This post originally appeared on Oyster.com.
Fantasizing about luxurious hotels and faraway resorts is one thing, but fantasizing about owning them is an entirely different concept altogether.
Real estate is a high-stakes game that costs big, but, when done right, earns even bigger. And because we are constantly investigating the latest hotels around the globe, we couldn’t help but wonder who plays the proverbial Oz behind the curtain at some of our favorite spots.
Check out ten men and women who are serious players on the hotel scene right now — and just how fat their wallets are.
10. Neil Bluhm
Net Worth: $2.1 billion
Lawyer-turned-real estate magnate Neil Bluhm made his billions opening shopping malls and hotels across the Midwest. After graduating with a law degree and serving as a partner at a Chicago-area firm, Bluhm broke away from law and co-founded JMB Reality. He has since opened hotel and casinos across the US and Canada, and has owned stakes in the Ritz-Carlton Chicago and the Drake Hotel in Chicago, which allow him, as an avid patron of both, to fund his artistic and political interests.
9. Bill and Richard Marriott
Net Worth: $1.6 billion and $1.9 billion, respectively
Before Marriott became synonymous with the hospitality industry, founder J. Willard Marriott owned and operated several root beer stands throughout the Washington D.C. area back in the 1920s. Decades later in 1957, the first Marriott hotel, the Twin Bridges Motor Hotel, opened in Arlington, Va. J. Willards’s eldest son Bill Jr. joined the company that same year, and became president in 1964, running more than 3,700 properties in 73 countries. His brother Richard took control of Host Marriott International – now Host Hotels and Resorts – in 1993, which owns more than 100 properties worldwide, including the Marriott Marquis New York and the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco. The Marriott brothers may have inherited a massive lodging operation, but together they have transformed their legacy into a multi-billion dollar hotel dynasty.
8. Thomas Pritzker
Net Worth: $2.2 billion
With his family’s net worth hovering around $20 billion, Thomas Pritzker has a pretty nice cut of the inheritance with his $2.2 billion. The Priztker family inherited their fortune from ancestors A.N. Pritkzer and his sons Jay and David, who co-founded the Hyatt hotel chain. Thomas, son of Jay, may not be the wealthiest Pritzker (that would be his cousin Karen, whose worth rings in at $3.2 billion), but he is the current CEO and executive chairman of the Hyatt Corporation, overseeing the company’s 492 properties worldwide, which include the Andaz and Grand Hyatt Resort brands.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider