History
The original Fairmont was built in 1907 in the city of San Francisco following the earthquake of 1906. The hotel opened following the great earthquake in of 1906. It was later acquired by Benjamin H. Swig in 1945.
The Fairmont chain consisted of seven properties in the United States when it merged with Canadian Pacific Hotels & Resorts in 1999:
The Fairmont (San Francisco)
The Fairmont, New Orleans (formerly Grunewald) - closed since Hurricane Katrina, Will be reflagged a Waldorf Astoria once renovations are complete
The Fairmont Copley Plaza (Boston)
The Plaza (New York)
The Fairmont Chicago
The Fairmont Dallas
The Fairmont San Jose
In early 2006, after a contentious bidding war started by investor Carl Icahn. Icahn lost the bid and Fairmont agreed to be sold for $3.9 billion USD. Fairmont announced on January 30, 2006 that the company will be purchased by Colony Capital, LLC and Kingdom Hotels International. As a result of that purchase, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is now a subsidiary of Fairmont Raffles Hotels International (FRHI). At the time of the purchase, FRHI also owned Delta Hotels & Resorts; however, Delta was sold on October 2, 2007 to bcIMC (British Columbia Investment Management Corporation).
Fairmont Hotels & Resorts was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers for 2008, as published in Maclean’s magazine, the only hotel operator to receive this honour. This is the 6th consecutive year that Fairmont has received this honour.