3 New Hotels Planned as Area Industry Thrives

Talk of war and recession apparently hasn’t slowed the lodging industry in Ventura County, with new hotels planned in Camarillo and Simi Valley and major renovations underway in Ventura.

And experts say they don’t expect a local slowdown anytime soon.

“The hotel industry is hopping,” said Bill Watkins, executive director of the UC Santa Barbara Economic Forecast Project. “Room rates went up 3.6% last year, and occupancy rates increased 1.3%. So it looks like a good time to build a hotel.”

Making a move into the county for the first time is Hampton Inn & Suites, being built by Ocean Park Hotels on Daily Drive, just off the Ventura Freeway at Las Posas Road. It is Camarillo’s first hotel since Courtyard Marriott opened its doors 11 years ago.

More than 30 of the Hilton Hotel affiliates are being planned in the state, because the company views California as the fastest-growing market nationwide.

Ocean Park President Jim Flagg said one of the main reasons his Valencia-based company chose Camarillo was its business and residential growth.

“We really liked Camarillo the best out of all the cities in the county because of its proximity to demand generators like businesses, the new university, the outlets, the military base and the airport,” Flagg said. “Our hotel is going to cover corporate, leisure and extended stay.”

Plans call for a three-story building with 115 rooms, 36 of them suites. Amenities include a pool and spa, fitness center, business center with computers, faxes and free Internet service and a convenience store. Each room will have high-speed Internet access.

The hotel also will have 5,700 square feet of public meeting spaces for use by guests and for community events. The largest room will accommodate 150 people.

“We think the community-use potential is very strong,” said Bob Burrow, Camarillo’s director of community development. “There’s a whole gambit of needs that Hampton will cover.”

With the city currently offering just under 800 hotel rooms, Tom Kelly, president and chief executive of the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce, thinks the Hampton Inn will fill a need.

“The city’s business base is continuing to grow with companies that do international business,” he said. “They bring people here all the time for meetings, and the other hotels in the area have very limited meeting space. With an occupancy rate close to 70%, it will be a good move for the city because it earns 9% revenue from the transit occupancy tax.”

Flagg has high expectations for the hotel, which is projected to open by Nov. 1.

“We opened one in Agoura in October and it’s doing phenomenal,” he said. “We’ve had an 80% occupancy rate since its opening.”

In Simi Valley, two new hotels plan to break ground this year. A 104-room Extended Stay America will be built off the 118 Freeway and Stearns Street, and a 98-room Courtyard Marriott is planned off the freeway and Madera Road.

The city’s last new hotel was built in 1989. With the two new hotels, more than 650 rooms will be available.

Assistant City Manager Brian Gabler attributes the need for more hotels to the city’s employment growth with large-scale companies, such as Countrywide Home Loans and Farmers Insurance.

“Over the last 10 years, thousands of jobs have been added to Ventura County,” said Gabler, who is also the city’s director of economic development. “As the employment base grows, support services like hotels need to grow as well. It all bodes well for Simi Valley.”

In an annual economic forecast to be released at month’s end, Watkins said occupancy rates are up to 66% and the average room rate is $79.

He attributes Ventura County’s growth to the fact that the hotels market regionally rather than nationally.

“Not only does the county have a lot to offer, but it’s a cheap alternative to going to a beach in Florida,” Watkins said.

Kathy Janega-Dykes of the Ventura Visitors and Convention Bureau said that while some tourist destinations were hit hard by the Sept. 11 tragedy, the area’s hotels were not affected.

“Our audience has always been within a 60- to 180-mile radius of Ventura. We didn’t really change our strategy after 9/11, because we are more of a driving destination,” Janega-Dykes said. “Our travelers are into visiting more places closer to home.”

Several Ventura hotels are counting on the continued rise in occupancy rates as they sink millions of dollars into major renovation projects.

Formerly part of the Clarion hotel chain, the soon-to-be-renamed Ventura Beach Marriott on Harbor Boulevard is nearing completion of an $8.2-million renovation that included gutting all 286 rooms and installing new carpet, furniture and tiled entries. A business and fitness center were added, and the hotel’s 10,000 square feet of banquet space was remodeled.

The hotel was purchased by Dallas-based Remington Hotel Corp. in November 2001, after its previous owners filed for bankruptcy in January 2001.

“This hotel was so neglected; there was no money put into it,” said Pat Duncan, the hotel’s general manager. “It’s long overdue for Ventura County to have a more upscale hotel.”

As director of sales and marketing for the Ventura Holiday Inn, Victor Dollar couldn’t agree more.

At the end of March, the 25-year-old beachfront hotel will embark on its own renovation, resulting in a change in designation to Crowne Plaza.

“Ventura can now support a higher-end hotel,” Dollar said. “We want to bring our hotel to another level with higher quality.”

Renovation plans include scaling down the size of the balconies in order to expand the rooms by 3 feet and adding new carpet, paint and bedding to the 260 rooms. A business center will be added and the fitness center expanded.

Dollar expects the $4-million to $6-million project to be completed by the end of the year. The hotel will remain open during renovations.

“Our occupancy rate has been rising 2% to 3% a year, and we expect that to go up even more after we have the distinction of being named Crowne Plaza,” Dollar said.

Both Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza are affiliates of the Six Continents hotel chain.

The Clocktower Inn on Santa Clara Street in downtown Ventura is undergoing a $2 million renovation. After purchasing the hotel last October, Bahgat Tadros and Mak Morcos have added high-speed Internet access to each of the 50 guest rooms and replaced bedding and draperies. The lobby and banquet rooms also have been upgraded.

“We were interested in this property because Ventura is on the rise,” Tadros said.

Janega-Dykes agreed. “With a newly renovated downtown, people are rediscovering Ventura. It has truly become a destination point,” she said.