Hyatt Regency Saipan opens mini-museum ahead of closure

Take one last walk down memory lane at the Hyatt Regency Saipan. The CNMI hotel is closing at the end of the month and set up a mini-museum to reflect on their more than four decades on Saipan.

Photos in black and white, images in full color, and flyers from the 1980s all in one room, capturing the more than four decades of Hyatt history on Saipan. Bea O’Malley, Hyatt Regency Saipan Marketing & Communications Manager, told KUAM News, "Hyatt Regency Saipan is the first international hotel in the CNMI and that in itself, speak tons of accomplishment. It has, started or revolutionized, the hospitality industry here in the CNMI."

O’Malley said the hotel welcomes the community for one last walk down memory lane in a mini-musem open to the public every day from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at their lobby before they permanently close their doors on June 30.

"We would like to invite everyone, our guests, community members, to come and see, you know how Hyatt Regency Saipan, evolved throughout the years. It highlights, all their journey, Hyatt Regency Saipan’s era and, you know, guests can also take a peek of the people, of the men and women who have worked here, since the beginning and, until today," she said.

Their closure is a sign of the times in a sinking island economy with no where near the number of visitor arrivals needed to simply break even.

The hotel is putting up a fence around the entire building. Staff have already made plans to transition to other hotels or different jobs. It’s unclear what the future of the public property will be since it signed a 40-year lease renewal in 2021.

The hotel has already shuttered most of its restaurants and services in its final weeks

O'Malley added, "Hyatt Regency Saipan is also known to connect with guests through memorable goodbyes. So, that is the Hyatt touch. And, that is the kind of, memory and, good experience that we want to be remembered by."