New Executive to Take Reins at Ritz-Carlton

Henry E. Schielein has been named vice president and general manager of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Laguna Niguel, succeeding Bill Hall, who is leaving the hotel to become vice president of resort operations for the Pebble Beach Co., a Northern California resort operator.

Schielein was vice president and general manager of the Ritz-Carlton in Boston, the flagship hotel of the parent W.B. Johnson Properties of Atlanta. He joined the company in 1983 after 12 years with Hilton Hotels in Asia, Hawaii and Los Angeles.

Hall said he wanted to return to his native Northern California and also wanted to handle the major golf and tennis events that the Pebble Beach resort hosts. The Pebble Beach Co. also is adding a 300-room hotel, to be called the Spanish Bay Inn, that he will supervise. Hall said that his departure from the Ritz-Carlton is amicable and that he and Schielein remain “very good friends.”

In Boston, Schielein supervised the $23-million restoration of the Ritz-Carlton. Speaking from his Boston office at the hotel, Schielein said he expects to begin his new job within 10 days. He said he joined the company with the understanding that “sooner or later” he would return to Southern California.

Billing Disputes Resolved

Schielein apparently will not have to contend with a previously reported dispute with two building subcontractors who had claimed they were owed about $1.3 million for work on the Laguna Niguel hotel. Hall said all contract billing disputes have been resolved.

The $100-million, 393-room Ritz-Carlton resort opened in Laguna Niguel in 1984, the third new property in a chain which now includes a hotel in Naples, Fla., and two hotels in the Atlanta area.

Newark, N.J.-based Prudential Insurance Co. of America purchased a 90% stake in the Laguna Niguel property last year for $90 million in cash.

Schielein said the occupancy rate at the Laguna Niguel hotel is in the “high 70s (percent), which for a new hotel is extremely successful.”

Room rates range from $150 to $250 at the hotel, with suites ranging from $400 to $1,200 per night. The beachside hotel also has a fitness center, tennis courts, two swimming pools, two spas, two restaurants, three lounges and a nightclub.