Crusade Takes Up 100 Rooms at the Inn

Directly across from the conference room at the Doubletree Hotel where Billy Graham and his staff were planning crusade strategy Thursday morning, Diversified Securities Inc. was hosting an investment seminar.

“If the two organizations got together,” joked one member of the investment group, “we could call ourselves Pray and Pay.”

Indeed, plenty of both is taking place at the Doubletree in Orange, where Billy Graham and his staff have booked more than 100 rooms for 10 consecutive nights. For the year-old Doubletree, the Graham booking not only represents a public relations coup but, combined with Disneyland’s continued celebration of its 30th anniversary, virtually assures the 461-room hotel of near-100% occupancy for the next week and a half.

“Any time someone books 100 rooms for 10 days, they have our complete attention,” said Dean F. Nelson, resident manager. “That’s a lot of buying power.”

Demanded Little Attention

But the Graham group has demanded very little attention, according to hotel officials and other hotel employees. In fact, most visitors waiting for the Disneyland bus outside the hotel Thursday morning were surprised to learn that the group was residing there at all.

“They’re as anonymous as any group that’s gone through the hotel since we opened,” said Mary I. Neister, director of sales.

The Graham organization was host to a large banquet for crusade volunteers at the hotel Tuesday evening, but no other big functions are planned. “The organization doesn’t go for that kind of stuff,” explained Roger B. Tompkins, the crusade’s Southern California chairman.

Although Graham has been very much in the public eye since arriving in Orange County on Monday, after the crusade is launched tonight he will spend the remainder of the next 10 days at the hotel mainly “resting, praying and preparing his comments for the evening,” Tompkins said.

Graham Appeared Chipper

Graham wore a white blazer and appeared chipper at a staff meeting Thursday morning. “I haven’t worn this blazer in five years,” he said. “There must be something about Southern California.”

Larry Turner, the crusade’s national director, told the Graham staff that the Doubletree was specifically selected not because it is the closest major hotel to Anaheim Stadium--where Graham will speak for 10 consecutive nights--but because it offered the group the lowest rates.

Nelson said the crusade received discounts of nearly 30% off the normal nightly single-room rate of $92. The discount pays off quickly, he said, because many of the guests also eat two meals daily at the hotel and use other hotel services, such as room service and the hotel’s gift shop.

The hotel also expects to pick up “marginal” business from out-of-town crusade-goers, said Neister, although the vast majority of crusade attendees are driving in from nearby cities, then driving home the same evening.

Because the Doubletree is within a few blocks of the Crystal Cathedral, it has accommodated large numbers of religious VIPS, including the Rev. Robert Schuller and occasional Cathedral guests such as Pat Boone.

Registered Under Pseudonym

Graham is registered at the Doubletree under a pseudonym, according to hotel officials. His wife, Ruth, is not expected to arrive until the middle of next week. Ruth Graham remained at the couple’s North Carolina home in order to attend a state dinner in Washington on Tuesday that President Reagan planned to host for President Li Xinnian of China.

At the Doubletree, Graham has spurned the fancier suites. He has requested the same moderate-caliber room as the rest of his staff, hotel officials said.

“We didn’t plan much different for the Graham group than we would for any large corporate group,” Nelson said. No employees were added to its staff of 350, although some may work longer hours with the hotel near capacity.

The Graham staff represents one of the largest consecutive-night group bookings the hotel has posted since TransAmerica booked 400 rooms there for 13 nights during last summer’s Olympic Games, Nelson said.

‘Good Business Decision’

Although the Graham group is only expected to post a “fraction” of the estimated $1 million in food and beverage sales racked up by TransAmerica, Nelson said that booking the group was “a very good business decision.”

Aside from the boost to business, hotel employees say that Graham’s appearance has also given some of them lifetime thrills. Rickey Bobbitt, a valet parking attendant, said he has parked other guests’ cars, ranging from John DeLorean’s to Rod Carew’s. But meeting Billy Graham on Thursday was a real highlight.

“He came up to me and shook my hand and said, ‘Nice to meet you,’ ” said Bobbitt. “He said it like he meant it, too.”