Our History

During the building boom of the early 1900's, subdividing was rough, tough and risky. In 1905, Frank H. Ayres took a $2 train ride from Ohio to California with his wife and young son Donald to explore land development opportunities for his employer - an Ohio real estate firm.

In those pre-Hollywood days, climate and oranges were the main attractions bringing visitors to California. Many stayed, including Frank, who immediately bought eight small ranches in the mid-Wilshire district of Los Angeles and was charged with overseeing the land's development after becoming a partner in the Ohio firm.

Eventually, Frank left his employer to form his own company, Frank H. Ayres & Son, and continued to develop land throughout L.A. County. It was then that the Ayres' brand of high-quality property development made its mark on Southern California, and a bona fide tradition had begun.

With horse-drawn equipment, Frank Ayres carved Southern California's bean fields and pig farms into prosperous residential and commercial communities. The young company developed nine subdivisions in the Wilshire area from 1905-1910, and the dream was just beginning.

Don Ayres Sr.'s foresight had become the foundation of entire communities in the Los Angeles Area. The war was over, but the housing boom had just started. Don Ayres Sr. pooled 3,000 acres belonging to several land owners to form Westchester - one of the first planned cities in the United States.

In 1947, he developed Portuguese Bend on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. To create an interest in this obscure area, Don Ayres Sr. devised a plan to allow resort-style living at affordable prices. Growth was stimulated and the settlement quickly became a booming success.

Over the next two decades, Don Ayres Sr. expanded his reach into the high desert and subdivided over 800 lots in Joshua Tree. 

Don Ayres Jr. developed the concept of a European boutique hotel after a trip to Europe with his daughter Allyson Ayres-D'Eliscu in the early 80's. He decided to apply the Ayres' time-tested, success-proven formula to satisfy the growing need for hotels in the Southern California area.

Since 1979, Don Ayres Jr.'s son, Bruce Ayres, had been involved in the land acquisition portion of the family business but expanded his duties in the early and mid-1980s to include hotel specific land acquisition.

In 1984, the first hotel location was opened in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California as the Cardiff Country Side Inn, with Allyson Ayres-D'Eliscu playing a significant role in the interior design of the hotel. Thus began the tradition of the Ayres family as hotel builders, owners, and operators.

The opportunistic growth model favored by the Ayres family continued to prove successful in the 1990's when another nine Southern California hotels were added - Lebec/Grapevine, San Clemente, Diamond Bar, Yorba Linda, Orange, three in Ontario, and a second in Corona.

Don Ayres III became VP of Operations in the early 1990's and was instrumental in building the organization, its culture, its values and brand. In the mid-1990's, the hotel collection was rebranded as Country Inn by Ayres in the first ever attempt to bring the family name into the brand.

By the late 1990's the hotel collection had cemented a reputation for exceedingly friendly service, cleanliness, and value. To better define the collection, focus groups were formed to once more examine the collection name.

2005 meant 100 years of Ayres! This year was all about celebrating 100 years of business in Southern California. This was also the year that Don Ayres III began his work in the hotel development and commercial center portion of the business.

2005 was also the year Janet Ayres, Don Ayres Jr.'s wife, brought her keen eye for design to the Ayres Hotels. For eight years, Janet led interior design and quality assurance programs structured to keep the collection a unique blend of 90% traditional and 10% cool.

In 2008, Allyson Ayres-D'Eliscu's husband, Bruce D'Eliscu, who had worked on previous residential projects with Doug Ayres in the 1990's, entitled and built the stunning Ayres Hotel Redlands along with working in property management for the company. By the end of the 2000's, Ayres Hotels had grown to an impressive 19 hotel collection including the final location built in 2009 - Ayres Hotel Chino Hills.

While the COVID-19 global pandemic put a strain on businesses and the economy, the Ayres family persevered and continued to work diligently. As a result, three new locations were introduced to the collection in 2020, Ayres Hotel Vista and Ayres Hotel Rialto, as well as the Olympic Lodge by Ayres, the first-ever out-of-state hotel located in the Pacific North West. 

Today, a fifth generation of Ayres, consisting of Chase Ayres, Dustin Ayres, and Don Ayres IV, help carry on the family tradition of quality and value through their management of Ayres Construction Company, Ayres Commercial Properties, and Ayres Self Storage along with the Ayres Hotels collection.

As the Ayres family looks toward the future of the Ayres Hotels brand, they remain committed to those things that have made for a successful collection, while still challenging the status quo and exploring ways to keep the company viable and dynamic.