Hospitality Design - December 2018 - 78

THE GETTYS GROUP
Celebrating 30 years of great design

Roger Hill, chairman and CEO, and Andrew Fay, president and COO

It was three decades ago that a quartet of
Cornell School of Hotel Administration
students and friends-among them
current executives Roger Hill and Andrew
Fay-pledged to regroup in Chicago after
graduation and start a business. Their idea
to establish a firm that would manage both
design and procurement was unheard of
at the time. "Some key clients were willing
to take a risk with [us]," says Hill, "and the
rest is design and development history."
But the trajectory to success was not
always smooth. Many in the industry had
doubts about the combination of design
and procurement, calling it "disruptive."
Nonetheless, Hill and Fay persisted in

bringing creative and business under
one roof, helping clients make sounder
decisions and putting the firm on the map
for innovative design.
Among the hundreds of projects
undertaken by the Gettys Group, Hill
and Fay are particularly proud of Hard
Rock Macau, their first Asia project that
led to opening an office in Manila; the
Blackstone Hotel in Chicago-first as an
upscale boutique hotel owned by Sage, then
as a conversion, joining the Autograph
Collection in 2016; and the BRE Portfolio
of properties, using Gettys One, a group
within the Gettys family that specializes in
select-service brands.

The Blackstone Chicago melds historic
details with a modern flair

With offices now in Jeddah, Saudi
Arabia, and the Philippines, the Chicagobased company has collaborated with such
esteemed brands as Ritz-Carlton, Hyatt,
Langham, Peninsula, and Accor, spanning
32 countries and 16 time zones. The Gettys
Group counts more than 1,000 projects in
their portfolio, with two more breaking
ground before the end of 2018.
"We have always embraced change
and constantly evolve and adapt in order
to remain relevant," says Fay on his over
30-year partnership with Hill. "We both
love learning, growing, traveling, and being
exposed to new things. And there is a great
power in opposites: Roger is a lot more blue
sky, and I am a lot more pragmatic. Having
complementary talents and strengths is
essential in building a business. We have
always maintained our sense of humor.
'Think big, go bold, have fun' has been our
longstanding mantra."
"It's a great time to be in the hotel
business," Hill adds. "Hotels are cool and
fun again, just as they were in the early
part of the last century. They are the living
rooms of our cities and the workplaces for
today." Despite embracing technology, Hill
says the firm supports a philosophy that's
about "practicality, intuitive interface, simple
operation, and elegant presentation."
"The future of hospitality design and
development is all about experiences and
understanding your clients and customers,"
says Fay. "When clients work with us, we get
the work done better and faster, and they have
fun, from the start of the process to the end."

A preppy, feminine guestroom at Napa Valley's White House Inn
Hospitality Design - December 2018

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