Hotel Opens at Denver Convention Center

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. October 14, 2008

By Julie Dunn, The Denver Post

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

DENVER, CO, December 21, 2005. More than 150 spectators were on hand to greet the first guests Tuesday as they arrived at the new $285 million Hyatt Regency Denver at the Colorado Convention Center.

Among those in the black limousine was Mark Frye, a senior events director for Texas Instruments, which is bringing roughly 2,500 conventioneers to the Hyatt Regency in February.

"We wanted to stay at the hotel beforehand and check it out," Frye said. "It's beautiful." Tourism, city and Hyatt Corp. officials cheered the opening and lauded former Mayor Wellington Webb for fighting to build the city-backed hotel. It was financed through the sale of $354.8 million in bonds after construction plans by private developers were scrapped.

"This was the last major project we initiated during my administration, so I guess it concludes our 12-year reign," Webb said. "I'm very excited this hotel is finally coming on line. Denver is more marketable today than it ever has been because we have the ability to take on larger conventions and conferences." The Hyatt was viewed as the missing piece when the $310 million convention center expansion opened last December.

"This is the one-two punch we needed," said Richard Scharf, head the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau. "We've never had more convention business on the books than we do now." The bureau has secured 156 citywide conventions for 2006, and beyond that should bring more than 755,000 people to Denver and have an economic impact of at least $1.5 billion.

"The stimulus to our economy is going to be dramatic," said Mayor John Hickenlooper. "I don't think people are prepared for how beautiful this hotel is and how successful it's going to be.

"We will see an extra $5 million put into the general fund next year because of the business it generates," he said.

Roughly 100 guest rooms were booked Tuesday night. The Hyatt Regency has more than $102 million in bookings through 2013, which sets a pre-opening sales record for the chain.

"It has been a crazy push for the last six months to finish it, but this town has a way of getting things done," Bill Mosher said. He's chief executive of the Denver Convention Center Hotel Authority, the nonprofit agency established to oversee the project.

The 1.18-million-square-foot hotel also features 60,600 square feet of meeting space, a full-service restaurant, two bars and a $2.5 million art collection.

The hotel's 650 employees will wear uniforms designed to reflect the hotel's urban environs without looking out of place in Colorado.

"We wanted to be a little more casual, but businesslike and refined," said general manager John Schafer. He and two other hotel executives worked with Cintas/Sally Fourmy & Associates to design about 20 different uniforms for jobs that range from housekeeping and security to front desk staff and restaurant servers.

"We have a very contemporary building in the heart of downtown, but we didn't want to look like Wall Street," Schafer said.

Each employee will receive, on average, three free uniforms that will be cleaned, ironed and maintained by the hotel.

Staff writer Suzanne S. Brown contributed to this report.

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