Hyatt has nicely been growing its hotel portfolio in the Los Angeles area in recent years. Along those lines, Hyatt will be getting its first property in Santa Monica, though it’ll come at Marriott’s expense. I first wrote about this a few weeks ago, but wanted to provide an update, as the hotel is now bookable through Hyatt.
In this post:
Hyatt opening hotel in Santa Monica, California
As of September 18, 2024, the Le Meridien Delfina Santa Monica will become the Hyatt Centric Delfina Santa Monica. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, the owner of the property, announced this update during its Q2 2024 earnings results.
With this hotel now being bookable through Hyatt, we know this will be a Category 6 World of Hyatt property. For those looking to redeem points, that means you can expect to pay 21,000, 25,000, or 29,000 points per night, depending on whether pricing is off-peak, standard, or peak. That’s steep pricing, as I had hoped it would be a Category 5. Then again, I guess cash rates are expensive here as well — you’re ultimately paying for the location in Santa Monica.
Once the property becomes a Hyatt, it will undergo a $16 million refresh, which will start in the fourth quarter of 2024, and finish in the second quarter of 2025. Interestingly Hyatt will largely be paying for that refresh, as clearly that was something that Hyatt was able to offer the hotel in exchange for the rebranding.
For those not familiar, Hyatt Centric is one of Hyatt’s full-service lifestyle brands. Hyatt claims that the brand is “designed to connect guests to the center of a destination,” though that doesn’t necessarily mean a whole lot. In my experience it’s one of Hyatt’s full service brands that’s less consistent, as it’s easy for existing hotels belonging to other brands to convert to this (as is happening here).
The Hyatt Centric Delfina Santa Monica will have 310 guest rooms, and will feature an all-day dining restaurant, a pool, a gym, and more.
Here’s how Jon Bortz, the CEO of Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, describes the hotel’s rebranding:
“We are thrilled that our lifestyle-oriented Delfina Santa Monica hotel will become part of Hyatt Centric. After evaluating many alternative options, we determined that converting to Hyatt Centric was the optimal choice for this unique lifestyle-oriented property. We were already planning a refresh, and the additional scope to meet Hyatt Centric standards was relatively minor. This will be the only Hyatt-branded hotel in the desirable and high barrier-to-entry beachside Santa Monica hotel market, which should be a tremendous benefit for the property.”
This is good news, but manage your expectations
I’d consider this property transitioning from a Le Meridien to a Hyatt to be good news, given World of Hyatt’s superior elite perks, ranging from confirmed suite upgrades to a better breakfast benefit. Up until now, Hyatt hasn’t had a property in Santa Monica, so more options are a good thing.
However, I’d definitely recommend managing your expectations when it comes to the quality of this property. This hotel first opened as a Four Points by Sheraton, then became a Sheraton, and then became a Le Meridien, and will now become a Hyatt Centric.
While the hotel is undergoing a $16 million renovation, that’s not a whole lot for a hotel of this size. So expect the refresh to be pretty mild, and mostly cosmetic.
Bottom line
As of September 18, 2024, the Le Meridien Delfina Santa Monica will become a Hyatt Centric, as the hotel owners are changing the property’s branding. The hotel will undergo a $16 million refresh, so it will get a little bit of much needed love.
I’m happy to see Hyatt gaining a property in Santa Monica, though this hotel isn’t necessarily a hotel lot to get excited about. The property is now bookable through Hyatt channels, and for those looking to redeem points, it’s a Category 6 hotel.
What do you make of the Hyatt Centric Delfina Santa Monica?
Stayed there as a Sheraton in fall 2001 on honeymoon - mostly as friends had a condo about a block away from W Pico and we ate many meals there. It was ok though parking spaces were hard to find some day, even for a compact. At the time, parking was free….
Reasonable walk to Santa Monica Place (since fully remodelled and 3rd Street Promenade and fast access to PCH and I10 for excursions.
Stayed there as a Sheraton in fall 2001 on honeymoon - mostly as friends had a condo about a block away from W Pico and we ate many meals there. It was ok though parking spaces were hard to find some day, even for a compact. At the time, parking was free….
Reasonable walk to Santa Monica Place (since fully remodelled and 3rd Street Promenade and fast access to PCH and I10 for excursions.
At the time, it was a Virgin Atlantic crew stopover hotel and, a few hours after arriving, we found some of our economy class cabin crew lounging around the pool which was a nice sheltered area to catch some rays.
I recall a small room but a nice balcony view out over the Pacific.
Might give it a look next time in L.A. to see how it’s changed.
Stayed there recently. The location is not really that good (quite a walk to the beach, would not walk there at night), and the rooms could definitely use a thorough renovation. Did not find it a good value.
“Designed to connect guests to the center of a destination”? Really? Check out the location of the Hyatt Centric Cambridge (UK). If you book expecting to be in the center of Cambridge, you're going to be in for a mighty surprise (and about a 35-minute brisk walk)!
