Long Beach : Wrather to Take Over Hotel

The operator of the Queen Mary and Spruce Goose attractions has agreed to take over operation of the 60-year-old Breakers Hotel on the Long Beach oceanfront.

The move, effective Aug. 1, will help both parties, said Joseph Prevratil, president of Wrather Port Properties Inc.

Operators of the 390-room Queen Mary Hotel will have the Breakers’ 242 rooms at their disposal to book larger convention groups, while Breakers owners will increase occupancy, which has lagged at about 50%, Prevratil said.

“Our biggest problem has been that we don’t have enough sleeping rooms or meeting rooms, and with the Breakers we now have both,” he said. “These 600 rooms make us the largest hotelier in Long Beach.”

The Queen Mary, predominantly a tourist hotel, is usually 100% booked during weekends and has an overall occupancy rate of about 78%, while the Breakers, a business hotel, has its highest occupancy during the week, he said.

The Breakers’ location next to the Convention Center on Ocean Boulevard has also made it attractive to operate, Prevratil said. The hotel also fits into Wrather’s marketing strategy, he said, because it, like the Queen Mary, has an Art Deco design.

Wrather also plans to break ground this summer on a 350-room expansion of the Queen Mary that will be completed in two years, he said.