Cape Town will be getting a Hyatt Regency, and we won’t even have to wait very long for it to open.
In this post:
Hyatt Regency Cape Town details
It has just been announced that Hyatt has entered into a management agreement with South African real estate company Millat Properties, to operate the first Hyatt-branded hotel in Cape Town.
While the property isn’t yet bookable, the 137-room Hyatt Regency Cape Town will open in December 2020. Here are some renderings of the rooms at the new property:
Hyatt Regency Cape Town room rendering
Hyatt Regency Cape Town room rendering
Hyatt Regency Cape Town room rendering
Hyatt Regency Cape Town room rendering
The Hyatt Regency will be a rebranded Hilton
Usually we hear announcements about new hotels years in advance, so you might be curious how this hotel is being opened with only a couple of months notice. Well, it’s because the Hyatt Regency Cape Town is actually a rebranded version of the former Hilton Cape Town City Centre.
That hotel suddenly closed its doors in July 2020, as South Africa was in lockdown for many months. I’m not sure what exactly caused the rebranding, but Hilton has another property in Cape Town (DoubleTree), and another one in the pipeline (Canopy). So perhaps the owners saw more potential working with a hotel group that didn’t otherwise have a presence in the market.
It remains to be seen just how much work has been done to refresh the hotel in recent months. I wouldn’t expect all that much, given that the hotel was only closed for five months, not to mention that most investors aren’t looking to spend money on renovations right now.
Hyatt opening hotels in Lagos & Nairobi
Historically Hyatt hasn’t had a huge footprint in sub-Saharan Africa, but it’s an area where the brand is improving. Hyatt’s current properties in the region include the following:
- Hyatt Regency Addis Ababa, Ethiopian
- Hyatt Regency Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
- Hyatt Regency Johannesburg, South Africa
- Park Hyatt Zanzibar, Tanzania
In addition to the new Hyatt Regency Cape Town, there are two more Hyatt Regency properties expected to be opened in the next three years:
- Hyatt Regency Nairobi, Kenya
- Hyatt Regency Lagos Ikeja, Nigeria
Bottom line
The Hyatt Regency Cape Town will be opening in December 2020. While I’m excited to see Hyatt expand to Cape Town, I wouldn’t get too excited about this property, given that it’s a converted Hilton.
Still, Hyatt does so much better with loyalty than most other hotel groups, so there’s a good chance I’d stay here if visiting Cape Town.
Anyone looking forward to Hyatt entering the Cape Town market?
We were there when it was a Hilton in 2013. Great lounge and perfectly clean and functional as a Hilton (they treated us like royalty due to Hilton status) but the location was indeed only fair and we used the free shuttle every hour to the waterfront quite a bit. We were warned not to venture too far at night around the hotel, but times may have changed.
@ Ryan Agree fully reminds me of the Manhattan Beach Westdrift hotel in LA took a nice Marriott with club lounge that they closed and tried to make the decor trendy looks ugly
Hyatt seems to be slightly unlucky in South Africa. Hardly any presence at all. Oubaai had a lot of potential, but fell short on a few levels was/got (?) dropped.
The (former) Hilton Cape Town is a non-competitive property for many reasons:
- Location is not great, neither for business (maybe agreeable), nor for leisure. If I‘d want to go corporate, chain-reliable and convenient, I‘d always go for the Westin which has better...
Hyatt seems to be slightly unlucky in South Africa. Hardly any presence at all. Oubaai had a lot of potential, but fell short on a few levels was/got (?) dropped.
The (former) Hilton Cape Town is a non-competitive property for many reasons:
- Location is not great, neither for business (maybe agreeable), nor for leisure. If I‘d want to go corporate, chain-reliable and convenient, I‘d always go for the Westin which has better rooms, better views, a decent spa and good connectivity to the V&A waterfront by shuttle, boat and foot plus access (if needed) to the convention centre. Even the AC from Marriot’s empire is arguably more appealing.
- It has IMHO zero chance to attract (repeat) leisure travellers for lack of connectivity location in combination with amenities. True (and somewhat less price sensitive) CPT aficionados on leisure will easily identify their favourite local boutique in boroughs such as Oranjezicht, Green Bay, Clifton, Camps Bay or even Constantia or Somerset West that’ll provide them with al-fresco breakfast, scenic surroundings and possibly butler service and thus will provide a much better holiday experience.
To sum it up: while I am a Hyatt enthusiast, this is a property I shall easily and not regrettably ignore as it falls short in any relevant aspect.
Looks kinda sterile and lacking in any sort of charm or character.
The location is...not great.
Not so impressive in the pics it looks generic IMHO The Sheraton then later a Westin was beautiful as it was elegant.The Hyatt looks like a high end Hyatt Place Meh
Hopefully the category level will not be inflated.
Would like to see expansion of all chains into Namibia beyond current existing footprint even if lower level properties.
@JD
They update their list of approved countries every two weeks. Last update was Oct 15 and US was still not on it.
I wouldn't bet on it happening any time soon but you never know I guess
Any update on when SA will be opening up to US tourism? March 2021?
At 137 rooms, is this the smallest Hyatt Regency? I can't think of another under that brand.
Ben - This is the 3rd reincanation of this property. Because of the way it was originally financed under muslim financial codes it was a dry property no alcohol sales. It operated as the only Dry Hilton. I am assuming Hyatt has now been able to circumnavigate this stipulation , but worth checking.