At Hyatt Hotel Canberra - A Park Hyatt Hotel, our story has always been defined by the people who bring the hotel to life. Those who pass through our doors, and those who help shape its legacy.

In the late 80s, Hotel Canberra re-opened as the cities first international five-star hotel and Australia’s first Park Hyatt hotel.

It was a time of excitement and pride - the building of a legacy that still stands today. For many – past and present –Hyatt Hotel Canberra is far more than a workplace but a formative chapter for generations of hospitality professionals.

This reflection, shared by a former team member, captures the spirit, camaraderie and enduring influence of Hyatt Hotel Canberra during its earliest years and calls on other's to share their experiences at a planned reunion in March 2026.

A lifetime of lessons

Scott Callahan

I have been asked by colleagues here in the USA, where I have now set up home, “how on earth have so many employees, most part time, stayed in touch and want to get together thirty-eight years later”. It’s simple really - they were such formative years. We were a part of something larger than ourselves. Canberra had seen nothing like this and we wore our association with this amazing hotel with immense pride. We worked long hours together and then went out together. We held progressive dinner parties, BBQ’s and holidayed down the coast together. We even printed a newsletter just for the banqueting employees and had T-Shirts made up.

I was one of the sixty casual opening banqueting employees hired in February of 1988. I was nineteen, at University and predictably immature. It was only later in life that I fully appreciated all the lessons I learnt at a Park Hyatt. How to treat people. How to entertain wealthy customers at the highest level. Knowing my way around any menu or wine list with confidence. Appreciation of wine that I turned into a wonderful career. It’s not lost on me where that all came from. The Park Hyatt Canberra.

We were insanely busy those first two years. Three wedding weekends were common.  We actually had three weddings on one night where the cakes were mixed up! There were more hours available than trained employees. Many of us soon realized we could get almost unlimited hours if we cross trained into other departments. I worked In-Room Dining, the Oak Room & the Promenade Cafe. I even trained as a butler to look after very wealthy families in the Presidential Suite. Ironing their newspapers in the early morning to ensure the ink was completely set and didn’t get on their hands. Welcoming them back from a day’s sightseeing with an Oak Room dinner menu in their suite accompanied by $700 ($2,000 in today’s dollars) bottles of Grange. Quite surreal through the eyes of a 1980’s Canberra boy driving a $1,000 car.

I did every course offered and heard every visiting wine makers presentation. I started the staff wine club and filled a minibus full of colleagues to visit the brand-new Canberra wine industry. I even did a course on crockery where I learnt about the insanely expensive German brand ‘Missen’. Knowing this paid huge dividends (a fun story that led to a German family attending our wedding).

Most importantly, I met my wife, Julie (Blunt), working at the Hyatt. The Hyatt brought us together and last week we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. We have visited the Hyatt many times and have even brought our kids there to have dinner and “see where Mum and dad met”.

Interestingly, my work in the US wine industry keeps me connected to the Hyatt head office in Chicago.  I feel like I've come full circle, albeit across continents and spanning decades.

And so, it is with much anticipation and excitement that look forward to reuniting with my class of ’88 and invite anyone who feels a similar sentiment to join us.

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Reunion Event

Date: Saturday 14 March 2026

Time: 6:00pm

Place: Lavendar Courtyard, Hyatt Hotel Canberra

Find Out More: canbemarketing@hyatt.com

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