Pet Resort Hospitality Group (“PRHG”), in partnership with Trivest Partners and Queens Court Capital, is excited to announce the acquisition of Stay Dog Hotel, a trusted pet care provider serving Chicago, Illinois. This addition further strengthens PRHG’s growing presence in the Midwest and reinforces its commitment to delivering best-in-class pet care experiences across the United States.
Stay Dog Hotel has earned a strong reputation for providing exceptional care and personalized attention to every dog guest. From its riverside resort on Chicago’s north side, the company offers boarding, daycare, and grooming services designed to support the health, safety, and happiness of the pets in its care. Known for its attentive team and loyal customer base, Stay has become a trusted destination for pet parents seeking dependable, compassionate service.
Behind that reputation is a story worth telling: a founder who followed his heart, a team that carried his vision forward, and a decision to choose PRHG as the next steward of everything he built.
A Founder Who Followed His Passion
Michael Heltzer never took the expected path. He began his career as a lawyer in the late 1980s, then followed his creative instincts into furniture design, sketching at night in his Logan Square apartment and eventually building his own furniture company. After selling that business in 2006, he turned toward his lifelong love of dogs. He transformed a 30,000-square-foot riverside boatyard on Chicago’s north side into Stay, a place that was beautiful, functional, and held to the highest standard of care.
Michael passed away in February 2023. His loss was felt deeply by his family, his team, and the thousands of Chicago pet parents who trusted Stay with the dogs they love.
Carrying the Vision Forward
Since Michael’s passing, Chief Operating Officer Judith Simon and family Trustee Gary Levenstein, have led Stay with the same care and attention to detail he brought from day one. They kept Stay running as one of Chicago’s most trusted names in pet care: a 12,000-square-foot daycare, a 2,000-square-foot fitness area, boarding suites and kennels, grooming, and webcams that let pet parents check in from anywhere.
As Judith and Gary looked to Stay’s future, she sought a partner who shared Michael’s values, not just his business. After careful consideration, she and the Stay family chose PRHG as Michael’s successor, trusting its team of former hands-on pet care professionals to honor his legacy while giving Stay the resources to grow.
“Michael built Stay because he believed dogs deserved the very best, and every one of us here has worked to keep that promise,” said Judith. “Choosing who would carry his vision forward was not a decision we took lightly. PRHG understands that this place is about the dogs and the people who love them, and I know Michael would be proud of where Stay is headed.”
“We are deeply honored that Judith, Gary, and the Stay family chose PRHG to carry Michael Heltzer’s legacy forward,” said Jason Duffy, CEO of Pet Resort Hospitality Group. “Michael created something truly special on the Chicago River, and Judith, Gary, and the Stay team have kept his standard of care alive every single day. Our commitment is to support this team with the resources, systems, and operational expertise that define PRHG while preserving the culture and spirit that make Stay unlike anywhere else.”
With this acquisition, PRHG is entering the Chicago market with the best pet resort in Illinois. The company remains focused on partnering with high-quality, founder-led businesses and supporting their next phase of growth through shared systems, professional development, and scalable infrastructure.
Pet Resort Hospitality Group now operates more than 45 pet resorts nationwide, serving thousands of pets daily with a dedicated team of industry professionals. The company continues to pursue strategic growth opportunities while supporting each of its locations with best-in-class operational expertise, technology, and back-office support.
For more information about PRHG and its growing family of resorts, visit www.petresorts.love.
About Pet Resort Hospitality Group
Pet Resort Hospitality Group is a provider of pet services, including daycare, boarding, grooming, and training. PRHG is led by a management team with decades of experience in the pet resort industry and a proven track record of successfully scaling consumer businesses. Many PRHG executives got their start as hourly employees caring for dogs. They worked their way up as independent owners before partnering with PRHG to further expand the potential for their services. Each business within the PRHG family benefits from the experience of the PRHG leadership team in areas such as acquisition planning and integration, growth planning and strategic tactics, brand and technology unification, scalable resources and support, and back-office management.
PRHG also recently launched Pet Resort University in Bentonville, Arkansas, a first-of-its-kind educational center built by pet care professionals to educate the next generation of pet resort managers, pet groomers, and dog trainers. This initiative showcases the company’s commitment to advancing its employees and professionalizing the pet services industry.
The Company is currently pursuing strategic add-on acquisitions of pet services businesses throughout the United States. To learn more, visit www.petresorts.love.
About Trivest
Trivest Partners LP, headquartered in Miami, with a presence in Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto, is a private investment firm that focuses exclusively on the support and growth of founder-led and family-owned businesses in the United States and Canada in both control and non-control transactions. To learn more, visit www.trivest.com.
About Queens Court Capital Management
Queens Court Capital Management is a new-age private equity firm that incorporates the best practices of being an operator, an entrepreneur, and an investor. Led by Azhar Quader, Queens Court is a special situations, control-oriented, private equity firm building on a successful track record as an independent sponsor. In each investment, Queens Court activates value creation playbooks strategically and leverages deep operator networks, maximizing returns while protecting for the downside. To learn more, visit www.queenscourtcap.com.
Contact
Eyal Cohen
eyal@petresorts.love
