Paul Clinton Steve Bone sums up the...

Paul Clinton

Steve Bone sums up the essence of his sprawling $120-million Hyatt

Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa in two words: comfortable

luxury.

“It feels like a place you’ve been before,” Bone said. “I always

felt the luxury hotel developers went over the line [with the

philosophy] ‘I have a lot of marble, so I can charge you a lot of

money.’”

After years of waiting, guests can judge for themselves on Sunday

when the resort opens with little hullabaloo, which developers are

saving for the week of the Jan. 30 grand opening.

Bone, who owns the resort and conference center with the hotelier

Robert Mayer, came up with the vision for the low-rise 15-acre

Andalusian-style seaside resort after the 20-story hotel tower he

first proposed for the site two decades ago met with opposition.

Don’t let the casual setting and lack of marble fool you. Guests

looking for high-end leisure and relentless relaxation will pay top

dollar for rooms, which will range from $350 to $3,500 per night.

Along with its spacious corridors, high-ceiling ballrooms,

open-air vistas and beach views, the resort boasts more than 110,000

square feet of meeting and function space, 517 luxurious guestrooms,

a full-service business center, three restaurants, an island-style

market with various sundries, a nook of shops and a

20,000-square-foot cutting-edge health spa.

Strolling through the resort’s tastefully stylish campus uncovers

a wealth of original touches that developers and civic leaders say

will set it apart as a destination for business conferences and

mid-level events.

“I think it’s going to be the premier property between San Diego

and Santa Barbara,” Councilwoman Pam Julien Houchen said. “We’re

going to attract conferences, which we haven’t been able to do in the

past.”

Bone and his team of developers commissioned hand-woven carpets

from several foreign countries, hand-blow Venetian glass for the

chandeliers, Mediterranean-style iron work, a bevy of original

artwork, floor tile imported from Thailand, a lagoon-style pool and a

koi pond.

Of the 517 rooms, most have ocean views and 57 are suites with

ocean views. The resort also boasts three 3,100-square-foot

presidential suites with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a wet bar, a

Jacuzzi bath and many other luxuries.

Conference guests will not miss the luxuries of the resort while

in meetings, which will be held in one several meetings areas that

include a 20,000-square-foot Grand Ballroom with ocean views, two

junior ballrooms, a 10,700-square-foot exhibition hall, 29 smaller

meeting rooms and nine executive boardrooms.

“This was designed with the event planner in mind,” said Doug

Traub, the president and CEO of the Huntington Beach Conference and

Visitors Center. “They’ve built a city within a city. There are

plenty of cities in the U.S. that don’t have the number of people on

that property.”

The resort is expected to bring a wave of new business and tourism

to Surf City, as well as hand the city a litany of direct financial

benefits.

City leaders grappling with a budget crunch are expecting annual

revenue from the bed tax on the resort to come in at $700,000, $1.8

million and $2 million during the first three years.

Add to that the $1 million in annual revenue coming in because the

resort is in a redevelopment area and pays 100% of its property-tax

bill to the city. The resort is also expected to generate

approximately $125,000 a year in sales tax.

Additional streams of revenue include annual rent payments to City

Hall of $25,000, $75,000 and $150,000 in the first three years of the

project’s existence. The city’s Redevelopment Agency owns the land.

In 2005, the city is also eligible to collect 3% of the resort’s

gross revenue, which is expected to top $25 million per year,

Economic Development Director David Biggs said.

“I believe it will be a home run,” Biggs said.

With the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort, which attracts wealthy

guests, the Hyatt with its more business-oriented focus will give the

city a potent one-two punch.

It’s also expected to give Huntington Beach a leg up on its

southerly neighbors, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, which have

developed powerhouse retail centers to drive their economies.

“One thing Newport Beach doesn’t have is a large convention

center,” newly elected Councilwoman Jill Hardy said. “It’s something

the Newport Beach hotels can’t offer.”

* PAUL CLINTON is a reporter with Times Community News. He

covers City Hall. He may be reached at (714) 965-7173 or by e-mail at

[email protected].