• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

OpenAI says its AI models secretly broke out of a secure test environment and hacked into AI company Hugging Face in order to cheat on an evaluation

2

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

3

Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem

1

OpenAI says its AI models secretly broke out of a secure test environment and hacked into AI company Hugging Face in order to cheat on an evaluation

2

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

3

Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem
Discovering Luxury

Hyatt Acquires Miraval to Bring Wellness to Business Travel

By
Leigh Gallagher
Leigh Gallagher
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Leigh Gallagher
Leigh Gallagher
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 18, 2017, 12:07 PM ET
Marion Rohe Kaufer Marion Photography Inc.
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

In a sign that the wellness trend that’s taken the world by (a calm, mindful) storm shows no signs of slowing, Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels Corporation has acquired the Miraval Group, a leader in the category of wellness hospitality, in a deal announced Wednesday morning.

Under terms of the deal, Hyatt will pay $215 million for the Miraval brand and two resorts, the company’s flagship destination wellness spa in Tucson, Arizona—a five-star favorite of Oprah Winfrey and other celebrities—and 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 lL Partners, a Denver-based private equity firm specializing in travel and leisure businesses.

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 Hyatt’s business. “There 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,” Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian told Fortune. “This is an important megatrend for us to pay attention to.” The deal marks the first acquisition for Hyatt that’s 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 “notice personal patterns of learned behavior that may be holding you back from the life you want to live.” Miraval pairs this content with five-star luxury accommodations.

Hoplamazian sees potential in bringing Miraval programming and experiences to his company’s 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 Hyatt’s 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. “This is not shoving a yoga mat in your closet and declaring victory,” he says. “This is really a much more holistic approach to wellness.” 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. “After forty-five minutes, I came away deeply appreciative and understanding of just how different this place was,” he says. (As for the cocoon hang, he says it was “really amazing and I would strongly recommend it to you.”)

Hoplamazian also sees potential for Hyatt to expand the Miraval brand into corporations with on-site services at company headquarters. “We believe we can play a role for corporations who want to bring more wellness practices into the work environment,” 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. “Elevating 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,” he says. “I think that getting people into a mindset that allows them to be effective in that journey is something that’s got tremendous conceptual, but also commercial, value,” he says. “I look at that as a major, major opportunity.”

Miraval was one of the first majority stakes taken by AOL cofounder and former CEO Steve Case’s 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 Squaw Valley/Alpine Meadows 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 “empathy” 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 “stays.” 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 “not move too quickly” on expansion. “This is not about using the brand name to try to monetize,” 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 isn’t “preachy about “forcing” its guests into a particular diet. “You can have a drink,” he says.

About the Author
By Leigh Gallagher
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in

Medicaid Services administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks before Vice President JD Vance at the Wisconsin Air National Guard facility at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport.
PoliticsDonald Trump
Trump admin deferring $1 billion-plus Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota amid ‘suspected fraud’
By The Associated Press and Ali SwensonJuly 22, 2026
4 hours ago
‘It’s called StreetEasy, not StreetHard’: Mamdani cracks down on scourge of ‘housefishing’ and ‘real estate slop’
Real EstateHousing
‘It’s called StreetEasy, not StreetHard’: Mamdani cracks down on scourge of ‘housefishing’ and ‘real estate slop’
By Tatiana SatauaJuly 22, 2026
4 hours ago
As Washington panics about Chinese AI, Jensen Huang says open-source models like Kimi are ‘excellent’ and should be embraced, not banned
AIChina
As Washington panics about Chinese AI, Jensen Huang says open-source models like Kimi are ‘excellent’ and should be embraced, not banned
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 22, 2026
4 hours ago
The Top Fitness and Wellness Gifts (2026): For the Busy Gym-Goer in Your Life
HealthFitness
The Top Fitness and Wellness Gifts (2026): For the Busy Gym-Goer in Your Life
By Christina SnyderJuly 22, 2026
4 hours ago
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sits next to U.S. President Donald Trump.
AITech regulation
OpenAI’s rogue hacking incident was a warning shot. Will it be a wake-up call to finally create AI safety regulation?
By Jeremy Kahn and Emily ForliniJuly 22, 2026
4 hours ago
Fortune China 500
Fortune China 500
By FortuneJuly 22, 2026
4 hours ago

Most Popular

OpenAI says its AI models secretly broke out of a secure test environment and hacked into AI company Hugging Face in order to cheat on an evaluation
Cybersecurity
OpenAI says its AI models secretly broke out of a secure test environment and hacked into AI company Hugging Face in order to cheat on an evaluation
By Jeremy Kahn and Emily ForliniJuly 21, 2026
1 day ago
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
Success
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 20, 2026
2 days ago
Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem
AI
Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem
By Eva RoytburgJuly 21, 2026
1 day ago
The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
Real Estate
The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 22, 2026
8 hours ago
Despite a $156 million contract, Knicks star Jalen Brunson still calls his parents for financial advice any time he makes a big purchase
Success
Despite a $156 million contract, Knicks star Jalen Brunson still calls his parents for financial advice any time he makes a big purchase
By Emma BurleighJuly 21, 2026
1 day ago
‘I want to die broke’: Billionaire philanthropist Denny Sanford dies after giving away $4 billion
Success
‘I want to die broke’: Billionaire philanthropist Denny Sanford dies after giving away $4 billion
By Sydney LakeJuly 20, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.