HayMax Hotels grows footprint with a local focus

With the purchase and repositioning of the Hotel Ketchum in Ketchum, Idaho, HayMax Capital and its management arm, HayMax Hotels, have further increased their footprint in the independent hotel space.

Brothers Aaron and Michael Brown founded HayMax Capital in 2003 and moved into the hospitality space by acquiring two independent properties in Aspen, the Hotel Aspen in 2003 and the Molly Gibson Lodge in 2007, said Jeff Bay, managing director at HayMax Hotels. The company purchased the properties independent of each other and operated them separately for a number of years, he said.

Aspen has a rich mining heritage, he said, and the Molly Gibson Lodge is named after one of the most famous silver mines in the area. Upon purchasing the hotel, the company decided to keep the name to maintain its legacy and have a genuine connection with guests rather than coming up with a prefabricated approach.

In 2009, the company began to operate both hotels under one management umbrella. HayMax Hotels formally started when HayMax Capital purchased the Mount House Lodge in 2014 and operated it for about a year before it demolished the property and developed two luxury homes on the site.

HayMax’s newest property, the Hotel Ketchum, was previously a branded chain hotel, Bay said, and the company purposefully wanted to move from that into a unique, individualized property. Each of HayMax’s hotels was created with their own unique personality, he said, because the company wanted to embrace what makes the hotels’ geographic locations special, Bay said.

“We felt having a more genuine and connected experience with guests and being able to provide them with experiences that are unique and drafted to meet their needs was an area we could be successful in,” he said.