Soon-to-open downtown hotel a convention 'game-changer'

Brice Wallace 

A gem on the Salt Lake City skyline. An architectural standout. A destination for locals and out-of-towners.

The leader of Visit Salt Lake has a succinct description: “game-changer.”

The soon-to-open Hyatt Regency Salt Lake City is expected to be all of those, including serving as a magnet for more and bigger conventions for Utah’s capital city.{mprestriction ids="1,3"}

“The Hyatt Regency is truly a game-changer when it comes to attracting and retaining new conventions and it will be a huge draw for both leisure and business travelers visiting Salt Lake,” Kaitlin Eskelson, president and CEO of Visit Salt Lake, said during a recent virtual tour of the hotel for news media.

The private nonprofit that promotes Salt Lake County as a convention and travel destination already is on track for a record year featuring the booking of 830,000 room nights. “I have to say that the Hyatt has played a huge role in attracting these groups,” Eskelson said, adding the hotel adds vibrancy, jobs and incredible gathering places to Salt Lake City’s hospitality ecosystem.

The idea of a large hotel connected to the Salt Palace Convention Center has been a dream for years as tourism and convention officials lamented that some conventions simply went elsewhere with more-convenient options for attendees. The Hyatt Regency will feature 60,000 square feet of meeting and event facilities, 700 guest rooms and suites, several dining options and a sixth-floor rooftop event terrace. The hotel lobby will have direct access to the convention center.

“This is a very, very exciting time in Salt Lake’s history, and I think I can speak for everyone that we didn’t know if this day would come,” Eskelson said. “It’s been a lot of years in the making, and we’re just thrilled.”

Pina Purpero, the hotel’s general manager, said Salt Lake City had been working on such a hotel since 2005. The new facility “will blend Salt Lake City’s eclectic style with modern design, tech-enabled conveniences and dynamic spaces,” she said.

“We’re really hoping to be that added inventory that can really capture larger groups, but also we’re modern, we’re sleek, we’re new,” Purpero said. “Hopefully we’re just a place where people who are coming on vacation, who want to incorporate skiing or outdoors, or who are attending a convention, will want to be. We’re adding a real vibrant, energetic piece to the city.”

Eskelson said the hotel has “transitioned our conversations” as it has opened doors to conventions that otherwise did not view Salt Lake as a viable option. The expectation now is more, larger and higher-quality conventions, she said.

One such convention will return to Utah after being in Denver for a few years. Outdoor Retailer, with its large twice-annual shows, has announced a return to Salt Lake City.

“Our convention center space when they left, it was not big enough, and our room blocks were also not big enough,” Eskelson said. “So adding the 700-room inventory and additional meeting space was absolutely a game-changer for their decision to return.”

Set to open in October, the 25-story hotel will be the first Hyatt Regency hotel in Utah. Glass is a prominent feature, providing sparkle on its exterior and city and mountain views from the interior.

Inside will be 60,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting and event facilities. “This is going to be our bread-and-butter and is going to be a large focus for the hotel,” said Jarrod Finley, the hotel’s director of sales and marketing.

Anchoring the meeting space will be two large ballrooms, one of 23,000 square feet, making it the largest indoor ballroom in Salt Lake City outside the convention center, and another of 15,000 square feet. Thirty-one breakout rooms include some as small as 300 square feet for something as intimate as board meetings. Attendees needing a break can still connect with their meetings via video feeds streamed to a space called the Broadcast Lounge — a first for the Hyatt Regency brand.

Visitors looking for a bite to eat will have three lower-floor options: Contribution, an upscale, street-facing bar; The Salt Republic, a spacious open-kitchen American bistro; and Market, a local artisan grab-and-go store open around the clock. Spanish-inspired Mar|Muntanya will be on the sixth floor.

The hotel also will contain locally inspired art, a fitness center and a rooftop pool with cabanas and firepits.{/mprestriction}