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BLACKSTONE-CONTROLLED GREAT WOLF RESORTS HAS BEEN A HOWLING SUCCESS . ITS CEO IS NOW HUNTING OUT NEW OPPORTUNITIES .

By DAVID EISEN

Imagining Stephen Schwarzman , the billionaire CEO of Blackstone , barreling down a water slide at a Great Wolf Lodge indoor theme park might be difficult to conjure , but to hear it from John Murphy , the CEO of Great Wolf Resorts , it ’ s a plunge he is happy to take . In 2019 , Blackstone , the alternative asset manager titan with more than $ 1 trillion in assets under management , acquired a 65 % controlling interest in Great Wolf , which at the time had 18 resorts that look like the progeny of a Chuck E . Cheese and a Six Flags , with a side of traditional lodging . Think water elements , from slides to pools , rope courses , mini-golf , bowling , arcades and more . Disney World light ? Maybe . Family fun for all ? Certainly . And with five years of Blackstone backing , 20 operating resorts with three in

32 hotelsmag . com September 2024