Joie de Vivre Hotels’ website describes the hotel brand as being “synonymous with the California traveling experience.” That experience will soon be coming to some of the other 49 states after Geolo Capital on Monday purchased a majority stake in the San Francisco-based company with immediate plans to expand outside California.

Joie de Vivre founder Chip Conley, left, and Geolo Capital founding partner John Pritzker

Geolo Capital, the private equity investment firm of Hyatt Hotels heir John Pritzker, has established an investment fund with the objective of acquiring $300 to $500 million worth of hospitality assets over the next five years. Under the agreement, Pritzker will become chairman of Joie de Vivre and founder Chip Conley will retain a significant ownership interest and remain actively involved as CEO. Their goal will be to double the company’s revenue, of $240 million, and grow the number of managed properties from the current 33 in California to 50 throughout the U.S.

Conley said although he’s not the majority owner anymore, he’s “still seriously invested in the company’s success and (has) signed a five-year employment agreement.”

Geolo Capital last year acquired Carmel Valley Ranch, which will join Joie de Vivre Hotels collection this year as part of its luxury portfolio. “As soon as we purchased Carmel Valley Ranch I knew I wanted to replicate its magic and create an authentic lifestyle and resort brand that was experience-driven for customers and employees,” said Pritzker, who left Hyatt Hotels more than 20 years ago. “Then I found out that brand already existed— it’s called Joie de Vivre.”

Conley told Lodging Hospitality a year ago he was exploring options to expand JdV outside California, and apparently he had many suitors. Conley told the Wall Street Journal other options included boutique-hotel companies, private equity firms and national hotel brands, but his director of public relations, Lori Lincoln, said non-disclosure agreements prevented JdV from revealing those parties.

“After 23 years of being a California hotel brand, we felt the time was right for Joie de Vivre to move outside the state,” Conley said. “There are so many neglected gems and tired hotels that could be turned into appealing, affordable boutique properties. With Geolo as our partner, we will be able to take advantage of the wave of hotel deals that are imminent, and we will have sufficient working capital to invest in our infrastructure to support our growth.”

Conley said he’d be surprised if the company didn’t have two to three new properties outside California within the next year. He said targets would be in obvious places, gateway cities like Chicago, New York and Seattle, and those that have been feeder markets for California and current JdV properties. Lincoln also said resort destinations would be targeted and JdV and Geolo are already actively seeking acquisitions. Will starting anew in cities like New York and Miami be a challenge for the California-centric company?

“We have major corporate accounts in both locations that would love to see us there,” Conley said by email. “The reality is we operate the second most number of boutique hotels in the U.S. and we’ve been in business 23 year, so we have great databases and email lists that will help us open the JdV brand to new markets.”

Conley’s unique approach has proven successful since the opening of his first property, the iconic Phoenix Hotel in San Francisco, in 1987. He defines a niche psychographic market for each of his hotels through magazines and then uses five adjectives to describe both the magazines and the hotel. He then relies on his employees to deliver an experience to match the descriptions. His core philosophy, outlined in his last book, Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojofrom Maslow, is that happy and enthusiastic employees create strong customer loyalty, which results in profitable investors.

He says the company will continue to stay focused in the three and three and a half star space, as many boutique hoteliers ignore that niche. The creative approach—with magazine titles and the five adjectives—will remain the same going forward.