Hyatt has just announced a surprising expansion in Las Vegas.
In this post:
Rio Las Vegas will become a Hyatt
The 2,500+ room Rio Las Vegas will be renovated and then become a Hyatt property. This multi-phase project is expected to bring multiple Hyatt full-service offerings to Las Vegas.
Here’s what we know so far about this new Hyatt:
- The 2,500+ room Rio Las Vegas will undergo a significant redevelopment of current public spaces, including gaming, retail, food and beverage, spa and fitness, and pool recreation deck
- One of the hotel’s existing towers will be renovated, and upon completion the tower will become a 1,501 room Hyatt Regency property, with standard guest rooms averaging 580 square feet
- The remainder of the Rio’s guest rooms are expected to be branded or affiliated with one or more other Hyatt full-service brands after they are renovated
- We don’t have an exact timeline yet with which any of this will happen
Rio Las Vegas will undergo a significant renovation
The context for this deal is interesting:
- Dreamscape is the current owner of the Rio; in December 2019 it purchased the hotel from Caesars for $516 million
- The agreement required that the hotel continue to be operated as a Caesars property for at least two years (which brings us through late 2021)
- Clearly after that clause expires, Dreamscape has other plans for the property
As Hyatt’s VP of Real Estate & Development, Kimo Bertram, describes this:
“We are thrilled that Dreamscape will help us bring multiple Hyatt full-service brands to Las Vegas, starting with a Hyatt Regency hotel, which we believe will deliver on the Hyatt Regency brand promise of creating meaningful connections in modern spaces designed for sharing, socializing, and collaborating. We know Las Vegas is an important destination for our guests, World of Hyatt members, and customers, and this project is a significant step for Hyatt as we continue to grow our brands in markets that matter most to our loyal travelers.”
What other Hyatt brands could this hotel be?
I’ll be curious to see what other brands Hyatt plans to include in this development:
- They’re all going to be full-service, so don’t expect a Hyatt Place or Hyatt House
- I don’t think we’ll see a Grand Hyatt, since Grand Hyatts are typically huge, and the Hyatt Regency will already have 1,500+ rooms
- I would guess we might see either an Andaz or Thompson, since they’re brands that are complementary to Hyatt Regency; Thompson seems to be particularly popular at the moment
- While I’m not convinced this will happen, it would certainly be cool if part of the development became a Park Hyatt
Could we see part of the hotel become a Thompson?
Hyatt’s MGM M Life partnership remains in place
While this will be Hyatt’s first mega-hotel in Las Vegas, World of Hyatt members have long been well covered in the city, thanks to Hyatt’s partnership with MGM. It’s stated that this development doesn’t impact Hyatt’s existing strategic loyalty alliance with MGM, though only time will tell if that’s actually the case.
Hyatt will soon have a direct competitor to MGM’s properties, so we’ll see how MGM feels about this.
Hyatt’s partnership with MGM won’t be changing (as of now)
This is an exciting addition for Hyatt
While I’m personally not a huge Las Vegas fan, there are lots of reasons for World of Hyatt members to be excited about this property:
- While Hyatt’s partnership with MGM is awesome, it doesn’t quite give you the same perks you’d receive when staying at a Hyatt
- Hyatt Globalist members have a lot to gain here, from the ability to use suite upgrade awards to confirm a suite, to waived resort & destination fees (which is huge in Las Vegas), to complimentary breakfast; this could very well become a new popular spot to “mattress run”
This could turn out to be a great hotel for mattress running
Bottom line
The Rio Las Vegas will be rebranded as a Hyatt, following an extensive renovation. The hotel has 2,500+ rooms — a tower with 1,500+ rooms will be converted into a Hyatt Regency, while it’s expected that other Hyatt brands will also be included in this development.
Personally I think it’s most likely we’ll also see a Thompson, but I could be wrong, and it’s also possible that we’ll see multiple additional full service brands.
What do you make of the new Hyatt Las Vegas, and what full-service brands would you like to see included in the development?
Hyatt can rebrand as anything that they choose, but the cross freeway location will demand more than new signage to make the property attractive.
We stayed at Rio multiple times but with Hyatt brand it's more likely going up in prices. They need to make it competitive else there's lots of good choices in the strip like the new Resorts World or new downtown hotels.
I'm guessing they are going with the regency line instead of Grand to not piss off their relationship with MGM Grand
If they have resort fees it's a no go unless I somehow get Globalist. Even then as a Caesars Diamond I'd need some incentive to stay away from the Strip.
I am super excited we’ll have a Hyatt-branded hotel in Vegas post-refurbish. Bottom line, it doesn’t matter what hotel brand it will be (I think it will be a Hyatt Regency); Hyatt remains the best loyalty program out there, hands down.
I actually think Grand Hyatt is the brand that makes the most sense for the other (Masquerade) tower. It would still be huge at about 1000 rooms. I think it would be difficult to renovate those rooms to a standard at the level of a brand higher end than that. Plus the size of the rooms don't really fit the other brands. I just can't imagine a Thompson that large nor can I imagine Thompson's...
