The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel unveiled in October a $50 million renovation – backed by its ownership, Strategic Hotels & Resorts – that reimagines the oceanfront resort for a new era of luxury.
The yearlong project touched nearly every part of the four-story property – from redesigned guest rooms and expanded suites to an enlarged club lounge and refreshed spa. Each Ritz-Carlton room and suite has been redesigned and refurbished, a process that started about a year ago. As part of the overhaul, the hotel, which sits atop a seaside bluff, downsized its room count from 396 to 373.
“This has been a renewal, and this has been a rejuvenation,” General Manager Kelly Steward told the Business Journal during a September tour of the revamped hotel.
This year’s renovations were made at the request of Steward, a Ritz-Carlton veteran with more than 20 years of experience across various properties such as Charlotte, N.C., Naples in Florida and Los Angeles.
She was previously at the Rancho Mirage property and said the Laguna Niguel resort is among the most high-profile locations in the portfolio.
“This was the benchmark for the company, especially for the West Coast,” she said. “The responsibility for us is huge on our shoulders of what we need to deliver every day.”
When pitching Strategic Hotels on how to reinvest in the resort, Steward said that Chief Executive Andre Zotoff asked her for a list of what she wanted in luxury. Her response underscored her belief in constant innovation.
“You cannot rest on your laurels,” she said. “The day that we rest on our laurels, we’re just going to be like everyone else.”
Converting Rooms into Larger Suites
The most notable additions were 10 two-bedroom suites. Each room includes a dining room, kitchenette and living room alongside the two bedrooms and bathrooms.
The ocean-facing suites feature floor-to-ceiling glass doors that open to patios overlooking the Dana Point bluff.
Ritz-Carlton put the largest of the new suites on the first floor, along with four private patios, including outdoor firepits and a gate that leads directly to the beach. It’s called The Strands Fireside Suite and runs about 2,000 square feet.
The hotel team had noticed that many family visitors were often booking two rooms or connecting rooms, and they decided that two-bedroom suites would be a gamechanger.
“We also took some rooms that might not have had the best view,” Steward added, noting that a few were turned into flexible event rooms. She also refreshed the hotel’s 17 executive suites into having one bed instead of two, to attract the business visitor back to the hotel.
Non-suite guest room rates range from $749 to $1,899 nightly. Average rates for the newest suites start at $4,000 and go up to $7,500 per night.
Some guestrooms were also converted to expand the footprint of the Ritz-Carlton Club lounge, located on the fourth floor. Featuring an open floor plan, the club now includes more seating and lounge areas and even a “kid’s corner” dedicated to children’s toys, games and books.
The club serves five meals a day, has a fully stocked bar, and all the new two-bedroom suites have access to the club space.
Tustin-based Wimberly Interiors worked on all the newly designed rooms and lounges. The hotel also remastered its Dana Pool and decks.
Another part of the multi-million investment went to the Ritz-Carlton Spa, which expanded to 15,000 square feet. It was completed in nine months and reopened in July.
The hotel worked with Parker-Torres Design on the refresh with new design elements such as emerald greens and warm wood to lean into the “ocean, Dana Point elements.”
Renovations included a new co-ed lounge, the Cove, to complement its 12 treatment rooms.
The hotel also updated the spa’s retail program. Ritz-Carlton partnered with brands such as Omorovicza, skincare from Budapest, and N8iV Beauty, an up-and-coming indigenous-owned business, to stock its shelves.
The spa worked with San Clemente surfer Kelly Slater to sell his Freaks of Nature sunscreen at the spa. The WSL champion also inspired a new “surfers’ massage” treatment designed to soothe muscles after surfing.
Another new treatment available is a 60-to-90-minute Pacific Purification Ritual which includes an ocean cold plunge.
With the spa and restaurants also open to the public, Steward aims to bring locals back to the Ritz-Carlton as well.
“We’re the country club without the dues and the fees,” she said.
The Steward of Laguna Niguel
Since Steward joined as general manager in 2023, she said she’s looked at different pieces of the property to see what can evolve.
Following the success of pop-up restaurants such as Chef Sanjay Raway’s Indian restaurant Kahani and the Taikun Omakase eight-seat sushi experience that was born in New York, both of which became long-term chef residencies, hotel owner Strategic was convinced to invest more in the proposed changes.
The food and beverage program was the first thing they could touch before the rooms, according to Steward.
“I was relentless – we’re going to take this resort and put it on the map again, in a new way,” Steward said when she started collaborating with the owners. “We’re going to do these elements of experiences, but how can you help us take the legacy product, this iconic product, to the new luxury level?”
This year’s renovations were perhaps the biggest project so far, according to Steward.
“This remastering was definitely a part that we really need to have, and really come into our own,” she said, adding that current occupancy is “healthy.”
The GM also took the renovation as an opportunity to update the offerings within individual rooms, from including Dyson hair tools in the bathroom to white noise sound machines by the bed. The latter is for the guests who might miss out on the ocean-facing rooms, Steward noted with a laugh.
“This investment has been incredible,” Steward said. “I think that’s given us a lot of vitality and I would say a lot of vim and vigor for, what do we need to do next?”
