Feature Story

Downtown Hyatt’s Renovation a Suite Success
By Mona de Crinis

One of the Hyatt Regency Suites’ greatest assets has always been its enviable location. Situated smack-dab in the middle of downtown Palm Springs, the deluxe hotel easily attracted a high volume of guests simply because of its accessibility to shops, restaurants, casinos, museum, and so much more. But now, the Hyatt has something else to boast—a $15 million renovation that has reinvigorated the resort with a sleek, bold and modern look.
Gone are the cumbersome planters and over-played pink marble, tired remnants of a different time. Instead, guests are treated to a mid-century palette of brown, white, orange and cream, ushering in a whole new era of glamour, ease and sexy sophistication.
“This was a specific design to fit in with the Palm Springs style, mid-century modern,” said Dael Strange, Director of Sales for Hyatt Regency Suites Palm Springs.
Designed by renowned architectural firm Looney Ricks and Kiss, the 197-room, all-suite property shines with an indoor/outdoor pool bar, poolside cabana suites, a fine dining restaurant, a 1200-square-foot gym and state-of-the art meeting space. A complete remodel of the poolside area blends relaxing fire pits, custom-made lounge chairs, and a redesigned second floor cocktail deck.
Each of its renovated suites offers a minimum of 606 square feet and includes private balconies, two 42-inch LCD televisions, luxury marble bathrooms (they were able to keep the original material), separate living/working areas, iHome docking stations and custom-designed furnishings and art. Nine cabana suites with bamboo floors offer guests poolside privacy and an indoor/outdoor living space on an expanded outdoor terrace outfitted with overhead ceiling fan and lounge furnishings.
The SHARE Wine Lounge & Small Plate Bistro, the new upscale casual restaurant serving California fusion cuisine, features both indoor and outdoor seating surrounded by fireplaces in a lively setting. The lounge, with its in-wall, room-length fireplace, offers a warm and inviting retreat for guests and locals alike—promising to become a popular downtown hub for networking and relaxing.
“I think the one signature element that people rave about the most that is new to the hotel is the fireplace in the bar,” Strange observed, citing the guest room suites and, of course, location as the other primary factors contributing to the hotel’s success. The verdict is still out if the fireplace will be on during the summer Strange joked. “It doesn’t give off a lot of heat, but it provides great ambiance.”
According to Strange, the renovation, which took approximately six months, has already positively impacted the property’s bottom line.
“During the six months that you’re in renovation bookings do suffer,” she explained. “You have nothing to show. You show people an artist’s rendering, but how often do you see a rendering that bears no resemblance to the finished project?” she added with a laugh. “But once the renovation’s done you can really get moving. The minute we got the new photographs up on the website there was a definite shift in bookings for leisure travelers,” she continued. “It happened almost immediately. And the demand just shot up. It really did. We are running at higher occupancy this year than we were the same time last year.” Strange added that corporate guests, which didn’t book last year due to the struggling economy, are starting to call again. “They’re seriously thinking about it, and that’s very encouraging to hear.”
For those fortunate enough to be mixing business with pleasure in Palm Springs, Hyatt’s renovation means the addition of new meeting rooms and enhancements to the hotel’s current meeting and banquet facilities. Event planners now have a wide variety of options to customize the perfect function for groups ranging from 12 to 275, with more than 12,000 square feet of event space, all with natural light through windows or atriums, and some with outside terraces. In addition, there will be three large meeting rooms added to the hotel's overall meeting space with direct access to Palm Canyon Drive.
As for construction challenges, there was nothing they couldn’t overcome, said Strange. “The city was very quick to come and inspect—because at certain stages of construction you have to have the inspections and the permits and that sort of thing,” she said. “The city was wonderful to work with. They really were very cooperative.”
Expectations for the remodel in terms of guest attraction are high, Strange noted. “Weekends obviously are pretty much a leisure market, from the drive areas generally—San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange County,” she observed. “Midweek we do a lot of corporate type events, board meetings, retreats. We’re hoping to attract more of the incentive market—a lot of insurance companies have these. It was all in the news. They got a lot of bad publicity about it last year, that they had these big incentive programs where if you sell X amount you get to go on this fabulous trip somewhere, that sort of thing. And they are looking to cut back and not have them as luxurious as they were, not spend as much on them, which puts us in a great position because you don’t have to spend a lot to be occupied in this part of Palm Springs—you walk out the front door and you’ve got the Thursday night street fair, there’s restaurants and nightlife, the casino, hiking in the Indian Canyons, the Aerial Tramway—it’s all so close. People can have free time to do their own thing. We’re hoping to attract more of that market.”
So what one word comes to mind when describing the renovated Hyatt?
Strange paused for a moment, then deftly stated, “Is there a word that combines elegance and comfort?”

The Hyatt Regency Suites Palm Springs is located at 285 North Palm Canyon Drive. For more information visit palmsprings.hyatt.com, call 760.322.9000 or just stop in for a visit.

Please allow a minute for flash to activate: