Renovations and a lack of hotel openings led to the first dip in meeting space in eight years in Orange County.
The county’s 50 largest hotels with meeting space reported a 1% decline in space to 1.13 million square feet in the past year, according to this week’s Business Journal list, which ranks hotels by the square footage of their permanent, indoor meeting space.
The list’s 12,225-square-foot decline is about the space of a large hotel ballroom.
The dearth of new meeting space reflects high development costs and the delay in opening of at least one hotel,the Doubletree Guest Suites in Anaheim, which is set to have 7,200 square feet of meeting space when it opens in March.
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Total convention attendance in OC was flat in 2005, but is expected to increase slightly this year.
“The economy looks to be going forward, Corporate America is spending money again and we’re booking a lot of short-term corporate meetings,” said Charles Ahlers, president of the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau.
Disneyland Hotel retained its long-standing grip on the No. 1 spot on the list with 136,000 square feet of space.
Like all hotels at the resort in Anaheim, the original Disneyland Hotel has benefited from the theme park’s 50th anniversary.
“We’re very pleased with our 2006 group bookings,” said Robert Donahue, director of resort sales and services for Disneyland Resort.
The Hilton Anaheim,the largest hotel in the county by number of rooms,retained its No. 2 ranking with 94,695 square feet of meeting space.
Moving up five spots to No. 11 was the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel. The resort increased its meeting space by 15% to 26,224 square feet during its $40 million renovation last year.
“Business is way ahead of where we’ve been in years,” said Scott Evans, director of sales and marketing at the Ritz-Carlton.
Other notable hotels moving up in rank included Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa, which gained two spots to No. 13 with its $60 million makeover that will wrap up this month.
The Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort in Huntington Beach stayed steady at No. 17. The hotel converted a deli to a boardroom.
Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa moved up six places to No. 19 by converting former health club space to meeting rooms when its spa debuted last year.
Decliners included No. 8 The Island Hotel Newport Beach, down 14% to 30,000 square feet. Owner The Irvine Company closed some meeting space operated by the hotel, which formerly was run by Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
Sheraton Park Hotel at the Anaheim Resort fell three spots to No. 25 with a 7% decline in meeting space to 18,698 square feet. The hotel is finishing a major renovation that includes a name change,it was known as Coast Anaheim Hotel.
About a third of the hotels on the list had renovations in the past year.
No. 3 Hyatt Regency Orange County in Garden Grove spent $52 million in the renovation of its south tower guestrooms. And No. 20 Sheraton Anaheim Hotel is under way with a $10 million renovation that includes guest rooms, public spaces and its exterior.
Other hotels made smaller investments.
No. 8 St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa will debut its latest restaurant, Stonehill Tavern, next month. The Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort and No. 18 Doubletree Hotel Anaheim/Orange County did restaurant makeovers last year and the Laguna Cliffs Marriott is about to start on one too.
Disneyland Fire
No. 24 Disney’s Grand Californian, which had a small fire in the lobby during the holidays, already was scheduled for a lobby renovation this year. The hotel also is opening its Mandara Spa this year.
Market share remains concentrated in a handful of cities. Anaheim, Newport Beach and Garden Grove together claim 57% of the hotel meeting room space on the list. Anaheim has the lion’s share at 36%.
