Hyatt Regency redefines its event space with smart planning and lavish touches
Branded hotel chains find innovation a big challenge, particularly when it collides with customer loyalty. People usually choose hotels based on their recall value as they identify them with their restaurants, rooms, banquets, poolside, spa or friendly services. Changing their character is always risky. What if the clientele, lulled into comfort and complacence by an established product, rejects a reinventionIJ What if the nostalgia of the former overshadows the glimmer of the presentIJ Thankfully, Hyatt Regency has managed to be comfortable about its makeovers.
After Djinns seamlessly made way for the rich oriental dining experience at China Kitchen, the Hyatt Regency has reworked its ballroom area to create a new event space called The Mansion.
It is a flowing space under atrium-high ceilings, with hosting rooms at two levels — the smaller private rooms, christened living Rooms, on an upper deck, and the bigger banquet, The Oval Room, at the ground level. All of these can be approached by a curvaceous walkway that opens into a courtyard of sorts before fanning out to niche experiential hubs.
Speaking at the soft launch, GM Aseem Kapoor described it as “Delhi’s first event space, featuring dramatic open show kitchens that redefine the approach to events held in the city. We called it The Mansion to give it an at-home feel where everybody is connected even while being in different island spaces. The floating buffet arrangement allows for guest intimacy while being part of a big group.” You can picture a big, fat family wedding or a multi-branch corporate meet in these premises.
Of course, The Oval Room is the cynosure — from the triad lED chandelier, Scandinavian minimalism in the furniture, the rich but subtle touch of Italian marble and mostly the easy buffet arrangement courtesy the mini cuisine islands strewn around a semi-circular chefs’ theatre.
The launch had the top chefs of Hyatt’s signature restaurants dish out their favourites. Mingling among an audience of guests from embassies and corporate houses, we liked the cold-smoked organic Scottish salmon, Tasmanian trout caviar, buckwheat and potatoes blinis, sour cream and chives, the herb-crusted, roasted Mullwara rack of lamb, Hunan-style braised pork and pork buns. All washed down with Joseph Drouhin wines. Did we mention the hand-rolled truffles to top off the spreadIJ
Of couse, we cannot forget the statistics. The Oval Room is spread across 15,925 sq ft and can accommodate up to 1,000 guests. The heart and soul of the Mansion’s Oval Room can be found in the inviting open show kitchens, which turn live cooking into a multi-sensory and fulfilling experience. The walls of the open show kitchens are adorned with Milas lilac marble, book-matched from Italy, three Marrone cooking suites from Italy (the smoke is sucked up so quick that it doesn’t dissipate in the sociable space or clouds it), a wood fire oven, Duck Oven from Beech Ovens, Australia and multi-functional mobile stations that serve fresh food in a dramatic setting.
The venue is flushed with natural light coming through a tall, stylish glass wall on one side, with chefs in action in the open show kitchen on the other.
The glass panels are coated with copper mesh to reduce the glare of the sun by 65 per cent while also lending a sunset glow and shimmer to a late afternoon do. Best of all, it is all sound-proof. We noticed two thoughtful
gestures — the plush dressing area with wraparound, floor-length mirrors in the ladies’ room and the suction vents for a non-smoky, indoor Vedic wedding. In short, The Mansion is the perfect venue for your next theme event.