<B>Hotels Debut In Bay Area</B>
By Judy Jacobs
Two new major hotels will open in downtown San Francisco this year, giving business travelers more options than ever before and reinforcing the growing importance of the corporate travel market to the city's economy.
"The business travel segment has become more important to the city over the past few years as a result of the establishment of technology-based companies in San Francisco's south-of-market area," said John Marks, president and CEO of the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau. "It's clear that the level of corporate travel to San Francisco has increased. The traditional business travel side was lighter than conventions and leisure, but it has caught up. Now the hotel product is catching up as well."
This catching up will come in the form of new Four Seasons and Omni properties, both of which expect to rely heavily on the corporate market. The first of these to open, the long-awaited Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco, is scheduled to be ready for guests Aug. 1. The 277-room hotel will occupy 11 stories of a 36-story mixed-use development on Market Street between Third and Fourth streets and within walking distance of San Francisco's Financial District. The development includes retail, restaurants, condominiums and a 100,000-sq.-ft. fitness center and spa with 10 treatment rooms.
"We intend to be a five-star, five-diamond hotel geared toward the upper-end segment of the business travel market," said Jeff Doane, the hotel's director of marketing. The Four Seasons is positioning itself as an "urban retreat," but one that is as high tech as possible. It plans to tap corporate meetings as an important part of its market mix, and facilities include 15,000 square feet of meeting space, with a 7,000-sq.-ft. ballroom. "We can handle up to 500 people and we'll be doing mostly smaller events--like product launches, board of directors meetings and financial road shows," Doane said. With its extensive spa facilities, the new hotel also expects to attract incentive business.
Meanwhile, Omni Hotels will enter the Bay-Area market with the Omni San Francisco, the company's second California property and the latest incarnation of the 17-story historic Financial Center Building on the corner of California and Montgomery streets in the heart of the San Francisco Financial District. Omni has spent $100 million to bring the ambience of the San Francisco landmark back to its grandeur of the 1920s, when it originally opened.
The hotel's location is what sets it apart, according to Mike Casey, the Omni's general manager. "The corner of California and Montgomery will be the new address for business travel," he said. Omni's service level also will be a draw. "Omni went from number seven to number one in highest guest satisfaction (among upscale hotel chains) in one year, according to a J.D. Power & Associates ranking," he added. The 2000 Guest Satisfaction Study was based on a national sample of 10,000 business and leisure travelers.