UNFINISHED DANA POINT HOTEL APPARENTLY SOLD... : . . . But Ownership Is No Issue to Job-Seekers as Hundreds Interviewed
Even with its ownership about to change, officials of the new Dana Point Royce Resort Hotel began screening employees for the first 350 positions at the luxury hotel, which is scheduled to open in mid-September on the bluffs overlooking Dana Point Harbor.
It was the largest hiring of hotel workers in Orange County since the posh Four Seasons Hotel opened in Newport Beach last year with 300 employees.
By noon Wednesday, an hour after the screening officially began, hotel officials had already screened 400 prospective employees for jobs ranging from groundskeepers to bellboys and concierge, and they were expecting to speak to as many as 1,000 applicants before the first day of hiring was done.
“We had 11 applicants two hours before the doors opened” at 11 a.m., said Mark Eubanks, director of housekeeping. “They caught us with the tablecloths off.”
By noon, there were tablecloths on long rows of folding tables set up for the screening in the new hotel’s partly finished ballroom. And there were long lines of prospective employees getting application forms from four state Employment Development Department workers who assisted 15 Royce Hotel workers with the screening. If Wednesday morning’s pace continues through the close of the preliminary interviews Saturday, “we hope to see 3,500 people,” said hotel resident-manager Jeff Picker, 33.
Picker was working for the owners of Laguna Niguel’s luxurious Ritz-Carlton hotel four years ago when that hotel--which the Dana Point Royce is expected to compete with--opened in August, 1984. Wednesday’s frenzied hiring pace reminded Picker of that time.
Just as then, “we’re hiring from the back of the house to the front of the house,” not only housekeepers and stewards and groundskeepers but also bell desk, food and beverage people and operations officials, Picker said.
“This is the most important function that a hotel does,” Picker said. “A key to a hotel’s success is the right people. It’s not just bricks and mortar or having the right location. It’s the people that are the key.”
“We’ve done recruitment for a number of larger hotels recently, but this is the first one in the south of the county with such an impact,” said Ann Marshall of the state Employment Development Department.
“This morning there was a rush with about 200 people in long lines, the first day of recruiting” she said. “That’s a big amount for one morning.”
The hotel was having no problem Wednesday finding people who met the new federal guidelines for hiring alien workers, hotel and EDD officials said.
Marshall, the EDD supervisor, said that “so far we have not turned anyone away. So far everybody has had the documents” needed to work legally.
Sam Luna, 40, of San Juan Capistrano, applying for an electrical maintenance job, said he was still hoping to become a citizen, but he brought his papers showing he was a legal U.S. resident.
For many south County applicants, the Royce opening was a great opportunity for a new career in the hotel industry.
Teresa Davis, 23, of Laguna Beach said she was hoping to give up her small car detailing business in Laguna for a job with the Royce, possibly in operations. “I think the hotel industry is fascinating,” she said, “and it’s wonderful to have it down here in Dana Point.”
