Hyatt’s run goes through end of year
Atlantic City’s Ocean Casino Resort and Hyatt Hotels Corp. have ended their partnership. Hyatt has operated Ocean’s hotel since the resort opened in June 2018.
Hyatt will remain the hotel’s operator through the end of the year, with visitors still able to book reservations through the Hyatt website.
In a message on the Ocean Casino Resort page, the hotel company said World of Hyatt loyalty members will not receive program benefits after December 31, 2019, even if they have already booked a stay. The reservations themselves will not be affected.
There is some question surrounding stays booked with awards points, as the message asks those with already scheduled award stays to “contact Hyatt’s Global Reservations Center”.
Ocean’s hotel has been successful
It is not known if another hotel operator will take over or if Ocean will take control of things itself. In its communication about the partnership termination, the resort explained:
Due to our continued success, our hotel volumes no longer permit preferential booking for Hyatt Loyalty guests.”
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement’s published figures show Ocean as having the second-highest occupancy rate of the nine casinos in Atlantic City through September.
The property also boasts the highest average rate per occupied room. In the third quarter of this year, Ocean Casino Resort had an occupancy rate of 99.6 percent. The average room rate was $219.01 per night.
Property has short, rocky history
Ocean Casino Resort is the former Revel, a $2.4 billion glass luxury property that opened on April 2, 2012. Built as a supposed rival to Borgata, it hemorrhaged money and closed less than two-and-a-half years later.
The property was put up for bids and got just one by the September 23, 2014 deadline. This was a $90 million offer from Polo North Country Club’s Glen Straub. The auction was then extended for a week.
After an upset Straub increased his bid, Brookfield US Holdings offered $110 million in the middle of the final night to win the auction.
Eventually, in April 2015, Straub bought the Revel for just $82 million. He had big plans for the Revel, even renaming it TEN, but he never reopened it.
The Ocean Casino Resort is born
Bruce Deifik bought it for $200 million in January 2018, rebranded it as Ocean, and inaugurated the property in June of that year. In 2019, Luxor Capital Group took over ownership of Ocean.
Hyatt rarely made much of an effort to promote the casino resort
Ocean was a part of Hyatt’s luxury brand, The Unbound Collection, from the very beginning. Despite the lofty company that label put it in, Hyatt rarely made much of an effort to promote the casino resort on its website.