New Hotels Popping Up All Around the State

Here is how far California has come:

In the 17th and 18th centuries, it took the Spaniards and their Native American work crews 54 years to build the 21 missions from San Diego to Sonoma. These days, if only 64 new California hotels rise in 12 months, we call it a slow year.

So it went last year. Alan Reay of the Atlas Hospitality Group, a travel industry research firm based in Costa Mesa, counted 64 hotel openings in 2000, down from 101 in 1999.

Together, those 64 projects added less than 1% to the statewide inventory of hotel rooms.

Demand has outpaced construction-demand increased by more than 4% in 2000-and the research company forecasts that hotel rates will continue to rise in the coming months even though there are plenty of new projects in the pipeline.

The forecast falls in line with the projections of other travel industry experts, including the hotel watchers at San Francisco-based PKF Consulting, based in San Francisco.

Because financing for hotel projects began tightening in late 1999, PKF vice president Corey Limbach said , he’s expecting fewer hotel openings in 2001 than in 2000. And with the economy and consumer sentiment in their current delicate condition, demand for hotel rooms for the rest of this year “is anybody’s guess,” Limbach said.

Where, amid all this scaffold-raising and rate-adjusting, can consumers find an edge? By remembering that new hotels often run introductory rates. For instance:

* Last month, when Holiday Inn added a 252-room Holiday Inn Express & Suites hotel on North Point Street in San Francisco next to its existing 585-room Holiday Inn at Fisherman’s Wharf, management dropped rates to stimulate early business. Introductory rates as low as $109 a night (brochure rates start at $189) will remain in place, subject to availability, at least through the end of March, a reservations agent told me.

For mMore information:, telephone (800) HOLIDAY or (415) 409-4600, Internet https://www.holiday -inn.com.

* When the 182-room Lodge at Sonoma opened Jan. 27 in Sonoma, management set introductory rates for February at $159 to $259 and from $219 to $389 for March.

Beginning in April (when the wine country’s high season enters full swing), the hotel will stick more closely to its brochure rates: $339 to $389.

The lodge, a complex of two dozen Spanish- ccolonial-style buildings on 91/2 acres, has, 141 rooms with fireplaces, hardwood floors, a pool, hot tub and spa services. For more information: tel. (800) 468-3571 or (707) 935-6600, https://www .renaissancehotels.com.

* Near Disney’s new California Adventure park in Anaheim, the Magic Inn & Suites closed in September. When it reopened March 1 as the Anabella Hotel, it included several million dollars’ worth of upgrades and an introductory offer: rates starting at $79 nightly, subject to availability, through June. Beginning in July, a spokeswoman said, the hotel’s low-end rates will probably climb to $119. (Its brochure rates start at $195.)

The Anabella Hotel has 359 rooms (mMission-style architecture) on 71/2 acres. For iiInformation: tel. (800) 863-4888 or (714) 905-1050, https://www.anabel lla hotel.com.

You’ll find at least two more bonuses in cases like this. One is that new openings often spur existing hotels to improve their facilities and service to compete. The other is the fun factor: It’s exciting to explore a new place.

I remember arriving nine years ago at the Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur when the place was less than a month old. Service was rough around the edges, and the landscaping plants seemed to have arrived about 15 minutes ahead of me. But as a piece of architecture and a place to escape from workaday life, it was tremendous, and being among the first guests did add a little frisson.

Then again, I also remember my visit to the newly reopened Crater Lake Lodge in Oregon in 1995. The staff was nowhere near ready for prime time. Guest grumbling was widespread, and many of us agreed that we should have waited a month or two.

The threat of delay is no small risk when booking into a new hotel. Just as delays in delivery of new cruise ships are common, it’s virtually standard practice for the opening date of a new hotel to be postponed, often by several months.

Those adjustments usually occur before the hotel actually starts taking reservations, but not always.

Remember that not every new hotel feels obliged to offer deep discounts.

About an hour’s drive south of San Francisco in Half Moon Bay, the Ritz-Carlton chain is opening a new bluff-top 261-room hotel next month. Brochure rates begin at $305. Introductory discounts don’t kick in, a reservations clerk told me, until you get to the deluxe rooms with the $450 brochure rate. From April 12 to April 30 (and perhaps beyond), those rooms will be discounted, subject to availability, to $350. That’s a modest price cut compared with the examples above. For mMore information: tel. (800) 241-3333 or (650) 712-7000, https://www.ritzcarlton .com.

If you book a reservation in a soon-to-open hotel, ask detailed questions in advance about what amenities will and won’t be available, and what the management will do for you if the hotel can’t honor your reservation or can’t deliver what it’s promising now.

Here’s a list of some other major hotels expected to open in California this year.

If any tempts you, remember that those projected opening dates are not written in stone.

In Anaheim, at the California Adventure theme park, January brought the opening of the 750-room Grand Californian Hotel. Its smaller sibling, the 502-room Paradise Pier Hotel, followed in February. For information:, tel. (714) 781-4565information,: twwwel. (714) 781-4565, www.disneyland https://.com.

In Dana Point, the 400-room St. Regis Monarch Beach resort is scheduled to open in late August; tel. (949) 487-0244,; https://www.stregis .com.

In San Francisco, a new 277-room Four Seasons hotel will soon occupy 11 floors of a 36-story multi-use building on Market Street between T3hirdrd and Fourth 4th streets. The company forecasts opening in mid-2001. For information: tel. (800) 819-5053 or (415) 633-3000, https://www .fourseasons.com.

Also in San Francisco, that city, a 405-room Courtyard by Marriott is due to open at Second2nd and Folsom streets in September. For information: ; tel. (800) 321-2211 or (415) 947-0700, https://www.courtyard.com.

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Christopher Reynolds welcomes comments and suggestions but cannot respond individually to letters and calls. Write to Travel Insider, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012 or e-mail him at chris.reynolds@ latimes..com.