The 6-month-old Hyatt Regency Denver at the Colorado Convention Center is hiring an additional 150 employees, thanks to higher-than-expected occupancy and booming demand for banquet and conference services.
“We just need people, people, people,” said general manager John Schafer. “We’ve been busier than anybody expected.”
The $285 million hotel, which currently employs 620 people, is hiring positions across the board – from housekeepers and bartenders to engineers and managers.
“I think this is testimony to what the Colorado Convention Center is doing for the hotel industry now and will do into the future,” said Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. “The convention center hotel is a bellwether hotel. Typically when it does well, it means the other hotels will also do well.”
The 1,100-room hotel, which opened in late December, saw an average occupancy rate of 85.4 percent for March and occupancy rates in the high 70 percent range for April and May, Schafer said.
The average occupancy rate for all downtown hotels in April was 61.8 percent, according to the monthly Rocky Mountain Lodging Report.
Ninety percent of the hotel’s staff are full-time employees, said Schafer, meaning they qualify for matching retirement plans, health insurance and paid sick and vacation time. Other perks include free cappuccino drinks and complimentary Internet usage.
“There is always the perception that these are low-paying, dead-end jobs,” he said. “But the average wage in the hotel right now is $10.50 per hour, which is twice the minimum wage.”
All new employees at the Hyatt Regency Denver are likely to have a say in the labor issues facing the hotel, where union group Unite Here is working to unionize the workers.
Unite Here and 13 other local union organizations signed a resolution last month declaring their opposition to Denver’s hosting the 2008 Democratic National Convention, mainly because of the lack of a unionized hotel.
Representatives from Unite Here and the Denver Area Labor Federation did not return calls for comment Wednesday.
Staff writer Julie Dunn can be reached at 303-820-1592 or jdunn@denverpost.com.
How to apply: Interested candidates can apply in person at the hotel, 650 15th St., or online at www.denverregency.hyatt.com.
