Pet Resort Hospitality Group buys Chicago's Stay Dog Hotel

Pet Resort Hospitality Group has bought Stay Dog Hotel, a riverside boarding, daycare and grooming business on Chicago's north side, and the deal puts the private-equity-backed chain in the city for the first time. PRHG made the purchase alongside its sponsors, Trivest Partners and Queens Court Capital.

None of the three has published a price.

Stay operates from a converted 30,000-square-foot boatyard on the Chicago River. The business includes a 12,000-square-foot daycare, a 2,000-square-foot fitness area, boarding suites and kennels, grooming, and webcams that let owners check in from anywhere.

PRHG now runs more than 45 pet resorts nationwide, and says Chicago strengthens its growing presence in the Midwest.

The Stay family chose PRHG to carry Michael Heltzer's vision forward

Stay's leaders picked their buyer for its values. PRHG says Chief Operating Officer Judith Simon wanted a partner that shared founder Michael Heltzer's values, not just his business, and that after careful consideration she and the Stay family chose PRHG as his successor. They trusted its team of former hands-on pet care professionals to honor his legacy and give Stay the resources to grow.

Heltzer built Stay from an unusual starting point. He began as a lawyer in the late 1980s, then moved into furniture design and built his own furniture company. After selling that business in 2006, he followed his lifelong love of dogs and turned a riverside boatyard on the north side into Stay.

Simon and family trustee Gary Levenstein have led Stay since Heltzer passed away in February 2023, keeping the standard of care he set from the first day.

"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 Simon, chief operating officer of Stay Dog Hotel. "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."

PRHG says many of its executives started as hourly employees caring for dogs. "We are deeply honored that Judith, Gary, and the Stay family chose PRHG to carry Michael Heltzer's legacy forward," said Jason Duffy, PRHG's chief executive. "Michael created something truly special on the Chicago River." He added: "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."

PRHG keeps buying founder-run resorts nationwide

PRHG formed in 2023 as a buy-and-build platform in daycare, boarding, grooming and training. Its first purchase was Play All Day, a five-location resort group in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

Trivest funded the platform from Trivest Discovery Fund II, a $600M vehicle, according to the formation announcement on the Queens Court site. At launch, Queens Court's Azhar Quader was named executive chairman and co-founder Eyal Cohen chief development officer.

The founders came to the idea from earlier work. PRHG says Quader and Cohen built a 14-unit veterinary and pet services company across New York City and Denver starting in 2018, and that Cohen also worked on acquisitions at NVA.

The resort count has climbed in steps. PRHG had 17 resorts in January 2024 after adding Meadowlake in Houston, Olde Towne in the Washington area, Playtime in Philadelphia, Paws 'n' Rec in Tampa and Williamsburg in St. Louis.

It reached 23 by May 2025 with two New England brands, Coastal Canine Resort and A Fox & Hounds Pet Care.

PRHG reported 30 in June 2025 as it added five Detroit-area locations under Bark-A-Bout and Canine To Five. Its Top Notch announcement in January 2026, covering sites in Modesto and Turlock, put the count at 35.

By April 2026 the count was 40, and PRHG now reports more than 45, the same figure it gave when it bought Paw Lofts in Dallas in late October.

PRHG already has Midwest sites in the Detroit area, St. Louis, Fort Wayne in Indiana and Napoleon in Ohio, so Chicago widens that footprint. PRHG also opened Pet Resort University in Bentonville, Arkansas, an education center for pet resort managers, groomers and dog trainers, and says it is still pursuing add-on acquisitions of pet services businesses across the country.

Owners weighing a sale have another buyer

The businesses PRHG is buying come from a very fragmented field. When Queens Court announced the platform in 2023, it counted more than 128,000 similar U.S. businesses with about $9B in annual spending on pet boarding, grooming and daycare.

The branded competitors grow a different way. Dogtopia said in August that it is approaching 300 units, and Camp Bow Wow said it closed 2025 with 225 locations open or operating.

Pet Paradise lists 60+ locations across nine states. Our franchise economics comparison puts the initial investment for a Camp Bow Wow or Dogtopia franchise at $543K to $2M.

Sellers have intermediaries too. Kennel Connection, whose software runs more than 5,500 U.S. pet care locations, now refers owners to Cantara when they weigh a sale, and our coverage noted that aggregators such as Village Pet Care court sellers. PRHG's own site carries a download titled "Guide To Selling a Pet Resort."

What Stay's regulars should expect comes from PRHG's stated plan. The company says it will back the team with shared systems, professional development and scalable infrastructure, and it describes its approach as partnering with high-quality, founder-led businesses. Its 2023 formation announcement added that each acquired business keeps its brand equity in its market.

PRHG says it is still buying.

Source: Pet Resort Hospitality Group