Summer harvest

Deepa Bharath

This summer has been the brightest in two years for local businesses

that bank heavily on travel and tourism.

Hotels have seen increases in occupancy, restaurants are getting

back the corporate clientele that was lying low after Sept. 11, and

retailers are rooting for the economy to stage that much-awaited

comeback.

Costa Mesa hotels saw a 12% increase in occupancy in July compared

to July 2002 and Newport Beach hotels had 10% more guests, said Bruce

Baltin, senior vice president of L.A.-based hospitality consulting

firm PKF Consulting.

“It was a pretty good summer for the hotels,” he said. “And the

projections for August is about the same, too.”

Baltin attributes the healthy numbers to a recovering economy.

“It’s picking up for sure,” he said. “And there are several new

hotels in Orange County that are also generating interest among

travelers.”

More and more people are also driving to their destinations, said

Diane Pritchett of the Costa Mesa Visitors and Information Bureau.

“Our hotels have been selling out for weekends, which is unheard

of,” she said. “That in itself is much better than last summer. And

if the larger hotels are filling up, that usually means the smaller

ones are filling up, too.”

Their special Drive and Dine-In program has helped attract more

in-state travelers to Costa Mesa, Pritchett said. The program

includes special room rates for a minimum stay of two nights, a $40

gift certificate good for dinner at 16 restaurants, and a $25 check

to cover gas expenses.

However, hotels have not been able to charge top dollar because of

the increase of travel-related Web sites that offer discount rates,

said Stephen Beck, director of sales and marketing at the Costa Mesa

Hilton.

“More and more customers prefer to shop online than pick up the

phone and call the Hilton or any other hotel,” he said.

Beck said that while more and more people are staying at hotels,

rates are going down because of competition from Web-based

businesses, he said. Also, business travel has still not picked up,

Beck said.

“Demand’s down in general, and we’re also not getting as many

group events as we used to,” he said.

Also, bigger hotels by the water, such as the Montage in Laguna

Beach, the Hyatt in Huntington Beach and a new and improved Balboa

Bay Club in Newport, are taking away business from hotels inland,

Beck said.

Restaurants have generally been happy with business this summer,

said Susan Emmett, secretary of the Newport Beach Restaurants Assn.

and manager of Villa Nova Restaurant.

“It’s one of the best summers we’ve had in years,” she said.

“There’s a lot of traffic coming into Mariner’s Mile. More and more

people are buying high-end wine, which is a good indicator that

people are spending more.”

Corporate spending has also stabilized for the first time since

Sept. 11, Emmett said.

“After the dot-com companies faltered, we felt the pinch,” she

said. “But now, we see the more stable corporate clients coming back.

They’ve tightened up a little bit, but they are starting to spend

more.”

Local businesses are also seeing an improvement, said Charlie

Maas, office manager at the Fun Zone Boat Company in Balboa.

“This summer was pretty good for us,” he said. “The weather has

been good, which has also helped our business.”

Maas said the Fun Zone gets a good mix of locals and tourists

every summer.

The Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce has also been getting a lot

of positive feedback from local businesses, President Richard Luehrs

said.

“All the charters, retailers and restaurants seem to be doing well

compared to last year,” he said. “But we’ve not completely

recovered.”

Luehrs said “2000 is the benchmark year everyone is trying to get

back to.”

“Many others, like the finance and automotive markets, have

exceeded compared to where they were in 2000,” he said. “But as far

as hotels, restaurants and tourism, they’re still lagging behind.

It’s been a slow recovery.”

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.