By the Caribbean Journal staff
Hyatt Hotels has officially made its debut at the Coco Beach development in Puerto Rico.
The company’s newest Caribbean resort is The Resort at Coco Beach, a Hyatt Affiliated Hotel, a rebranding of the former Gran Melia Puerto Rico resort in Rio Grande.
For now it’s called an “affiliated hotel,” though it will eventually be rebranded into a full-fledged Hyatt Regency resort after what Hyatt is calling an “extensive” renovation.
The property includes a collection of beachfront “bungalows.”
The family-friendly resort, managed by Aimbridge Hospitality, is set in the heart of the massive Coco Beach development near Puerto Rico’s El Yunque rainforest.
It’s perhaps best known for its pair of Tom Kite-designed championship golf courses, currently the home of the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open.
Dining options include a Caribbean buffet, the Nori Asian Grill and Prime 787, an American-style steakhouse, along with nearly 37,000 square feet of meeting space.
The main pool at the resort.
There are 579 rooms at the resort, all with balconies or terraces with either garden, pool or ocean views (deluxe suites boast 1,075 square feet and their own outdoor jacuzzis).
Renovated suites are part of a light renovation Hyatt has so far undertaken at the property.
The debut marks the first true Hyatt resort in Puerto Rico, which is already home to several of Hyatt’s other brands including Hyatt House and Hyatt Place.
Rio Grande is about 25 miles outside of San Juan.
It’s just the beginning of what is pegged as a transformative new development in Coco Beach, one that could mean as much as $1.5 billion in new tourism investment and as many as 2,500 new hotel rooms, according to Carla Campos, executive director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company.
For more, visit the Resort at Coco Beach.
— CJ