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January 18, 2017
Hyatt Acquires Miraval to Bring Wellness to Business Travel
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Under terms of the deal, Hyatt will pay $215 million for the Miraval brand and two resorts, the companyÕs flagship destination wellness spa in Tucson, ArizonaÑa five-star favorite of Oprah Winfrey and other celebritiesÑand the Travaasa Resort in Austin, recently acquired by Miraval and in the process of redevelopment. Hyatt will also invest an additional $160 million over the next few years to redevelop both resorts and to acquire and redevelop a third, the Cranwell Spa & Golf Resort in Lenox, Mass. Hyatt is acquiring the company from an affiliate of KSL Partners, a Denver-based private equity firm specializing in resorts and spas. While relatively small, the deal signifies affirmation that the trend toward wellness has particular appeal among business travelers, which represent more than 70 percent of HyattÕs business. ÒThere is a clear focus on wellness at many corporations to really promote a holistic approach to the individuals that are working for them so they can be more productive and happier,Ó Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian told Fortune. ÒThis is an important megatrend for us to pay attention to.Ó The deal marks the first acquisition for Hyatt thatÕs not exclusively a hotel brand; Miraval will live as a separate business unit within Hyatt. Miraval is highly influential and is a pioneer in the category of wellness research and programming. Courses at its flagship resort include Mindfulness Stress Mastery, the ABCs of Emotional Intelligence, and its famed Equine Experience that lets participants commune with horses as a means to Ònotice personal patterns of learned behavior that may be holding you back from the life you want to live.Ó Miraval pairs this content with five-star luxury accommodations. Hoplamazian sees potential in bringing Miraval programming and experiences to his companyÕs clientele, both by luring them as individuals or in corporate groups to one of the Miraval destination resorts and by bringing Miraval spas or elements of them to HyattÕs hotels, which number some 650. But he emphasizes that the move is not just about spas and draws a distinction between what Miraval does and existing efforts to incorporate wellness into hotels. ÒThis is not shoving a yoga mat in your closet and declaring victory,Ó he says. ÒThis is really a much more holistic approach to wellness.Ó He says he experienced this firsthand when he visited Miraval and found himself in a floating meditation class where he hung from the ceiling in a silk cocoon. ÒAfter forty-five minutes, I came away deeply appreciative and understanding of just how different this place was,Ó he says. (As for the cocoon hang, he says it was Òreally amazing and I would strongly recommend it to you.Ó) Hoplamazian also sees potential for Hyatt to expand the Miraval brand into corporations with on-site services at company headquarters. ÒWe believe we can play a role for corporations who want to bring more wellness practices into the work environment,Ó Hoplamazian said. A few years ago, Hyatt partnered with a group of researchers to fund research on the benefits of meditation in the business world, and says there is an increased awareness to its benefits. ÒElevating awareness and being present and being a part of how companies can bring themselves to solutions is a big issue and a critical issue for the future of the world,Ó he says. ÒI think that getting people into a mindset that allows them to be effective in that journey is something thatÕs got tremendous conceptual, but also commercial, value,Ó he says. ÒI look at that as a major, major opportunity.Ó Miraval was one of the first majority stakes taken by AOL cofounder and former CEO Steve CaseÕs Revolution LLC when he formed his investment holding company in 2005. In 2014, Miraval was acquired by an affiliate of KSL Capital Partners, whose investments also include Ventana Inn & Spa in Big Sur, Vail Mountain Lodge, and the Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, California. Hyatt has been working lately on out-of-the-box ways to retool its relationship with customers, attempting to bring more ÒempathyÓ to its product by removing standards from check-in processes and encouraging employees to be themselves and launching a new group of non-Hyatt branded properties that bill themselves not as hotels, but as Òstays.Ó Hyatt was also one of the first hotel chains to experiment with short-term rentals in the wake of the surging popularity of Airbnb when in 2015 it took a stake in the UK-based startup Onefinestay. (Last year, AccorHotels acquired Onefinestay outright.) Hoplamazian said that Hyatt will work hard to maintain the integrity of the Miraval brand and Ònot move too quicklyÓ on expansion. ÒThis is not about using the brand name to try to monetize,Ó he says. And he points out another important distinction, perhaps taking a dig at the competition: while Miraval is a wellness leader, he maintains that it isnÕt Òpreachy about ÒforcingÓ its guests into a particular diet. ÒYou can have a drink,Ó he says. Copyright 2017 Time Inc. All rights reserved. From http://www.fortune.com. By Leigh Gallagher.
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