The Caesars Republic Scottsdale, a new four-star hotel that has been open for less than a year, is getting ready to make massive changes at 4747 N Goldwater Blvd.
Rick Huffman, the CEO and president of HCW, the Missouri-based real estate development company that owns and manages Caesars Republic Scottsdale, announced on Oct. 29 that the hotel would change its relationship with Caesars and become a Hilton-branded hotel, according to the Phoenix Business Journal. The decision to rebrand comes after customers expressed dissatisfaction with the Caesars reward points program, which allows guests to use points to book hotel rooms rather than gamble.
“We are becoming a soft-branded Hilton Dec. 1,” Huffman said during the Business Journal’s Restaurant and Hospitality Summit held at the Biltmore Golf Club. “It’ll still be Caesars Republic, and we created a [joint venture] with Hilton and Caesars and it will now be on the website under the Hilton brands. “What we’re finding out is [Caesars’] customers want to spend their points on gaming and not on hotel rooms. They’ve not driven the business we expected – we have had to rely on ourselves, staff, and [online travel agents] for that business.”
While the hotel as a whole is reinventing itself, one of the most significant changes from this will be a switch in restaurant concepts. At the moment, Riot Hospitality Group, which is also behind several popular concepts, operates a fine dining concept called Seven on the hotel’s seventh floor near the pool. While the hotel has several eateries, Huffman tells the Business Journal that the concept was profitable, but he didn’t like it. He will close Seven in May to revamp and remodel it into a different, exciting venue. Huffman tells What Now Phoenix that “Seven remodel is still in the works of design. At this time, we have no plans to change our management.”
“We are very proud of Seven’s popularity, and its success exemplifies the exceptional hospitality service found in all of the Riot Hospitality Group venues across the county,” Lissa Druss, a spokeswoman for Riot Hospitality Group, tells What Now Phoenix in a statement.
