A look at a downtown Denver hotel's big renovation
The $5.4 million the Grand Hyatt Denver spent on its recently completed ballroom and meeting-area renovation wasn’t just to upgrade its look — it was an investment in keeping up with the flurry of new hotels moving into downtown.
At an event to show off the new carpet, wall coverings and chandeliers over a two-floor, 53,000-square-foot area on Wednesday, general manager Mark Stiebeling acknowledged the competition to land national group meetings is getting fiercer in Denver. Over just the past year-and-a-half, a handful of hotels — including high-profile additions like The Crawford Hotel at Denver Union Station and the Renaissance Denver Downtown City Center Hotel in the old Colorado National Bank Building — have thrown open their doors to guests and meeting groups alike.
The Grand Hyatt is 35 years old now, making it one of the more elder statesmen in the downtown area. And while it had continued to see good business in attracting groups of 100 to 150 people in recent years, Stiebeling felt it needed an extra push to make it stand out as it seeks multi-day meetings of pharmaceutical, high-tech and financial-services firms.
The answer was not adding space so much as making old space feel newer and more attractive. While the hotel at 1750 Welton Street had completed a $28 million renovation of its rooms two years ago, it hadn’t touched the meeting areas and ballrooms in about 10 years — and still had chandeliers hanging in its second-largest ballroom that had been there since its opening, Stiebeling said.
The renovations were done by Aug. 31, and though Stiebeling admits he’s had just a short window to examine their return on investment, he’s been very pleased so far. Meeting space has been largely booked in September as occupancy of guest rooms at the hotel has exceeded 90 percent for this month and is on pace to do so in October as well.
“To us, this investment was about the future of this hotel and our desire to do more in-house group business,” Stiebeling said. “We think this is a necessary move to stay competitive.”
Ed Sealover covers government, health care, tourism, airlines, hospitality and restaurants for the Denver Business Journal and writes for the "Capitol Business" blog. Phone: 303-803-9229.
Reported by: Denver Business Journal
At an event to show off the new carpet, wall coverings and chandeliers over a two-floor, 53,000-square-foot area on Wednesday, general manager Mark Stiebeling acknowledged the competition to land national group meetings is getting fiercer in Denver. Over just the past year-and-a-half, a handful of hotels — including high-profile additions like The Crawford Hotel at Denver Union Station and the Renaissance Denver Downtown City Center Hotel in the old Colorado National Bank Building — have thrown open their doors to guests and meeting groups alike.
The Grand Hyatt is 35 years old now, making it one of the more elder statesmen in the downtown area. And while it had continued to see good business in attracting groups of 100 to 150 people in recent years, Stiebeling felt it needed an extra push to make it stand out as it seeks multi-day meetings of pharmaceutical, high-tech and financial-services firms.
The answer was not adding space so much as making old space feel newer and more attractive. While the hotel at 1750 Welton Street had completed a $28 million renovation of its rooms two years ago, it hadn’t touched the meeting areas and ballrooms in about 10 years — and still had chandeliers hanging in its second-largest ballroom that had been there since its opening, Stiebeling said.
The renovations were done by Aug. 31, and though Stiebeling admits he’s had just a short window to examine their return on investment, he’s been very pleased so far. Meeting space has been largely booked in September as occupancy of guest rooms at the hotel has exceeded 90 percent for this month and is on pace to do so in October as well.
“To us, this investment was about the future of this hotel and our desire to do more in-house group business,” Stiebeling said. “We think this is a necessary move to stay competitive.”
Ed Sealover covers government, health care, tourism, airlines, hospitality and restaurants for the Denver Business Journal and writes for the "Capitol Business" blog. Phone: 303-803-9229.
Reported by: Denver Business Journal
