A lawsuit filed by a property developer is pitting two Hyatt hotels against each other.
Developer Mack-Cali is suing Hyatt for breach of contract for allowing a franchisee to open the Hyatt House just a few hundred meters from Mack-Cali’s Hyatt Regency which opened in 2002.
The new Hyatt House opened in 2017 in Jersey City and has caused a net operating loss of $1.3 million for the Hyatt Regency, the lawsuit claims.
Mack-Cali was consulted and approved the opening of the 258-room Hyatt House but says it is effectively operating as a competing full-service hotel and not an extended-stay property as planned.
The suit says the management agreement requires Mack-Cali’s approval for any other Hyatt hotel in Jersey City or Hoboken.
It also claims any collective bargaining agreements must be approved by Mack-Cali.
It alleged Hyatt let Regency employees unionize without the company’s consent which cost the developer about $29 million.
The lawsuit accuses Hyatt of breach of contract, fraud, and conspiracy.
The new Hyatt House is owned by Concord Hospitality.
