Meeting space in Orange County is in a holding pattern.
The county’s 50 largest hotels with meeting space reported a 2% jump in space in the past year, mainly as a result of renovations and re-configurations that added a combined 25,374 square feet of space.
That brings the total of indoor meeting space at the county’s largest hotels to 1.15 million square feet, according to this week’s Business Journal list. The list ranks hotels based on the square footage of their permanent, indoor meeting space.
The small increase reflects the reluctance of hotel developers to move ahead with building plans amid a crowded field and modest economic recovery. No new hotels have opened in OC in the past year with large enough facilities to qualify for the list.
Only one such hotel,the Doubletree Guest Suites in Anaheim,is under construction and expected to open in 2005.
The small gain in space also reflects an industry trend toward smaller meetings and more educational sessions that demand classroom space, but not always large ballrooms.
Still, the amount of space needed to make the list this year rose to 5,412 square feet from 5,061 a year earlier. That’s double the amount of space that earned a spot on the list in the mid-1990s.
Renovations accounted for the only changes in the amount of meeting space at the largest 10 meetings hotels.
Disneyland Hotel, which completed a renovation of its exhibit hall and ballroom last fall, retained its long-standing grip on the No. 1 spot on the list with 136,000 square feet. (Last year, during the renovation, the hotel reported 133,359 square feet,still enough for the top spot.)
Group business for Disneyland Hotel remains strong for 2005, according to Robert Donahue, director of sales for Walt Disney Co.’s three Anaheim hotels.
“Group trends are positive for all three hotels compared to last year, which also was a good year,” Donahue said. “The corporate market is strong and we’re pleased with that.”
Donahue said the resort is continuing to seek meetings business, despite an expected influx of tourists for Disneyland’s 50th anniversary, a yearlong event that officially launches in May.
The Hilton Anaheim,the largest hotel in the county by rooms,retained its No. 2 ranking with 94,695 square feet of meeting space.
There only were two changes in position among the 10 largest hotels on the list.
The Hyatt Regency Irvine, which boosted its space to 36,000 square feet from 32,000 a year ago, moved up to the No. 7 spot, dropping the Four Seasons Newport Beach to No. 8.
Big Jump for Paradise Pier
Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel, which completed a makeover last summer, jumped eight spots to No. 10 by adding roughly 10,000 square feet of meeting space and boosting its number of meeting rooms to 15.
In all, the largest 10 meetings hotels now account for 576,759 square feet,roughly half,of the space among the 50 hotels on the list.
Nine hotels increased their space in the past year.
The biggest gain was at Paradise Pier, which increased its space by 48%. The second biggest jump was at the Westin South Coast Plaza, which moved up a notch to No. 14 by increasing its space 15% to 24,000 square feet, also due to a renovation.
Other hotels adding space were the No. 13 Hilton Irvine/Orange County Airport and No. 17 Doubletree Hotel Anaheim/Orange County, up 3% each; No. 29 Holiday Inn Buena Park, up 12%; No. 47 Aliso Creek Inn at Laguna Beach (owned by Montage Resort & Spa), up 4% and No. 50 Holiday Inn Santa Ana, up 7%.
One hotel, No. 37 Anaheim Marriott Suites, saw a slight drop in space.
For the most part, the changes were minimal and reflected a trend of converting suites to meeting space or vice versa as market conditions change. As the economy has showed signs of strengthening, so have group bookings, according to hoteliers contacted for this story.
“The first half of 2005 is very strong, but the second half looks weak right now,” said Edd Karlan, director of sales at the Hilton Anaheim.
The same was true for other area hoteliers, including No. 3 Hyatt Regency Orange County, No. 4 Anaheim Marriott and No. 21 Coast Anaheim Hotel.
Anaheim Market Share Leader
Market share within OC remained the same as in 2003. Anaheim leads the county in space, with 407,812 square feet, or 35% of the total space on the list.
Newport Beach ranks second with 12% of the total, at 134,822 square feet. Garden Grove is third with 10% followed by Irvine with 9%, Costa Mesa with 8%, Huntington Beach with 6% and Dana Point with 5%.
Some softness in convention attendance in the first half of 2004 put a dent in the spillover of so-called citywide conventions that in past years had filled rooms in Orange, Garden Grove and Costa Mesa when large conventions came to Anaheim.
But convention attendance was trending upward in the latter part of the year and 2005 bookings are promising, hoteliers said.
Tim Price, director of marketing at the Anaheim Marriott, said one of the biggest differences between 2003 and 2004 was that convention attendance was stronger and on target with projections.
“In 2003, attendance was 6% below our projections; last year it was 0.6% down,” he said.
Price said the upward trend appears to be continuing this year, except for the fourth quarter.
At No. 11 Crowne Plaza Anaheim Resort, director of sales Dan Fitzgerald said the demand for group business is strong.
“Group business is higher than before Sept. 11,” he said.
PKF Consulting projects overall OC hotel occupancy will increase by 2.9% in 2005, reaching 71.9%. Room rates are expected to grow 3.8% to $104.80.
RENOVATION FEVER
About a third of the hotels on this year’s list began or finished upgrades in the past year.
Along with Walt Disney Co.’s hotels and The Irvine Company’s Hyatt Regency Irvine, the Four Seasons in Newport Beach is set to open a 4,000-square-foot spa this month.
Last March, the Laguna Cliffs Marriott did the same.
The Hyatt Regency Newport Beach, formerly the Hyatt Newporter, did a $32 million remodel last summer. Surf & Sand in Laguna Beach added a rooftop reception area and remodeled some suites.
Some renovations are a work in progress.
The Irvine Marriott, bought last year by Arlington, Va.-based MeriStar Hospitality Corp., is undergoing a room renovation valued at $7.5 million.
The Newport Beach Marriott is in the midst of a $60 million makeover,the first total remodel to the hotel since it debuted in the 1970s. The North Tower wing redo is slated to reopen Feb. 15. The rest of the hotel,including most of its meeting space,is closed until December.
“During that time, we’ll have nine conference rooms and operate more as a boutique hotel,” sales director Rhanda Richardson said.
And the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel is adding a spa, redesigning its lobby and putting in a dramatic lobby bar. The work is expected to be done by June.
“The spa is long-awaited and planners expect it,” said George Munz, the Ritz-Carlton’s director of sales.
More changes are in store.
Sutton Place Hotel in Newport Beach was bought by Tarsadia Hotels, also of Newport, last year. Plans for a renovation are in the works. Talk of a name change hasn’t been confirmed.
Coast Anaheim Hotel is set to undergo a total remodel this year, capped off by a name change to a Sheraton hotel.
,Sandi Cain
