Tl;dr – The Destination by Hyatt Brands has been selected as the project’s flagship hotel.
The Avenir, a $7 billion mixed-use development project that includes a casino, restaurant, entertainment, and public art complex on Manhattan’s West Side, will allegedly include a 1,000-room Destination by Hyatt hotel.
This is an ambitious project. As it is New York City, there’s a market for nearly everything, so while NYC isn’t the first gambling destination that comes to mind, with the sheer number of tourists the city sees (not to mention the robust population of the greater NYC area), I’m sure the tables will be filled.
Although there’s not much more information about the hotel itself, we do know that the project will feature some notable names in the dining sector. According to a press release on the project’s website, “Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG), founded by Danny Meyer, and STARR Restaurants, founded by restaurateur Stephen Starr, as well as local sommelier Yannick Benjamin, celebrated chefs Nancy Silverton and Pim Techamuanvivit,” are all involved.
Additionally, there will be a food hall that features several local vendors, including ‘Don Antonio, Empanada Mama, Sarge’s Delicatessen and Diner, and So & So’s.’
My Thoughts
Hyatt now has 34 stampable badges on its Brand Explorer. We know there’s a concerted effort by leadership to focus on luxury and lifestyle brands, and if there’s a downside to all that growth, it might be muddled brand delineation. Such is the case for me and the Destination By Hyatt brand. According to the Destination by Hyatt page, the brand “offers a dynamic mix of expansive resorts and urban hotels that reflect the diversity of their surroundings—be it oceans, mountains, deserts or fairways, rustic villages or bustling cities—empowering guests to expand their world through a deep sense of place.”
First off – that’s beautiful. I’m touched, and I immediately want to take a nice deep sip of some crisp sparkling water while contemplating ‘it all.’
On a serious note, ‘Destination’ is a holdover brand from Hyatt’s acquisition of Two Roads Hospitality several years back. In many ways, Destination (and JDV for that matter, but less so with Thompson, tommie, and Alila) are acting as soft brands that serve as a holding pen for Hyatt, until it determines which of its other 33 brands might suffice for the property. Either that, or Destination and JDV are catchall brands for any potential misfits. Perhaps there’s a more procedural reason (known only at the corporate level) why Hyatt labels a given property as Destination by Hyatt – who knows?
Either way, this is a significant project for Hyatt to be associated with, and with 1,000 rooms, there will presumably be ample space to test it out.
