Q: The Hyatt Denver Convention Center Hotel is scheduled to open in December. Is it going to be done on time and on budget?
A: Yes. We’re hosting Storage Tek, our first group, on Jan. 8. They’re going to take over 850 rooms at the hotel. And we’re going to be ready for them.
Q: Are local union groups watching the project more closely because of the contentious issues surrounding its construction?
A: There is no other project under as much scrutiny as this one. We agreed to pay the city $200,000 to hire an independent auditor to monitor the construction. He’s a former union guy, actually.
Are there issues with prevailing wage? There are issues with prevailing wage on every single project. We’ve got 600 to 700 workers out there every single day, and we’re getting more scrutiny than any project ever because of the independent monitor.
Q: The Hyatt Denver Convention Center will add 400,000 room nights annually to the downtown hotel market. Will that hurt the existing hotels?
A: On the face of it, it could potentially hurt everybody. There is no question that the convention center ramp-up through 2006 and 2007 is a little slow, because there was no predictable opening date and people didn’t book it.
On the other hand, I don’t think we could be opening this hotel at a better time.
By all appearances, the national hotel marketplace is really growing – room rates are skyrocketing; occupancy is going up.
So hopefully the health of the overall tourism and corporate travel marketplace will kind of bail us out.
Q: With 62,000 square feet of its own meeting space, do you think the hotel will compete with the Colorado Convention Center for smaller meetings?
A: The general guideline for convention-center hotels is you have at least 100 square feet of meeting space per room. We’re at 56 square feet per room. The reason for that is to not compete with the convention center.
Because they’re right across the street from one another, the idea is that there is a synergy between the two.
But one of the problems with the convention center is you walk in and it’s humongous – you have to walk half a block to get to a meeting. So one of the challenges for us is to make sure it’s very user-friendly, make sure people know where they’re going.
Q: Do you think Denver’s problems with homelessness and panhandling will hurt the convention center and hotel?
A: It could.
There is no question that panhandlers know where the convention people are, so they go there.
They don’t go to a corner where nobody hangs out.
It’s an issue that everybody is working on.
Q: What is your favorite hotel chain when you travel?
A: I probably should say Hyatt.
But like a lot of people, I’m pretty discerning from a rate and location standpoint.
But when I do go to a convention, I don’t always like to stay at the convention hotel, frankly, because they’re so large.
Edited for space and clarity from an interview with Julie Dunn.
