The high-end is immune....uh oh, somebody better tell that to the St. Regis Hotel

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The St Regis MB is really spectacular, if not overly grandiose, but it's not in a tourist mecca. They rely heavily on corporate retreats, banquets, and wealthy locals willing to splurge on quick staycations. I remember few yrs ago looking at the TripAdvisors forum and it seemed everyone asking about the St Regis was a local looking for some place for a weekend getaway, to celebrate an anniversary, pop the question, etc.

TIC was unfortunate in their timing for the opening of the Pelican Resort. Bookings there are nearly non-existent as well.

If you're planning a wedding, get estimates from the St Regis, Ritz Carlton LN, Montage, and Pelican Resort, and play them off each other. Esp the first 3 are very competitive with each other over these bookings.
 
I just read the St. Regis article while over on the OC Register site. And I see my friend

USC has gotten here first with a thread on its impending loan default.

This is a good indication of the stress the high end is feeling in this economy.

And the opening of the Pelican didnt help the situation. I have a friend thats a caddy

over at Pelican and they are feeling the pinch as well. Occupancy of 20-30% on the weekend

is considered high. But TIC has all the cash to just sit and wait for the turn around that may take several years.

It will be interesting to see how this loan default shakes out. Will they get a rescue

by some Chinese investor ? Maybe one of those Middle East soverign funds will jump in

now that oil is headed back to the stratosphere again.

Maybe soon we can get a room for less than $ 800.00 on the weekend. Yikes.
 
I never understood the attraction of the St. Regis. My wife and I stayed there one night for an event. First and foremost, it's a beach resort that isn't on the beach. Second, it's the most poorly laid out hotel in the world. I felt like we needed a ball of string to find the lobby from our room. Third, whose idea was it to put a massive fountain at the end of the western-facing pool so that the entire pool is in shadow by 2 in the afternoon? Fourth, most uncomfortable bed ever. I'm not shocked that the St. Regis is going down. It's not worth it for the money. If you want to spend that much, there are better places to go, and even if you don't, there are still better places to go.
 
jmatthew said:
I never understood the attraction of the St. Regis. My wife and I stayed there one night for an event. First and foremost, it's a beach resort that isn't on the beach. Second, it's the most poorly laid out hotel in the world. I felt like we needed a ball of string to find the lobby from our room. Third, whose idea was it to put a massive fountain at the end of the western-facing pool so that the entire pool is in shadow by 2 in the afternoon? Fourth, most uncomfortable bed ever. I'm not shocked that the St. Regis is going down. It's not worth it for the money. If you want to spend that much, there are better places to go, and even if you don't, there are still better places to go.
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I've never stayed there, but this sounds spot on. I just don't understand why someone would pay their exorbitant rates when you are still a half-mile from the water and on the wrong side of PCH!
 
Dammit, what's going to happen to Stonehill Tavern? While it's not as good as Michael Mina's other restaurants, it's one of the few legitimate (in my opinion) fine dining restaurants in OC. In fact, I've only been to the St. Regis to eat at the Tavern. I agree that the location is ridiculously far from the beach, the Ritz really has them beat (BTW, Restaurant 162 at the Ritz is pretty good too) and that the layout of the property is like the Bermuda Triangle. Our friends were considering having their wedding ceremony and reception on the property, but it was overly expensive and everything service had to done be in-house.

It's not good when a property relies on corporate events, the uber-wealthy, and the conspicuous consumer. Hopefully, lesson learned.
 
St. Regis was owned by Makar. Run by the Makaresh (sic) brothers. If you've ever met them, not exactly the sharpest tools in the shed, but they were certainly tools. Just a company driven by pure ego.
 
xoneinax said:
Westin in San Diego too
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From what I read, the SD W was a walkaway. The parent corp. still has money, but did the math.

With the slow business creating negative operating income and making up the paper loss on the property was unlikely, it was cheaper to just lose the down payment on the property. I don't know if the lender can win a suit against the parent, if the loan was in the name of the another corp.
 
newbie2008 said:
xoneinax said:
Westin in San Diego too
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From what I read, the SD W was a walkaway. The parent corp. still has money, but did the math.

With the slow business creating negative operating income and making up the paper loss on the property was unlikely, it was cheaper to just lose the down payment on the property. I don't know if the lender can win a suit against the parent, if the loan was in the name of the another corp.
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They'll never win a lawsuit because the borrowing entity is a single purpose LLC which will file for BK or just dissolve. The loan on the hotel is non-recourse so no deep pockets to go after. Besides that, California is a single action state so 99% of the time the bank takes the property back and levels the borrower/s alone.
 
JMatthew-

That is so funny you mention the bed! My husband and I stayed there for about 3 days when we thought about moving to OC. I hated the bed so much I wrote an email to complain about it when i got back to Chicago.
 
all of starwood hotels (which st regis is a part of) uses some variation of a super soft bed whether they call it the heavenly bed (westin), sweet sleeper (sheraton), or whatever. as an aside, you can purchase any of the furniture you see in a starwood hotel from stregisathome.com, sheratonathome.com, etc. but yeah, i too prefer a firm klingon-style mattress.
 
I actually really like the Heavenly/Sweet Sleeper beds. Last time I checked (a couple years ago), those beds were ridiculously expensive.
 
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