Ben - Would you kindly consider dropping the jargon "full-service/limited-service" and "lifestyle-brand" as they are meaningless to regular people? By your own explanation here, this brand is meaningless, so please don't just use Hyatt's meaningless jargon and instead explain what features the hotel has/will have. Thanks!
Full service/limited service is a pretty commonly used term, and the first way I would describe different hotel brands.
Maybe average OMAAT readers are much better versed in hotel jargon than I am, and maybe full vs. limited service matters more to them than to me. But what does a full-service have that a limited-service property doesn't? A concierge (would never use one, I have the internet)? Bell staff (I can carry my own bags)? A restaurant (most limited-service properties have free breakfast that's passable, I can get a nicer breakfast elsewhere)? A spa...
Maybe average OMAAT readers are much better versed in hotel jargon than I am, and maybe full vs. limited service matters more to them than to me. But what does a full-service have that a limited-service property doesn't? A concierge (would never use one, I have the internet)? Bell staff (I can carry my own bags)? A restaurant (most limited-service properties have free breakfast that's passable, I can get a nicer breakfast elsewhere)? A spa (really don't care)? Is this guaranteed at every "full-service" property? As Ben's post says, the "Centric" brand is poorly defined. When I book a hotel, I'm concerned about location, view, room size, cleanliness and service (I'll interact with the front desk at any property, are they helpful or not?). "Full/limited" service, whatever that means, just doesn't make a difference to me and given how non-descriptive the terms are (along with "lifestyle" brand, wtf), I'd prefer Ben drop them.
Wasn't this also just converted to LM from JW Marriott?
I think Le Merigot down the street (now Sandborne) used to be JW.
God Santa Monica is beautiful, can't wait to visit some day!!!!
Stayed there end ‘01 when it was a whatever. Don’t recall any issues and it was an easy walk to Santa Monica Place. Finding a park space was occasionally problematic. Don’t recall room issues. Virgin Atlantic was using it for crew layovers.
I stayed there back in 2000 as a Sheraton 4 points property and I loved the ocean view suites and balconies
Many other occasions through the years
In 2001 after 9-11 it became 49 dollars a night with an upgrade to a suite as an SPG plat
Eventually they became a Sheraton and doubled tripled the prices to 300 ish a night and up
The hotel had some issues with plumbing...
I stayed there back in 2000 as a Sheraton 4 points property and I loved the ocean view suites and balconies
Many other occasions through the years
In 2001 after 9-11 it became 49 dollars a night with an upgrade to a suite as an SPG plat
Eventually they became a Sheraton and doubled tripled the prices to 300 ish a night and up
The hotel had some issues with plumbing and other small concerns after all historically it once was once a holiday inn.So the bones were just meh
Even when it was taken over by Sheraton they never spent enough to fix the hard product
The bathrooms remained untouched
I like the hotel but the biggest issue was noise
The hotel has poor soundproofing
During the hot months because the hotel had individual hvac units that were as loud as jet engines it did drown out some of the surrounding street noise
If they fix that the property it could be a jewel
Of a centric.Not fully certain 16 mil is enough
And unlikely to ever be as nice as Centric Melbourne in Australia
I noticed the owner has an extensive portfolio of properties, including some Kimptons and several properties under other Marriott brands. This is, I think, their only Hyatt property. I wonder if more of their properties will convert.
I stayed here a few years ago, when it was still an SPG property. I thought it was nice, and the location was very walkable to the beach. The shower in my room didn't work, but they comped me like 16,000 Starpoints, which I thought was pretty generous.
I could be wrong, but isn't Hyatt Centric the Hyatt brand equivalent to Marriott's Delta and Hilton's Doubletree? A conversion brand for properties that may be older.
Can't blame the owner for switching. Le Meridien is one of the most obscure Marriott brands. You hardly ever see any properties covered or promoted, even by Marriott in promotional emails.
I stayed there just before Covid and it was really tired then. Must be fairly awful now. Location is really good within walking distance of the beach, shops and dining on Main. As well as The Promenade. I’ll try it after the renovation for sure and see how much of a difference it made.
I like the Hyatt Centric concept - stay in the heart of destination cities in a "cool" hotel for a more affordable rate than an Andaz. It seems like the brand standards for interior quality is pretty lax though, as most seem to be barely better than a Hyatt Place and maintenance is low (scrapes and worn out items galore).
Nice
Oof, yea it’s even on the wrong side of the 10 Freeway ️. Much prefer the LXR Oceana (they upgraded me to a board room as a Hilton Silver after refusing to upgrade the DYKWIA Diamond in front of me which was hilarious), but it’s usually too rich for my blood
Sorry to say it but these days, I'd rather be south of the 10 in Santa Monica. Downtown has emptied out quite a bit and just isn't what it used to be until you get north of downtown. South of the 10 gives you access to Main St and Ocean Park, as well as not being far from Venice