MB Capital LLC chooses Sheraton

After nearly four months since the Hyatt Regency Saipan property closed its doors following over 40 years of service, the property is back in operation under a new name: Sheraton.

MB Capital LLC, the new operator of the former Hyatt Regency Saipan, officially announced that the property has been rebranded under the Marriot brand and is now a Sheraton.

David Hood, president of MB Capital, led the unveiling and he was joined by his general manager Gloria Cavanagh, members of the Legislature, Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang, tourism stakeholders, and members of the Saipan community.

In an interview with Hood following the unveiling, he excitedly shared that after months of pondering between the Hilton brand and Marriot’s Sheraton, MB Capital finally made a decision this month and signed a memorandum of understanding with Sheraton this week.

Now, the CNMI’s first Sheraton hotel is expected to open its doors to the public come Nov. 25.

“Honestly, they both were top notch. It was a very difficult decision. We could have made the decision a month ago, but we just kept looking at all the specifics and I just think the Sheraton is a better fit for the CNMI. The Sheraton was super excited about the property, so their enthusiasm was just off the charts and that made a big difference for me, because that’s how I feel too,” he said.

“We’re going to try to open on Nov. 25, in time for Thanksgiving. We’ll only be opening the Regency Club for now, but it will not be called the Regency Club anymore, maybe the Royalty Club or something like that. It’ll have the same format,” he said.

As for renovations, Hood expressed that will be later into the future.

“So the renovations won’t start until probably next year because we still have to go through a plan revision. There’s no plans for the renovation yet. So, we have to go through all that process. that would probably be toward the end of the year 2025 or 2026, but we’ll still be open,” he shared.

Meanwhile, Hood also excitedly shared that MB Capital has opened back up the popular Miyako restaurant and it has been well received by the community.

“We’ve been open now for four days and it’s been full. People are super excited. We brought in some fresh salmon from Norway, so people are super excited about that, just by itself. It’s fun to watch. I’m excited to be here. Welcome back, CNMI, and we look forward to seeing everybody here,” said Hood.

In a statement from Palacios, he shared that he is elated that the former Hyatt Regency will be back in operation under the Sheraton brand.

“I’m elated and I think everyone else is elated and relieved that we are going to get a [new] brand. Everybody was kind of depressed when Hyatt walked out of here, but it’s a new day and this is a new group of people that that we know, we have confidence in, and we’re going to make things work for this community,” he said.

Palacios added that his administration will do its best to support MB Capital and the new Sheraton hotel.

“We have Mr. Hood and I know he’s got a team and their hearts are committed to the Commonwealth [as] these folks are from the Commonwealth. So, we believe that they’re going to give it their best and the government will be with them throughout whether it’s helping with marketing or whether it’s helping with incentives. We will really try to make this work for us,” he said.

“This hotel was iconic for the Commonwealth, so when Hyatt decided to leave, it was like a punch in the gut for everybody, including myself. I lost a lot of sleep thinking about this and what’s going to come next but we were patient. I had confidence that we were going to get something done and I’m glad that we got it done sooner rather than later. Dave and the team are right on top of it,” Palacios added.

Marianas Visitors Authority managing director Chris Concepcion also shared that the MVA is very excited with the announcement by MB Capital of the Sheraton brand’s entry into the CNMI.

“Their acquisition of the former Hyatt Regency and quick action in finding an alternative brand to take over is commendable. The Sheraton is part of the Premium line of hotels in the larger Marriott International group, the largest hotel company in the world by number of rooms. The Marriott’s loyalty program, Marriott BonVoy, has roughly 200 million members worldwide, a tremendously valuable network for our tourism industry as Saipan and the Marianas will be advertised globally simply by having this brand on our shores. We congratulate the owners and the Sheraton brand on this momentous occasion. This bodes well for the future of the CNMI tourism industry,” he said.