Hotel to lose its popular View
Alicia Robinson
Sushi lovers will have to start fishing for a new night spot after
July 4, when the View sushi bar and lounge at the Newport Beach
Marriott hotel will close to make way for additional guest suites.
Perched on the 15th floor of the hotel’s north tower, the lounge
offers guests a panoramic view of Newport Beach and the Pacific
Ocean.
“It’s a beautiful place,” said patron Paul Jonswold of Temecula.
“There’s not many views like this in the whole area.... To turn it
into rooms is a waste.”
Jonswold stopped by the View on Monday before a dinner engagement
with some friends, who urged, “Keep it a bar!” when they heard the
View is closing.
The View attracts a flock of regular customers who come for the
sushi and live music, bartender Noe Gonzalez said.
Although the lounge isn’t large, it gets crowded on weekends, when
three or four bartenders are needed, he said. Word of the View’s
closing has spread among locals who come often, he said.
“A lot of people are disappointed,” Gonzalez said.
The removal of the View will allow the hotel to add 12 guest
suites, bringing its total number of suites to 20. The change is part
of a $60-million renovation project to make the hotel more
competitive with new hotels and luxury resorts in the area, said
Rhanda Richardson, the hotel’s sales and marketing director.
The hotel was built in 1975, and the north tower was added in
1984.
“[The project has] been on the books for several years, but really
it was just time for a reinvestment into the property,” she said. “To
compete in the meeting or the group arena, we needed to add some
additional guest suites, which we could use for incentives for
meeting planners to book here.”
Construction is expected to begin July 6, with the project’s
completion scheduled for fall 2005. Richardson said the work will
include rebuilding each of the hotel’s 586 guest rooms, adding a
13,000-square-foot spa, redesigning the lobby area and changing the
concept of the hotel restaurant, which now operates as JW’s
California Grill.
The restaurant will be redeveloped as a contemporary American
eatery, and a new lounge will be built adjacent to it in the lobby
level, Richardson said. The concept for the lounge is still being
developed.
A ground-level lounge without sushi won’t be the same for some
patrons, but they’re taking advantage of the View while they can.
“I live in Fullerton, but I drive all the way down to Newport for
the good sushi,” said Jordan Danly. “It’s always fun to come here.
The view is amazing.”
Danly said she’s been making the trip to the Marriott about once a
week for several months. On Monday, she brought Lauren Lim, a friend
from Fullerton, who had never been to the View before.
“She was telling me about it, so I’m in for a treat,” Lim said.
While patrons will miss the View, the demands of travelers and
business clients have taken precedence. Newport Beach Conference and
Visitors Bureau Executive Director Marta Hayden said the bar has been
raised by newer hotels that offer high-speed Internet connections and
work stations in guest rooms.
“It used to be you were happy to get a table and two chairs,” she
said. “Your whole amenity program has just escalated, and that’s
become the new norm.”
While the Marriott doesn’t expect to compete directly with
higher-end resorts, the redesign of the restaurant and lounge are
part of the company’s overall effort to pursue the corporate and
luxury markets, Richardson said. She declined to provide occupancy
statistics for the hotel.
“Obviously, with an investment this large, we see an opportunity
to really position our hotel under the St. Regis [and] the Four
Seasons luxury collection and really benefit from the location of
this hotel,” she said. “This location has probably been one of the
best locations in Southern California.”
* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.
She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at
alicia.robinson@latimes.com.
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