Mandalay Beach Resort Hotel to Open Tuesday

The new $36-million Embassy Suites/Mandalay Beach Resort and Conference Hotel at 2101 Mandalay Beach Road, on one of the last remaining beach-front properties in Oxnard, opens Tuesday.

Billed as “the first all-suite luxury hotel on a California beach” by developer/owners Amoroso Development of Westlake and United Suites of Newport Beach, the hotel complex consists of 11 two- and three-story buildings on eight acres, housing 250 deluxe suites and six two-bedroom presidential suites that individually measure 1,681 square feet, each designed and named for a channel island.

A gigantic bell tower that sets the theme for the facility’s overall Spanish Colonial architectural style, rises from the main building that houses all of the public areas, including 15,719 square feet of meeting space and a 7,000-square-foot restaurant and lounge area. Carl La Porte is general manager.

Arthur Valdez, interior and architectural designer of eight previous Embassy Suites hotels, favors the Mediterranean motif, with inner courtyards, graceful bridges, private walkways and a network of waterscapes. He chose a peach-colored stucco facade with pastel-green window accents topped by a Spanish tile roof, and added a 14-foot-high fountain of hand-carved stone to the porte cochere area.

Featured on the hotel grounds are two waterscapes by Julian George, a pioneer of rock-and-water art forms at the Hyatt Regency in Maui and the Acapulco Princess. As part of this setting, George placed cave-like showers among the rocks for the convenience of guests, after a swim in the ocean.

The lobby is built on a grand scale with 27-foot beamed ceilings, rose-colored marble floors and a large, sweeping marble staircase with carved balustrades of stone from Mexico. Overhead, a large mural by impressionist Vincent Farrell features 16th-Century explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo; other original art in the public areas includes the work of David Solomon.

Recreational Activities

Two grand ballrooms, a selection of meeting rooms, audio-visual equipment, paging service, translators and other guest services, as well as restaurant/bar and courtyard dining are at the hotel, in addition to jogging and biking paths and other recreational amenities that include lighted tennis courts, free-form swimming pool and spas.

Suites are priced from $110 to $350 a day; some have fireplaces, two television sets, terraces, refrigerators and microwave ovens. All accommodations have two full bathrooms with imported marble flooring.