The number of rooms at the biggest hotels in Orange County hardly changed over the past year, but a significant portion of them got new looks, thanks to renovations at several of the market’s best-known establishments.
The 50 largest hotels in OC—ranked by room count and with at least 250 rooms—combined to offer 21,196 rooms as of this month, down six from last year. The properties employ 13,789, up 1.1% from a year earlier.
A generally strong market for tourism and corporate travel didn’t change starting nightly rates much: They averaged $158, about flat from the year prior. But several properties went big on bumps in the rates, including:
• No. 6, Hotel Irvine, which raised the starting nightly rate for its 536 rooms to $249 from $139—a 79% jump—after a renovation brought a “lifestyle-traveler” focus and a hipper vibe compared with a basic business-class reputation.
• Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel in Dana Point, No. 19, starts its 396 rooms at $579 compared with $425 last year, up 29%. It recently made an international list of one of the best 500 hotels in the world.
• No. 8, Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa, set starting rates on 517 rooms at $325, up 12% over last year’s $290. The coastal OC property debuted its Watertable restaurant last year.
Open Spaces
The Anaheim Marriott, No. 2, completed a $15 million renovation of its 1,030 rooms and of communal areas in December, including the lobby, lounge, restaurants and elevators.
Director of Sales and Marketing Dan Shaughnessy said the site opted for a traditional look for its rooms and contemporary for communal areas.
“We (previously) had brighter, bolder colors in hallways and guest rooms and went with grays and tans and crisp whites” in the new scheme, he said.
In common areas, “we blew it all up and followed Marriott’s ‘great room’ concept,” he said. A prerenovation “small bar, straight ahead, walk down a hallway to get to the restaurant” approach went in a new direction in favor of the “connected spaces” concept now popular in hotels.
New food offerings at nFuse Bar & Kitchen include the requisite craft beers—24 brews—and 65 whiskeys and bourbons. A store called The Marketplace fulfills the fill-the-fridge need guests might have.
“It was time for a refresh, but we did a significant one” that included new lighting and artwork in halls and corridors, Shaughnessy said.
The hotel has bumped up its rates up 5.5% this year in a healthy hotel market, even with a lower starting rate.
“We have a little more pricing power because demand has surged.”
Specific rates are based on time of year and the size of the group, he said. About 65% of the hotel’s guests come through groups, meetings and conventions.
$30M
• The No. 18 hotel on the list is St. Regis Monarch Beach, which is scheduled to complete a $30 million renovation of its 400 rooms in June, said Chris White, area director of sales and marketing for operator Starwood Hotels & Resorts.
It plans to start renovation of communal spaces—its lobby, the Motif restaurant, and the resort’s pool, spa and grand lawn—in November.
The resort wants a “coastal California luxury” look, White said.
“It’s softer hues—blues and greens—more reflective of where we live,” he said, compared with a more general hotel color scheme that might be “darker, brown and formal.”
Then the luxury kicks in: 55-inch flat-screen televisions—replacing 42-inch models with Bluetooth-ready sound systems and mobile technology that among other features allows guests to text the valet stand to request their cars.
The work reflects an “innovative and approachable” stance toward “outdoor living” that “embraces the destination” through “modern textiles” and coastal colors, he said.
White said the resort expects “double-digit growth in revenue per available room” this year and even better numbers next year.
He began at St. Regis on May 11 in a career with a strong focus on high-end hotels and resorts in Hawaii and Canada.
His duties here cover four hotels in San Diego and the Westin South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa.
New Room
No. 20, Westin, completed rooms renovations this month and wound up with one additional “key”—hotel-speak for the number of rooms a property has—adding it to the 393 the property offered last year.
“There was a large parlor we were able to turn into a room,” said Trine Ackelman, director of sales and marketing.
New room color schemes are, like the two renovations discussed earlier, in blues and grays instead of the browns and greens they had before, Ackelman said.
Remodeled bathrooms are showpieces of the new look, with walk-in showers instead of bathtubs.
“People don’t take baths anymore; they take showers,” Ackelman said.
Rooms have easier-to-reach electrical outlets and reading lights in bed headboards to hit the “Westin goal” of guests being able to “quietly recharge.”
Ackelman started at the Westin in early May. She declined to comment on room rates, though she agreed that “every year, they are going up.”
