The coming holiday season has Orange County hoteliers smiling.
After several years of mediocre corporate partying, revelry appears to be back in style.
A resilient economy and a three-week period between Thanksgiving and Christmas are driving an increase in holiday party bookings at many local hotels.
Spending, too, is back.
“Business is brisk,” said Tony Bruno, vice president of Disneyland Resort Hotels and Downtown Disney.
Many weekend dates already are sold out, and hoteliers said some companies are turning to luncheons or booking parties into January to cope with the December crunch.
“Every Saturday but Christmas Eve and most Fridays are sold out,” said Dan Fitzgerald, director of sales and marketing at the Crowne Plaza Anaheim Resort in Garden Grove.
At the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa in Dana Point, Fridays and Saturdays in December were booked by Labor Day. Some large groups booked in January.
Disney’s Bruno said the combination of Disneyland’s 50th anniversary and the holiday season has boosted business.
“A lot of it is repeat corporate clients,” he said. “That’s a sign of the times for how companies are doing.”
Hoteliers contacted for this story said holiday party business for this year is up 10% to 33%, versus a year ago.
The corporate purse strings are looser this year.
“Budgets are up 3% to 4%,” said Edd Karlan, director of sales and marketing at Hilton Anaheim.
Hornblower Cruises & Events out of Newport Beach always sells out during the Newport Harbor Boat Parade. But this year, Hornblower’s overall holiday volume also is up 10% to 15%, according to general manager Kevin Lorton.
And when Laguna Beach-based public relations firm Gladstone International Inc. booked its Dec. 2 party at Bayside in Newport Beach last February, there already was December business on the books.
The holiday season traditionally begins with Thanksgiving. At the Disneyland Hotel, Bruno said thousands attend the annual Thanksgiving buffet that winds around the ballroom and exhibit space at the hotel.
Holiday dining reservations for Thanksgiving are up 33% from last year at Montage Resort & Spa in Laguna Beach, said director of marketing Jeff Johnson.
“We expect a similar response for Christmas,” he said. “Reservations are already even with last year.”
Other trends for the end of the year:
A few hotels are seeing holiday parties pushed into January. At the Fairmont Newport Beach, most of those are retail companies whose schedules don’t let up until after New Year’s.
Friends are entertaining other small groups of friends at holiday luncheons, employee thank-you parties or with small business groups. “Companies have decided to recognize their employees again this year,” said Cindy Smith, director of sales at the Sheraton Anaheim Hotel.
Luncheon business is up. “We’ve found more customers are booking luncheon events instead of dinners in 2005,” said Jeroen Gerrese, general manager at Marriott Laguna Cliffs Resort & Spa in Dana Point.
Smaller groups,and latecomers who just looked at the calendar,are booking weeknights.
Meanwhile, holiday bookings at the Surf & Sand Resort in Laguna Beach are on pace with 2004, said general manager Blaise Bartell.
“We find it fills up later into the season,” Bartell said.
While hoteliers are happy with holiday party bookings, they want to fill guestrooms as well. That’s where the competition heats up with special holiday activities for guests.
Montage has holiday shopping trips to South Coast Plaza; a wine tasting, dinner and seminar; sunset storytelling at the fire pit; plein air painting demonstrations; and special kids’ events at its play area.
The Island Hotel Newport Beach,formerly Four Seasons,is launching its new name with shopping packages at Fashion Island, special dinners and a Tea With Teddy kids’ event.
Disneyland stages a special Christmas parade and fireworks that give a nod to the park’s 50th anniversary this year, as well as special entertainment at Downtown Disney.
It may be a good year to get a piece of the local business.
An October survey by TripAdvisor.com,a unit of Bellevue, Wash.-based Expedia Inc.,found that 58% of its users plan to stay home for Thanksgiving and 51% will stay home for Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza.
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The Orange Drop
It may not be Times Square, but Orange County is set to join several cities in a major New Year’s Eve celebration at the Orange County Fair & Exposition Center in Costa Mesa.
Billed OCNYE, the evening is set to include Sugar Ray and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, among other bands. The event also will have seven themed entertainment pavilions with music and dancing and food from local restaurants.
The highlight: the Orange Drop that will ring in the New Year at midnight.
Costa Mesa hotels have partnered with OCNYE to offer special rates to attendees. A shuttle service will transport revelers between the fairgrounds and the hotels.
Event producer Rich Goodwin, the former owner of Vision Entertainment in Irvine, said he has time to organize the OC event now that he’s sold his business.
“People are coming from out of state to see some of the entertainment,” he said.
General admission is $65 and includes free parking.
,Sandi Cain
