Hyatt acquires Dream Hotel Group amid plans for upcoming Dream Las Vegas development

Hyatt Hotels Corp. announced Tuesday that it has reached a deal to acquire Dream Hotel Group, with the buyer slated to pay a base price of $125 million, and up to an additional $175 million over the next six years “as properties come into the pipeline and open.” The agreement comes as Dream Hotel Group moves ahead with plans for the upcoming Dream Las Vegas hotel-casino, under construction at the south edge of the Strip.

The acquisition includes 12 managed or franchised hotels with another 24 management agreements for hotels that haven’t opened yet, a press release says. Out of the projects that are yet to open, Dream Las Vegas, on Las Vegas Boulevard just south of Russell Road, is being developed by Southern California firms Shopoff Realty Investments and Contour. The 531-room resort is expected to make its debut in the first quarter of 2025.

Shopoff Realty President and CEO Bill Shopoff told Las Vegas Review-Journal there are no changes to the project’s name, timing or programming as a result of the Hyatt deal. “We think this is a huge positive for the project given the depth of the Hyatt reservation system,” Shopoff said, adding his team gets the “combined benefit” of Dream’s creativity and Hyatt’s scale.

Groundbreaking for Dream Las Vegas

Dream Las Vegas, which broke ground this summer, is slated to offer a smaller, boutique-style experience in a corridor dominated by massive hotel casinos with thousands of rooms apiece. The project has faced a number of hurdles since first announced. Its developers initially unveiled plans for the resort in February 2020 – just one month before the coronavirus outbreak upended daily life in Southern Nevada – and were later forced to make a series of design changes after facing concerns, such as possible illegal drone flying, due to its location next to Las Vegas’ airport.

“Hyatt has a proven track record of preserving what makes lifestyle hotels special and is the ideal new home for our growing Dream Hotel Group brands,” Sant Singh Chatwal, chairman and founder of Dream Hotel Group, said in a press release. “I look forward to the next part of our journey and am confident there is a bright future ahead for our hotels, owners, guests, and team members as part of the Hyatt family.”

In addition to the aforementioned 531 hotel rooms, the $550 million Dream Las Vegas development will include a 20,000 square-foot casino, seven dining and nightlife venues, a rooftop pool, 12,000 square feet of meeting and event space, a spa and fitness center, and onsite parking, among other amenities.

Jay Stein, Dream Hotel Group CEO

“We have tremendous respect for what Dream Hotel Group founder Sant Singh Chatwal and chief executive officer Jay Stein and their team have created and are grateful for the trust being placed in us by Dream Hotel Group to care for their brands and carry their success forward into the future,” Mark Hoplamazian, Hyatt’s president and CEO, added.

Back in September, Yogonet held an exclusive interview with Dream Hotel Group’s CEO Jay Stein, in which the executive discussed the company’s plans for the gambling mecca. “We probably should have launched the first Dream Hotel in Vegas and build the brand out from there,” Stein said at the time. “The culture of what our brand really is and what the city of Las Vegas stands for has always been a perfect match from day one.”

“When they do get to Las Vegas, many lifestyle hotels end up inside other bigger projects,” Stein claims. “No one has ever done it in the right way for a standalone version of the lifestyle hotel that our core guests are used to, whether it be New York, Miami, San Francisco or L.A.”