Hyatt Regency Irvine is ready for summer, after one of the largest hotel renovation projects in Orange County.
The 14-story hotel opened its renovated outdoor pool area in June, designed to cater to the leisure customer segment in OC as well as the business visitor traveling with family, according to General Manager Sid Ramani.
About $4 million of the $55 million renovation budget went toward tearing up the former outdoor area and building a larger pool, as well as water slides and cabanas.
The hotel has also partnered with Irvine’s Wild Rivers to create a package that includes a stay at the hotel and day passes to the water park.
“We’ve made significant investments in leisure in addition to business travel,” Ramani told the Business Journal last June.
“As we in the city continue to build the Great Park, we’re going to see more and more people traveling our way and we hope they are going to take advantage of all the amenities that are here at the Hyatt,” Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan said at the pool’s opening event.
Testing New Concepts
The makeover of the Hyatt Regency, formerly the Hotel Irvine, gave Hyatt Hotels Corp. (NYSE: H) the opportunity to test out several new concepts that might be seen in future builds and renovations.
One of the physical changes within the property meant creating new types of suites, which lowered the total number of rooms from 541 to 516, making it the ninth largest hotel in OC.
The hotel now offers more than 20 different kinds of rooms from standard bedrooms to extended stay suites with kitchenettes and family suites with bunk beds.
The bunk beds room type, along with a new Regency club, a new marketplace, a coworking space with private booths and other amenities, is being tested at the Irvine property and has been well received by guests, according to officials.
The hotel’s sales team noted those rooms have been fully booked for two months from June to July.
The final piece to the almost two-year project is the hotel restaurant, Warehouse 72 created by Doug Pak, set for a public opening in early August (see story, page 33).
Hyatt’s Chief Executive Mark Hoplamazian visited the property last month to see its progress.
Director of Sales and Marketing Terrance Frederick credits GM Ramani for fighting for every dollar given to the hotel.
“We are adamant to steal some business from surrounding cities,” Ramani said.
