Regent Hotels & Resorts, part of IHG Hotels & Resorts, is set to make a return to the U.S. with the Regent Santa Monica Beach, a conversion of the current Loews Santa Monica in California. The 347-room property is slated to open later this year, close to the Santa Monica Pier.
The Regent brand had a history in the U.S, with past hotels including the famed Regent Beverly Wilshire, which is now a Four Seasons. In sum, there were 13 Regent hotels in the U.S. at one point, including The Regent of Washington, D.C. (now The Westin Georgetown, Washington, D.C.), The Regent Bal Harbour, Miami (now The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour) and The Regent Las Vegas, currently the JW Marriott Las Vegas.
The Regent brand’s current portfolio is nine hotels, with the bulk in Asia-Pacific. Earlier this week, IHG reopened the Carlton Cannes, A Regent Hotel. Regent has more openings scheduled later this year and in the next few years in destinations like Bali, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Kyoto, Sanya and Shenzhen.
The Loews hotel, which had closed earlier, was reportedly set to lay off more than 300 employees. The hotel underwent renovations worth $4.5 million in 2021. The hotel, which first opened its doors in 1989, includes a sizable outdoor dining area with 13 fire pits, a pool deck with views of the beach, a restaurant, a gym and a spa.
The hotel will be transformed into Regent Santa Monica Beach in partnership with the hotel’s Chicago-based owner, Strategic Hotels & Resorts. The owner and asset manager has a collection of 13 luxury properties in the U.S., including two InterContinental hotels.
Following a complete transformation, the hotel will offer enhanced rooms and suites, multiple pools and a destination spa and wellness center, along with a restaurant concept created jointly with a celebrity chef and an artisanal marketplace.
“Regent Santa Monica Beach is the start of a bright future for the brand in the Americas, emphasizing our strategic focus on luxury and lifestyle growth globally. We are also particularly thrilled to be partnering with Strategic Hotels & Resorts, a trusted owner of IHG-branded hotels for many years, on this endeavor,” Julienne Smith, chief development officer, Americas, IHG Hotels & Resorts, said.
The reimagined Regent brand is part of IHG’s luxury and lifestyle portfolio. The brand’s growth is the latest extension of IHG’s expansion in the luxury and lifestyle segment.
IHG currently manages more than 450 properties worldwide under six brands and has 310 more in the pipeline.
