THE Hyatt Regency Perth has launched its most extensive redevelopment program in 20 years, with the hotel’s owners investing $9 million for renovations.
It’s the second largest reinvestment in the hotel’s history (in real terms), eclipsed only by a $7 million refurbishment in 1990 when Hyatt took over the Merlin Hotel.
Hyatt Regency general manager Adam Myott said the owners of the hotel had been very proactive with reinvestment.
Under the redevelopment, all 367 rooms in the hotel will be fitted with new 40-inch plasma televisions, while the top two floors, known as Regency Club rooms, will undergo a full fit-out of guestrooms and bathrooms.
“And other floors will have significant levels of refurbishment, so we’re talking about a $9 million investment,” Mr Myott said.
“We’ve also seen a $3 million investment into food and beverage with the major upgrade at Café in just the last couple of years.”
Sheraton Perth Hotel may have reinvested $20 million during 2007 converting previously leased office space into 96 new rooms, making the property WA’s largest five-star hotel, but Sheraton’s general manager Debra Watts was tight-lipped about any upcoming renovations.
InterContinental Perth Burswood emphasised it maintains an ongoing program of general refurbishment to all areas of its operations, with recent upgrades to its top-end Infinity suites finalised at Christmas.
The Richardson Hotel owner Joe Oxley suggested some hotels talked up their reinvestment as a marketing exercise.
He said upgrading furniture, fittings and fixtures (known as FFE) was the norm (accounting for about 5 per cent of The Richardson’s annual room earnings) with bathroom renovations being particularly costly.
“We would allocate approximately $6,000-$10,000, depending on the size of the suites, per year for refurbishment, which we would expect to do every four to five years, that’s on FFE,” Mr Oxley said.
