Balboa Bay Resort finally has a yacht.
The 159-room resort sits between Coast Highway and the water but until this May didn’t have access to its own floating meetings venue. How it got one involves a “shark attack” of sorts and a friendly competition with a sister facility, the 250-room Paséa Hotel Resort & Spa in Huntington Beach, which opened in May.
The properties, run by Pacific Hospitality Group in Irvine under its Meritage Collection group of high-end resorts in California and Hawaii, are two examples of Orange County hospitality providers amping up events offerings with increasingly creative meetings options.
Other offerings include:
• Aromatherapy at Resort at Pelican Hill, which is owned by Irvine Company in Newport Beach.
• Beachfront and food-focused event alternatives up the coast into Huntington Beach.
Events frequently pivot off of Orange County’s reputation for entertainment and food, natural beauty, beaches and the ocean—or a combination of all of those.
Shark Weekend
General Manager Sam El-Rabaa came on board to lead Balboa Bay Resort three years ago and wondered why it didn’t have its own boat.
“I said, ‘We have all these beautiful yachts parked here; which one is ours?’” he said. “That’s how it started.”
The idea bobbed about in the back of his mind for a bit, and recently he got the chance to float a definite plan.
Pacific Hospitality held its annual meeting of GMs and sales managers at Balboa Bay this year and included a “Shark Tank”-type event for teams from each property to present new marketing concepts.
Its chief executive, Tim Busch, and president, Steve Arnold, were among the judges, El-Rabaa said.
“We presented the idea of the boat, and three out of four judges were willing to invest.”
He said Balboa Bay’s team first thought of buying a boat, “but they shot it down quickly.”
A yacht purchase topped $4.4 million. Leasing was $50,000 a month, excluding costs for captain and crew. El-Rabaa ended up instead dealing with a local yacht owner to pay “in the mid-four-figures”—only when he needs it.
Balboa Bay has held three events on the yacht since starting the service in May and has three more booked.
Events of 50 to 150 people run about $25,000, most of it for food and beverages.
“Half our groups want to spend an afternoon or evening on the water,” he said. “No other resort has this.”
El-Rabaa plans to dock the boat at one of the resort’s slips within a few months; he gives the yacht owner a better deal on slip fees, and Balboa Bay gets its boat—and a direct answer to the question, “Which one is yours?”
“When we give site tours for clients, we can show them the boat,” he said.
Making Scents
Resort at Pelican Hill in Newport Coast this year began a “wellness day” offering at its spa that includes options such as outdoor yoga, exercise classes and beach hikes.
Also at the spa is an “aromatherapy blending soirée” that the resort describes as a “hands-on activity” where meeting attendees “create personalized bath salts and essential oils” to take home when meetings conclude.
Director of Special Events Amanda Reeve said spa offerings have expanded in line with meetings trends at resorts.
“It takes advantage of Orange County’s reputation as a (high-end coastal) destination,” she said, and a “spa suite” can make events “private to the group.”
Local resorts are adding or upgrading spa amenities—the new Paséa has one, and Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point rebranded its spa under the Miraval name as part of a $40 million renovation that concluded this year. A focus on such efforts is increasing the attractiveness of meetings venues for female executives and employees, trade journals have reported.
Trivia Pursuit
Angel Stadium is another nonhotel creative venue.
Courtney Wallace, event sales and service manager for Angels Baseball LP—the company behind Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim—joined the team four years ago after 10 years in the hotel industry that included a stint with Marriott Corp.’s Ritz-Carlton chain.
“I was at Ritz-Carlton at L.A. Live prior to coming down here,” she said.
“Courtney was brought in for progressive thinking,” said Tim Mead, Angels vice president of communications. “We have 81 days annually where there’s a game but 365 days in a year. Additional revenue and use of space is possible, and she brought creativity to our desire to do that.”
Wallace said Angels “Red Carpet Events” range from about 20 people to 1,000, with a sweet spot of “500 to 1,500 for some receptions.”
Events can include taking batting practice, shagging fly balls in the outfield and interacting with former players, but an event added in the past year is a scavenger hunt that incorporates “elements of the stadium” with an event.
“Groups will have a morning meeting, and (sometime before or after lunch) will add the scavenger hunt,” she said.
The competition involves finding clues, answering trivia questions—which Angel has hit the most home runs as an Angel? Which Angel has hit the most overall in a career?—and seeing a lot of Angel Stadium.
“You get exercise, and you learn about the team,” she said. “You’re marked down if [your guide] gives you hints.”
The answers to the home run trivia, by the way, are Tim Salmon with 299 dingers and Albert Pujols with 581 so far.
Taste the Beach
Visit Huntington Beach Executive Vice President of Sales John Ehlenfeldt said areas that have opened recently and can host business events include Lot 579—an Anaheim Packing House-type food space in the new Pacific City shopping center—and four bistro-style restaurants that recently debuted farther up Coast Highway.
Ehlenfeldt said the name for the food area came from its location across the highway from lifeguard towers with those three numbers.
“It’s a dine-around concept where you have the meeting, and then people can go to the various food offerings,” he said. The area “could do about 300 people.”
The bistros, meanwhile, are part of an estimated $1 million renovation of four 40-year-old former food stands—think hot dogs and slushies—that local restaurateur Alicia Whitney turned into upscale gourmet offerings that can serve alcohol.
“A company could do a complete buyout,” Ehlenfeldt said of the spots. “The visitors bureau can help set it up.”
Big Blue
Paséa General Manager Scott Blakeslee took part in the Pacific Hospitality Group sales meeting at Balboa Bay Resort this year.
“We actually won that (“Shark Tank”) event,” he said, laughing. “We presented an idea for a Big Blue Food Truck that would have wine dispensers and be kind of a mobile events resource.”
Paséa’s slogan is “Get Lost Into the Blue”—hence the food truck’s name—and Blakeslee’s sales team envisioned beach events, “parking it downtown on a Tuesday, or taking it to the Vans headquarters,” he said. “Food Truck Fridays, or something.”
The truck is “on our wish list,” he said. “It’s aspirational, but we know the value’s there.”
Balboa Bay’s El-Rabaa said that though Paséa might not have the food truck, it does, as part of Pacific Hospitality’s group of resorts, have access to the boat.
“We’ve been approached by other hotels (to use the yacht), but we can’t make it generally available, or it won’t be special,” he said. “Paséa could do it, though.”
