Wethers, who travels at least 50 days a year, likes to check into his room quickly and bypass the front desk. Van Carmichael, who's on the road 150 days a year, likes dipping into decorative wire baskets on the lobby counter for fresh, free apples.

Once a hotel company known mostly for its upscale downtown hotels and resorts, the Hyatt Hotels group today is transforming itself into a larger, cutting-edge company that serves a broader array of travelers such as Wethers and Van Carmichael who seek lodging at a midrange price (about $130 a night) with amenities such as fast check-ins and free fruit.

Hyatt has been changing during the hotel industry's biggest downturn since the Great Depression, which has hammered upscale hotels particularly hard. The company has started to show success, reporting increases in occupancy during the first quarter. But the real test will come when travel rebounds and hotel rates are likely to rise.

Hyatt -- which operates about 430 hotels compared with Starwood's 1,000, Marriott's 3,500 and Hilton's 3,600 -- didn't focus in the past on expanding.

For its 53 years, Hyatt has been controlled by the billionaire Pritzker family and didn't operate under the same financial pressure that its larger rivals did, says Bjorn Hanson, dean of New York University's hotel school. Efforts by Hyatt to break with the past were sometimes stymied by feuds about control of the family's holdings.

Now, though the Pritzker family remains in control, the feuding appears at an end. Chicago-based Hyatt went public for a second time last year to let some family members cash out and let the company push ahead with change.

Changes At Old and New

Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian (Hop-la-MAY-zee-an) says the company plans to build on its existing chains, whether older (such as upscale Hyatt Regency, upscale Grand Hyatt and the most prestigious, Park Hyatt), or newer ones such as Hyatt Place, Andaz and the upscale, extended-stay chain, Hyatt Summerfield Suites. But Hyatt is also open to growing by other means.

"We've had a long history of home-growing our brands, but it doesn't mean that we wouldn't acquire a new one," he says.

The company has made major announcements during the downturn, such as plans to build the first Hyatt Place hotels in Latin America and expand luxury Andaz (about $300 a night and up) into cities such as Austin, Amsterdam and Delhi, India. It's also re-opening the Hyatt Regency New Orleans -- the city's biggest hotel, next to the Superdome -- that's been closed since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. (continued...)

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