Facilities to Be Shared With Atrium-Linked Office Complex : Alicante Princess May Change Shape of Future Hotels

Amid the frenzied growth of spanking new office buildings and hotels countywide, developers of one hotel and office complex have finally put their heads--and lobbies --together.

It will not be the biggest or ritziest hotel in Orange County, but when the fast-rising, $51-million Alicante Princess hotel opens in December in Garden Grove, it could mark a turning point for the way future hotel and office complexes take shape in the Southland, hotel consultants say.

A towering, 156-foot-high glass atrium--among the tallest of its kind in the state--will connect the 17-story, 400-room hotel with a 10-story, $35-million office building. To make the connection of office and hotel more than symbolic, the buildings will share everything from kitchens to office space.

The project, Plaza Alicante, is part of a multiphased development on Harbor Boulevard less than a mile from Disneyland, which may eventually include eight office buildings, a string of retail shops and possibly a second hotel. Both the developer, Plaza Properties of Newport Beach, and Garden Grove officials are hoping that the new complex will be the beginning of a new surge in the city’s development.

Currently, Garden Grove does not house a single major hotel; the city has 13 sleepy motels with fewer than 860 rooms among them.

The hotel will be managed by Century City-based Princess Cruises Resorts & Hotels, a Princess Cruises division that is a relative neophyte in the hotel business. Princess Cruises, a subsidiary of London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co., operates the luxury ship recognized by millions of television viewers as the Love Boat. The company’s hotel division now manages two hotels, Vacation Village in San Diego and Casa Sirena in Oxnard. A third resort hotel, the $150-million Desert Princess in Palm Springs, is scheduled to open in November.

Princess Cruises is testing the Southland’s overcrowded waters for yet more upscale hotels.

“We’ve taken the excellent service from our cruise ships and brought it onshore,” said H. Ross Justice, general manager of the Alicante Princess. Princess Cruises advertises its hotels in its cruise-line literature, which is on board all ships and sent to 18,000 travel agents worldwide. The company eventually plans marketing programs that will tie cruise packages with hotel stays.

But dropping anchor in hotel-laden Orange County will not be so easy, consultants warn. “They’re the new kid on the block,” said David Brudney, a Palos Verdes-based lodging consultant. “I don’t see where their expertise in the cruise business will really help in running hotels.”

Other Firms Stumble

Historically, companies in the cruise and airline business have stumbled trying to operate hotels, Brudney said. PSA, for example, tried and failed in the hotel market and United Airlines has long struggled with its Westin Hotel chain.

Even more worrisome, the Princess Alicante faces one of the industry’s most difficult marketing tests--location. Although the hotel is in a heavily trafficked area, it falls outside the borders of Orange County’s traditional hotel markets. Disneyland and the Anaheim Convention Center are not within walking distance and John Wayne Airport is 15 miles away.

Whom then to appeal to? The tourist? The convention-goer? The business person?

Princess officials are wagering that amenities to be available in the office high-rise connected to the hotel will help convince traveling executives to travel the additional miles from airport area hotels such as the Meridien and the Registry to the Alicante Princess. But the Alicante Princess’s closest competitor is the nearby Doubletree Hotel in Orange, also heavily dependent on corporate business. “They’ll fight each other like two dogs for the same bone,” said Brudney.

Competing Head-to-Head

Can both hotels make it? “That’s the $64,000 question,” said Dean Nelson, general manager at the Doubletree. “We’ll probably come as close to head-to-head competition asyou can imagine.” Nelson would not reveal specifics on how the Doubletree plans to battle the Alicante Princess for business, but he said that the Doubletree enjoys a “distinct advantage” because it has had a 18-month head start in the area.

Much like the Doubletree--and a growing number of business hotels around the country--the Alicante Princess plans to cordon off a special “Executive Club” floor that will have its own private lounge and concierge service.

So intent is management on attracting corporate customers that its sales office has already established more than 1,000 “files” on local businesses that have out-of-town visitors, said Justice, the hotel’s general manager. The hotel will also have 16,000 square feet of meeting space and an in-house “board room” available to corporate guests.

Princess Cruises Hotels is looking at future “controlled growth” in destination ports like San Francisco, Acapulco, Anchorage and Hawaii. “It’s only natural if we dock in a particular city to be represented by a hotel there,” said Justice.

No Portholes, Sailor Caps

But management at the Alicante Princess clearly plans to separate the cruise theme from the hotel’s look. The rooms will not have portholes, the employees will not wear sailors’ caps and there will not be four meals served daily. “Our guest is likely to be with us for one night, not seven. He wants to be treated like he’s at a hotel, not on a ship,” said Justice.

But like ships, hotels are very costly to own and operate, and it may take three years, or more, before the Alicante Princess is profitable, Justice says. “Obviously, we build these things for the long haul,” he said.

Although most management employees are already in place, the hotel will begin interviewing in November to fill nearly 350 positions, ranging from maids to bellmen. Hotel officials expect to interview up to 6,000 applicants, said William D. Munro, director of marketing.

In line with most of the area’s first-class hotels, single rooms will cost up to $80 per night, double rooms up to $120 and executive suites $225. The so-called Governor’s Suite will go for $790 per night, Munro said.