Just months after the Hyatt Regency Saipan closed its doors, a new owner has taken over its lease. Over the weekend, the lease was officially reassigned to mb capital, owned by longtime developer and contractor David Hood.

“The question that I keep getting asked is, why? Why did I want to do this? And to be honest, I came here in 2013. I fell in love with this hotel, the island, the people. And I told myself, one day I will live here, and I, I do now I am a resident here, and my first thought when the closure came about was, how do we save this hotel? How do we save jobs and how do we save this 50-year-old garden that they were going to start maintaining,” said Hood. 

They have an aggressive plan to slowly start opening their doors in November as they search for a brand name.

“We are going to find a brand name here. We're working currently, and it could change. Currently we're working with the Hilton and also the Marriott brand. Bear in mind, Marriott is one of the largest companies, and they have multiple brands under the Marriott banner. So we're negotiating right now to see which one fits best here. It could be sheraton. It could be, Westin. but, it's a little early. So we're not quite sure where that's going to end up,” he added. 

Gloria Cavanagh is the hotel’s general manager and shares some initial plans for the gradual opening.

“We're going to open the 72 rooms, hopefully in November. And then there's another 68 on that side before the end of the year. You know, and just and just plug away. You know, I mean, when you're dealing with a brand new brand, you know, there are so many things that need to happen,” said Cavanagh. 

The development comes amid harsh economic times and low visitor arrivals, but that isn’t stopping them.

“I think the market’s changed and we are going to have to change with it. We are not going to be able to just rely on a brand name, we are going to have TPO work on tourism in different types of venues to get the occupancy up higher than it has been,” said Hood.