First Boutique, Hotel Boom Arrive In San Diego

<B> First Boutique, Hotel Boom Arrive In San Diego</B>

By Frank Rosci


<I>La Jolla, Calif.</I> - With the advent of the deluxe HotelParisi, San Diego has joined the growing list of places in tune and in touch with the boutique hotel craze currently sweeping the nation. The property, located 15 minutes from downtown San Diego and 20 minutes from the airport in an upscale part of the San Diego metropolitan area, became the first new hotel here in 30 years and the first boutique hotel in the region when it opened on May 15.

"HotelParisi is part of a new phenomenon--the urban, boutique hotel--that provides a lavish environment for discerning leisure guests and business travelers," said Sami Ladeki, the hotel's owner and a noted San Diego County restaurateur. "With our select guest accommodations, we can provide privacy, comfort and highly personalized service that the visitors to La Jolla expect."

According to the San Diego Visitor Profile recently released by the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau, La Jolla ranks as one of the top three destinations in the region and has the second-highest number of visitors of the top three annually. Overall, there were more than 14.5 million overnight visitors to San Diego in 1998.

As a result of the $2 million redevelopment project of a two-story building constructed in 1978, each of the HotelParisi's 20 suites, which range in size from 425 to 725 square feet, is spacious with an airy 10-ft. ceiling. In-suite amenities include a 27-inch TV with cable and VCR, three phone lines with dataports, voice mail and a well-lighted desk.

"We are just beginning to host business travelers, especially CEOs and corporate VIPs, who really are the segment of the business travel market we want to appeal to first," Ladeki said. Per room, per night rates range from $225 to $400 and are affected by room location (oceanview or townside).

Small corporate meeting groups will find a conference room, which is divisible into two sections and accommodates up to 120 people theater style or 80 guests for a meal function. Just off the lobby are two small rooms equipped to handle laptop computers, and a 14-person boardroom also is available.

The hotel's special touches include a fireplace and fountain in the lobby/lounge and a workout facility. The building also includes two levels of free underground parking. Complimentary continental breakfast is served daily.

"Hotel Parisi is an elegant haven for the business traveler and others in search of discretion, comfort and restful beauty in the heart of La Jolla, a sophisticated town, with a quaint, small village atmosphere," Ladeki said.

Each suite is outfitted with the hotel's exclusive line of custom-designed furniture, from the upholstered bed and pillows, wall-mounted night stands of wood and flame-cut steel, large slip-covered chairs to languorous chaises.

"The design concept for HotelParisi speaks the language of a new generation of urban hotels," said Stephanie Walters, owner and president of Parisi Interior Design based in Del Mar, Calif. "It is a contemporary composition, blending modern and classic, city and sea, simple and sumptuous," Walters said. "HotelParisi is designed to be on par with boutique hotels in Aspen, Napa Valley and Martha's Vineyard."

Since the hotel opened, occupancy is running at 60 percent, Ladeki said. Based on solid advance bookings, he expects it to be around 98 percent for the rest of the year.

In related San Diego hotel news, the city and region's second boutique hotel may be coming in the form of a 210-room property at the foot of Fifth Avenue near the San Diego Convention Center in the Port District. The idea is still in the proposal stage.

Other proposed new hotels in San Diego could add as many as 8,348 rooms, with nearly 2,300 along the waterfront, over the next few years to complement the city's more than 45,000 existing rooms in 460 hotels and motels.

New hotels would be part of San Diego's biggest construction boom ever, with more than 50 projects valued at $3.5 billion scheduled to be completed over the next four years. Such an ambitious effort was stalled in the city during the 1990s lengthy real estate recession.

New hotels downtown could include a 1,006-room, 45-story, $200 million Westin Hotel with a 300-slip marina; a 247-room Courtyard by Marriott; a 210- to 230-room City Suites; three hotels near the new $411 million San Diego Padres baseball stadium of 154, 196 and 500 rooms, respectively; and a 253-room Hilton Garden Inn and 367-room Le Meridien, both in the city's popular Gas Lamp Quarter, a bustling entertainment district within a short walk of the San Diego Convention Center. Meanwhile, a 121-room Marriott Residence Inn opened downtown on June 1.

At the convention center, a $216 million expansion that will double the center's space to 2.6 million square feet, is on track to open in September 2001.

"The trade show industry continues to grow both in square footage for exhibits and the number of shows held nationally," said Carol Wallace, the center's president and CEO. "In terms of competitive posturing, there won't be many markets in which we can't compete after the expansion. We'll also be able to accommodate multiple conventions at one time, which increases both our revenues and occupancy levels."

Areas of the convention center to be expanded include 276,363 square feet of new exhibit space, 40 more meeting rooms and 170,294 additional square feet of pre-function, lobby, registration and circulation areas.

Originally, expansion was slated to be ready in time for last January's Super Bowl, but legal challenges and other delays have cost San Diego 75 conventions worth an estimated $696 million, Wallace said. Once the project is completed, it's projected that more than $900 million could be infused into the local economy annually.

At Sails Pavilion, the convention center's architectural centerpiece, a $10 million project that will include the addition of glass walls to the 90,000-sq.-ft. open-air, column-free area recently was announced.

Meanwhile, at the 875-room, 40-story Hyatt Regency San Diego--the West Coast's tallest waterfront hotel at 497 feet, which stands next to Seaport Village--officials continue to anticipate a 750-room expansion in the form of a 32-story tower complementary in design to the existing tower. It also would offer 800,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 34,000-sq.-ft. exhibit hall and a 30,000-sq.-ft. ballroom.

Other new hotels include a 1,000-room property and a 392-room Ritz- Carlton, the city's first. Both would be located by the San Diego Bay.

Business travel developments at San Diego International Airport include the addition of American Airlines' new service, offering two daily nonstops, one in each direction, between San Diego and Boston. Frontier Airlines now offers two daily low-fare nonstops, one in each direction, between its Denver hub and San Diego. And Air Canada beginning June 21 will offer once daily direct, non-stop service between Toronto and San Diego.

In other airport news, a 650-room business hotel is being considered for the Camp Nimitz portion of the property at San Diego's now defunct Naval Training Center.