The Mercury News
09/04/19

Hotel De Anza in Downtown San Jose Joins Hyatt Hotels Chain
By George Avalos

Hotel De Anza in downtown San Jose joins Hyatt Hotels chain

SAN JOSE — The Hotel De Anza, a historic hotel in downtown San Jose, is poised to gain greater visibility by joining World of Hyatt, a worldwide lodging powerhouse.

The hotel, built in 1931 during the Great Depression, is one of the most prominent hotels in the Bay Area and is scheduled to join the Hyatt Hotels on Sept. 10, according to the hotel chain.

“For hotel owners, our platform will deliver opportunities for enhanced operational excellence and financial performance,” Mark Hoplamazian, chief executive officer of Hyatt Hotels, said in comments emailed to this news organization.

The way was paved for Hotel De Anza to join World of Hyatt following last November’s purchase by Hyatt Hotels of Two Roads Hospitality, a lifestyle hotel management company. Those hotel brands that Hyatt obtained include Alila, Destination, Joie de Vivre, Thompson, and tommie. The Hotel De Anza is one of the properties that was owned by the Destination chain.

“We will leverage the shared expertise of Hyatt and Two Roads across our powerful combined portfolio of 19 brands to bring best-in-class offerings for guests around the globe,” Hoplamazian said.

Located a few blocks from the SAP Center and the Diridon train station, the De Anza hotel is a short distance from a proposed transit village that Google intends to develop. The hotel also is close to the Adobe headquarters campus that is undergoing a dramatic expansion with the construction of a new office tower.

The new affiliation means Hyatt will be the manager and the operator of the 100-room Hotel De Anza.

“There is no question this will help the De Anza,” said Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group, an Irvine-based firm that tracks the California lodging market. “The hotel will have much more visibility.”

The potential advantages could materialize on multiple fronts.

“This will give the De Anza access to the huge Hyatt reservation system and the bulk buying power that is possible by being part of the Hyatt chain,” Reay said.

The higher visibility also could pack a punch given the business-oriented nature of the Silicon Valley lodging market.

“Downtown San Jose is more corporate and business travel rather than leisure travel,” Reay said. “A lot of business travelers will only stay at a Hyatt, Marriott, or Hilton hotel because of the loyalty points they can earn from frequent visits. That’s an extra benefit for the De Anza.”

Located at 233 W. Santa Clara St., the 10-story hotel features art deco elements both outside and in the main lobby, and has a pair of nine-story wings with a slightly higher central section.

In recent years, the hotel property was offered for sale, according to a brochure that was circulated by CBRE, a commercial real estate firm.

CBRE touted the hotel’s unique nature.

“The luxury boutique hotel” is “historic and irreplaceable,” CBRE stated in the brochure, which also described the De Anza as an “iconic landmark” that is downtown San Jose’s “crown jewel.”

The CBRE marketing brochure noted that the hotel had undergone a $5 million renovation in 2015. Hotel officials said that wide-ranging facelift included the lobby.

In 1982, the hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places.