Cottages opening at Dunes

Marisa O’Neil

New beachfront cottages at the Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort are

luring more visitors to its sandy shores along the Back Bay.

After last year’s installation of 12 cottages at the resort proved

successful, management decided to double the number available,

general manager Andrew Theodorou said. Another dozen of the studio

and one-bedroom cottages have been gradually opening since May, he

said.

The cottages augment the resort’s upscale recreational vehicle

accommodations.

“Ideally, the cottages are for family and friends of our RV guests

who don’t have an RV but want to stay here,” Theodorou said.

Each unit is about 400 square feet an can accommodate up to 10 or

12 people, he said.

Studio cottages have a small kitchen and bathroom. The one-bedroom

units, some with lofts, have a stove, microwave and fully-equipped

kitchen, he said.

Most are on the bank of the still-water lagoon.

High-end hotels in Newport Beach and weekly rentals on the Balboa

Peninsula are still popular with visitors, said Marta Hayden,

executive director for the Newport Beach Conference and Visitors’

Bureau. But options like the Dunes’ cottages draw a different breed

of traveler.

“This is that niche that was maybe going to the national parks,”

she said. “But instead of a tree environment, they get the beach

environment.”

With the economy improving, the city is seeing more visitors,

particularly international visitors, she said. Tourists from Germany,

England and Scandinavian countries like to rent recreational vehicles

or stay in more rustic surroundings, Theodorou said.

He expects the cottages, priced from $85 to $295 a night, to also

be popular for families, reunions, youth groups, wedding

accommodations and children’s parties.

“The response has been phenomenal,” he said. “We expect a very

high occupancy rate.”

Defend the Bay Founding Director Bob Caustin said he would like to

see more affordable access to the public beach. The more people who

see the bay and are aware of its ecosystem, he said, the better.

“Anything to get the property available to the public to come down

and enjoy the bay, I support,” he said. “Opening it to people who

don’t own RVs is a nice twist for a little beach that just happens to

be a public beach.”