Thriving Tech Center Blooms In Los Angeles Beach City

<B>Thriving Tech Center Blooms In Los Angeles Beach City</B>

By Judy Jacobs

High-tech firms are moving into Santa Monica, transforming it almost overnight into the heart of what's been dubbed the "Tech Coast." To cater to this new market, as well as the more traditional corporate travelers from Hollywood production companies, advertising and those doing business downtown, this Los Angeles beach city is busy creating new hotels and improving its properties.

"A lot of Internet IPOs are moving into Santa Monica," said Bill Tremper, director of sales and marketing for the Doubletree Guest Suites. "This area is becoming the Tech Coast, which has just developed during the past six months and stretches down to El Segundo and Manhattan Beach." However, much of the action is in Santa Monica, he added.

The new high-tech companies and new and upgraded hotels are transforming Santa Monica from a primarily leisure destination to a corporate destination. "Santa Monica is drawing corporate travelers from all over. Most entertainment companies are coming to do business in Hollywood or the Valley but want to stay in Santa Monica. They want to stay at the beach," said Wendy Bolte, director of sales and marketing at the new Casa del Mar.

Helping to fuel this development are two new beachfront hotels, which have added more than 300 rooms to the city's upper-end inventory. The historic building that currently houses the 129-room Casa del Mar first opened as a private beach club hotel in 1926. Since then it has gone through many incarnations from WWII military housing to a Synanon center and then the Pritikin Longevity Center. It was purchased by the owners of Shutters on the Beach and reopened Oct. 3, 1999, as the grand hotel it once was.

"We're positioning it as a viable option to Beverly Hills. Casa del Mar will be the place to be seen. Most other hotels in Santa Monica are more casual," said Bolte. "The vast majority of our guests will be business travelers, and we will cater to them with two-line phones, a 24-hour concierge, a business center, voicemail and cell phones available upon checkin."

With 6,000 square feet of meeting space, the Casa del Mar also intends to draw corporate and board meetings from the entertainment, finance and advertising industries, as well as high-end incentives and some product launches, Bolte said.

Le Merigot, the other new hotel, opened Dec. 8, 1999, on the Santa Monica Beach. It, too, is pursuing the luxury market. "We expect much of our business to be the high-end corporate and entertainment market, mostly from New York--companies like Sony, IBM and Merrill Lynch," said Renee Spingola, director of sales and marketing. "We expect that 30 percent of our business will be meetings. Since our largest room is 2,100 square feet, we're looking for small executive meetings of 100 to 125 people."

Among Le Merigot's facilities is a 5,500-sq.-ft. spa offering such luxuries as aromatherapy, massages, European deep cleansing and glycolic facials.

While Casa del Mar and Le Merigot will bring more business travelers to Santa Monica, other hotels are improving their product to be better positioned to tap this market as well. Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, for instance, is in the midst of an $18 million renovation.

"The facade is painted and the lobby and meeting space completed," said Holly Gandras-Smith, the hotel's director of sales. "The guest rooms will be renovated in the fall; they'll be totally gutted. By the end of January 2001, we'll have a whole new product."

In January, Loews opened a new boardroom, which seats 12 people and contains the latest in teleconferencing equipment to attract more corporate meetings, which make up about 30 percent of its corporate market. Business travelers are 70 percent of the hotel's total guests.

Meanwhile, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts assumed management of the former 302-room Miramar Sheraton in November 1999, renaming it the Fairmont Miramar Hotel, Santa Monica. This summer, the company will begin a $14 million renovation, which will cover the Ocean Tower guest rooms and meeting space and add more suites. After the project is completed, plans call for repositioning the hotel to attract more MCI business. "In the past, this hotel was just an FIT business hotel, but the improvements will open it up to meetings and conventions," said Karl Buchta, the hotel's general manager.

As part of the renovation, the hotel will create five so-called conference bungalows to serve as office space for the media or conference organizers during their events. The Fairmont Miramar also will add a business center. The rooms are expected to be finished by the end of the year, and the 20,000 square feet of meeting space by August.

Doubletree Guest Suites also has upgraded its digs, with a $6 million renovation completed late last year. "We upscaled the entire hotel. The lobby was changed from stone to marble, and the rooms were gutted," said Bill Tremper, director of sales and marketing.

In order to attract more of the high-tech corporate business moving into Santa Monica, Doubletree consulted with three Internet companies to see what their travelers desired in a desk. Following their advice, the hotel installed new desks, each seven feet long with its own TV so that travelers can log on to the Internet and watch television at the same time. Along with the Doubletree upgrade, however, comes upgraded prices.

"Last year, we were in the $150 to $175 per night range. Now it's $200," Tremper said.

Hotel Shangri-La, a 55-room Art Deco-style hotel originally built in 1939, has increased its appeal to the corporate market, which makes up 60 percent of its business, by adding a gym and executive board room seating eight.

"Our average length of stay is five or six days," said Dino Manni, general manager. "Most of our rooms are one-bedroom suites with full kitchens and are larger than most apartments in Santa Monica."

The Shangri-La is positioning itself as a midmarket, affordable alternative place for business travelers to stay. "Santa Monica is becoming a bit too upscale, so regular business travelers can't afford some of the hotels anymore," Manni said.

Another older hotel--the 84-room Georgian--has undergone a $2 million renovation that covers the public areas and guest rooms, each of which now has two-line phones, dataports and fax machines. Like the Shangri-La, the hotel is aiming for the midrange corporate market.

"People can get a lot of the same amenities here for a lot less price," said Jodi Alldredge, the Georgian's director of sales. "We'd like to increase our corporate business from 40 percent to 50 percent of our total." The hotel is targeting meetings of up to 40 people and incentive groups of up to 75.

Meanwhile, Shutters at the Beach-- long popular with corporate travelers and meeting groups--has converted Handle Bar, a former bar, into a meeting room accommodating 60 people. This complements the hotel's existing two meeting rooms, which can seat 250 and 150 attendees banquet-style, respectively. Shutters also has installed wine cellars in all of its guest rooms. Each wine cellar contains 11 half bottles of wine, as well as gourmet snacks to accompany them.