I actually think Grand Hyatt is the brand that makes the most sense for the other (Masquerade) tower. It would still be huge at about 1000 rooms. I think it would be difficult to renovate those rooms to a standard at the level of a brand higher end than that. Plus the size of the rooms don't really fit the other brands. I just can't imagine a Thompson that large nor can I imagine Thompson's design aesthetic being applied to Rio rooms, but kinda what was done at Park MGM/Nomad which have a similar aesthetic. Rio does have some of the largest suites in Vegas plus they have a mansion like Palazzo suites area which has some very high end villas. I imagine they will probably operate their highest end suites and vilas under one of their high end brands.
@Luk: I've always viewed Park Hyatt as Hyatt's full-luxury 5-star brand, on the same level and price point as Ritz Carlton, St Regis, Four Seasons etc. Grand Hyatt as Hyatt's premium 4.5-star brand, comparable to JW Marriott, Intercontinental, Sofitel and Conrad etc. Hyatt Regency is Hyatt's mainline business 4-star brand, comparable to Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton, Westin etc. So Park Hyatt > Grand Hyatt > Hyatt Regency.
That's just my take though...
They can turn it into the Taj Mahal and I'll never set foot inside until they remove all Resort Fees. Dot
Why not an HRC? It seems like this would be a perfect place for one?!
What is the difference between grand Hyatt and regency ?
Two thoughts: (1) the current Rio is an absolute dump, so it's going to take an extensive renovation; simply rebranding as Hyatt won't get the job done and (2) the location is off-Strip so not somewhere most tourists want to stay. Sprucing the place up and calling it a Hyatt isn't going to fix the location problem and I doubt will do a lot to increase demand.
@M - you're probably right.
Rio is one of the worst properties I have stayed in Vegas. Pools ice cold, the public areas dilapidated, and rooms MEH...Hyatt has a lot of work to do to revitalize that dump.
At first, I thought it was super-weird that the 1,500 room starting property would be branded a Regency, rather than a Grand, since I have always associated Grand Hyatt with: large, convention-oriented, popular destinations, etc. But the Hyatt development website positions Grand's competitors as Conrad, JW Marriott, and InterContinental, and the room max as 700. Whereas the Hyatt development website positions Regency's competitors as Westin, Marriott, Renaissance, Hilton, etc., and the room max as 2000....
At first, I thought it was super-weird that the 1,500 room starting property would be branded a Regency, rather than a Grand, since I have always associated Grand Hyatt with: large, convention-oriented, popular destinations, etc. But the Hyatt development website positions Grand's competitors as Conrad, JW Marriott, and InterContinental, and the room max as 700. Whereas the Hyatt development website positions Regency's competitors as Westin, Marriott, Renaissance, Hilton, etc., and the room max as 2000. I'd imagine the positioning of the Regency part of the Rio to be indeed closer to the Regency's competitive set, as is that room count. What'll be interesting to see is that if another tower with higher-end rooms, a more intimate feel, etc., would get Grand positioning. I wonder if it's possible, too, for one of the remaining towers to be a "resort with in a resort" that has more distinctive characteristics that warrant an "Unbound Collection" brand (although I think of those as independent and boutique-like) or a "Destination by Hyatt" brand. The "Destination by Hyatt" brand could enable them to do something that's full-service but with more extended-stay elements. Will be fascinating to see where it goes...
Ben, you'll die if they make an Alila Las Vegas! How horrible would that be?!?
No way the Rio turns into a Thompson. Too many rooms. Rio is a bit off the strip, even Andaz would be surprising. Not sure why Hyatt is getting involved in this one, Vegas is oversaturated with rooms now after Hilton made their mark.
Hyatt needs to build more locations near National Parks instead of expanding in cities that they already offer several hotels.
I'm not an expert on how Vegas mega-resorts operate, but couldn't they convert 5 or 6 floors into a Park Hyatt hotel within a hotel like how the Four Seasons operates within the Mandalay? Given the scale of these properties, I thought it was fairly common to offer 5-star level room categories within these mega properties.
If they brand it as Park Hyatt, they will be destroying the Park Hyatt image. I think of Park Hyatt as classy upscale hotel. Not a hotel full of drunk people with hookers and gambling.
Andrew this can’t be done as a project before 2023. And it could easily be 2024.
The location isn't that good. Will they have to charge less?
A paragraph summarizing the different Hyatt brands would be nice.
Eh, at this point I'd prefer a House. FS Hyatts have become worse in the age of Covid. Minimal Globalist breakfast benefits (or grab-and-go at best), they never have kitchens to make up for the fact that room service has been discontinued at so many properties.
I realize all of this will change in the future, but it's probably going to be 2022 before operators feel like full-capacity regency/grand clubs and restaurants are something to support...
I agree with Andaz, I don't see Thompson fitting with that size hotel.
I think this will be an Andaz for one tower and a Grand Hyatt for the other but time will tell. The rio used to be such a cool property but they haven't put money into anything and especially not the rooms so all change is welcome there.
OneHyattAtATIME !!
I am a Vegas local but I can see them turning one tower into a Park Hyatt and maybe the other an Andaz. Either way those rooms are super old and need to be remodeled so any change is good!
Surprised they are using the Hyatt Regency brand for the 1,500+ room tower, I would think the Grand Hyatt brand would be more appropriate.
I would like an Andaz to be one of the other brands.
and this is how many years away from opening?
will resort fees be waived?
or will it be similar to what the tropicana does for hilton?
Given the vibe of Vegas, Andaz appears to be a better choice imo.