This week’s opening of Paséa Hotel & Spa in Huntington Beach marks the seventh high-end property out of 10 in owner-operator Pacific Hospitality Group’s stable.
Rooms at the ocean-view hotel were listed on its website at up to $430 over the next 90 days.
“We look for iconic locations with high barrier to entry,” Pacific Hospitality President Steve Arnold said.
Paséa, which Pacific Hospitality co-developed with Newport Beach-based R.D. Olson Development, is on 4 acres and has two floors of operations underground to support its 250 rooms and 35,000 square feet of meeting space.
Pacific Hospitality-led groups own resorts in Santa Barbara, San Diego and Napa, Calif.; Kauai, Hawaii; and part of Balboa Bay Resort in Newport Beach, which it co-manages with Irvine-based majority owner Eagle Four Partners.
Having two more upper-tier hotels under contract puts three-fourths of the Irvine-based company in that sector of the market.
Focus
The company develops, buys and manages independent hotels and resorts, as well as full-service branded hotels, all focused strongly on meetings and groups business.
Its 10 properties combined exceed 2,500 rooms and 203,000 square feet of meeting space.
Arnold said its partnerships “renovate and reposition” properties.
Balboa Bay Resort and its neighboring private club got a $65 million facelift and more marketing after its purchase four years ago for an estimated $170 million.
The company bought Ko’a Kea Hotel & Resort in Hawaii in January and is expanding its restaurant.
Arnold said reinvestment varies. Ko’a Kea will get $1 million, while $25 million went into Bacara Resort & Spa in Goleta. The company bought the 360-room property in February 2013 from Ohana Real Estate Investors for $185 million.
It plans to buy two to three properties a year.
“We’ve never sold a thing,” said Arnold, who also invests in deals.
Branded Hotels
A growing focus for the company is in the overlap between branded and boutique.
Pacific Hospitality in September paid $60 million for a 220-room AC Hotel in New Orleans. AC is a Marriott brand targeting a well-heeled “lifestyle” traveler. It began in Europe, and there are 10 in the U.S., with 50 more on the way, according to its website. One is being built at Park Place in Irvine.
Pacific Hospitality has two AC hotels under contract, one of which is in California, Arnold said.
Its three conventional branded hotels are in Orange County (see Special Report, page 15):
• The 376-room Wyndham Anaheim Garden Grove.
• The 252-room Doubletree by Hilton Santa Ana Orange County Airport.
• The 252-room Doubletree by Hilton Irvine Spectrum.
The Wyndham is near Disneyland Resort and attracts leisure travelers; the two Doubletrees are in business-centric Irvine.
Paséa Lifestyle
Pacific Hospitality puts its resorts under the “Meritage Collection” umbrella, which is named for its flagship Meritage Resort & Spa in Napa. Paséa, Spanish for “stroll,” is part of that.
Arnold called it “luxury lifestyle” and noted an 11,000-square-foot outdoor lawn overlooking the ocean.
Paséa also has a rooftop bar, and it’s working with London-based eSpa on products and services for its spa.
eSpa is part-owned by a KSL Capital Partners company, Menlo Park-based Miraval Group, which runs its own spas—including at KSL-owned Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point.
The Paséa created 350 jobs, Arnold said. Pacific Hospitality employs about 3,000.
