth has its roots in the same period of time when public companies were growing rapidly,? said Miller. ?Over the last several years Hyatt has been a very active investor in real estate,? he said. Miller noted that the company has spent more than $800 million on chain expansion, putting in place a number of developments that will stretch Hyatt?s reach both domestically and internationally. (Hyatt International is also experiencing robust growth.) He reasoned that by doing so carefully, the company was able to secure ?jewels? in locations that are considered some of the best. Pritzker said a mixture of keeping his ear to the ground and luck has allowed such deals to be executed. He described Hyatt?s deal-making ability as one that is well thought out, but also flexible enough to take advantage of situations that arise suddenly, which gives the company a leg-up on some of its publicly-held competitors. ?Sometimes a deal will fall into our lap that we weren?t necessarily thinking of doing in a particular area but it makes sense and we do it. And then there are other cases where we studied and spent a lot of time in a market but it doesn?t happen,? said Pritzker. Pritzker, Geoga and Miller, fully aware of the benefits of being a private entity, said they plan to take advantage of the current climate which favors private capital to execute even more transactions. ?We think it?s a great luxury to be a private company,? said Geoga. ?There are a number of advantages to being private. We are able to take a longer term approach to management decisions that we make, whereas public companies are responsive to the shorter term focus of the capital markets. As a result, we are able to steer a steadier cours
