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.
With offices now in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and the Philippines, the Chicago-based 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.”
