Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach
Cormac O’Modhrain, General Manager 
Marian Schwartz, Director of Purchasing
 
The management team at the newly opened Hyatt Regency Resort & Spa at Huntington Beach, California credits Hyatt’s expertise for its hugely successful opening and gives kudos to Avendra for the incredible part they played in that success.

The luxurious Spanish-style property, perched above the ocean and surrounded by tropically landscaped grounds on Pacific Coast Highway, opened in January 2003. With 517 rooms and suites, and over 100,000 sq ft of both indoor and outdoor function space, the property is a meeting planners dream and the largest ocean front meeting venue in California. In addition to these impressive statistics, the resort also boasts a 20,000 square foot spa, three individually themed restaurants, a retail village and a pedestrian walkway to the ocean that is as breathtaking as the ocean itself.

Even for sophisticated operators, the detail involved in getting a new property stocked and ready for occupancy is daunting. “Hyatt has a wealth of experience and a support team of exceptionally talented people who advised and assisted us with the process,” says Cormac O’Modhrain, the general manager who came on board prior to opening.  “But on more than one occasion, it was clear that being an Avendra customer made a difference in getting exactly the products we wanted, and getting them delivered on time.”

Cormac focuses on the many relationships necessary to open and operate a quality hotel property. “Avendra’s purchasing power has the ability to influence suppliers. We saw them use their relationships to our advantage, when we needed help they saw to it that help was provided and ultimately guaranteed that we opened on time and with all of the products necessary to provide our guests with the exclusive experience they were expecting. Our opening was flawless.”

A toast to the details
The recent transition to a new regional food and beverage supplier added to the challenge of being ready and opening on time. Marian Schwartz, the property’s director of purchasing, recalls that Avendra coordinated with US Foodservice to work with the hotel eight weeks ahead of time, on site, setting up smooth operations. 

It might not sound like a big thing, but Avendra’s knowledge of the industry and products helped the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach with the big issues – as well as the seemingly small tasks.  Avendra made sure that the labels were removed from the thousands of pieces of new stemware prior to delivery. “Avendra’s attention to detail, in this case, saved hundreds of hours of hotel staff time,” says Marian.

“We hear regularly from the Avendra representatives,” Cormac says. “We feel they’re constantly looking out for our best interests. When they say, ‘look, you could get a better deal this way,’ we always listen.”