Hotel to lose its popular View

Alicia Robinson

Sushi lovers will have to start fishing for a new night spot after

July 4, when the View sushi bar and lounge at the Newport Beach

Marriott hotel will close to make way for additional guest suites.

Perched on the 15th floor of the hotel’s north tower, the lounge

offers guests a panoramic view of Newport Beach and the Pacific

Ocean.

“It’s a beautiful place,” said patron Paul Jonswold of Temecula.

“There’s not many views like this in the whole area.... To turn it

into rooms is a waste.”

Jonswold stopped by the View on Monday before a dinner engagement

with some friends, who urged, “Keep it a bar!” when they heard the

View is closing.

The View attracts a flock of regular customers who come for the

sushi and live music, bartender Noe Gonzalez said.

Although the lounge isn’t large, it gets crowded on weekends, when

three or four bartenders are needed, he said. Word of the View’s

closing has spread among locals who come often, he said.

“A lot of people are disappointed,” Gonzalez said.

The removal of the View will allow the hotel to add 12 guest

suites, bringing its total number of suites to 20. The change is part

of a $60-million renovation project to make the hotel more

competitive with new hotels and luxury resorts in the area, said

Rhanda Richardson, the hotel’s sales and marketing director.

The hotel was built in 1975, and the north tower was added in

1984.

“[The project has] been on the books for several years, but really

it was just time for a reinvestment into the property,” she said. “To

compete in the meeting or the group arena, we needed to add some

additional guest suites, which we could use for incentives for

meeting planners to book here.”

Construction is expected to begin July 6, with the project’s

completion scheduled for fall 2005. Richardson said the work will

include rebuilding each of the hotel’s 586 guest rooms, adding a

13,000-square-foot spa, redesigning the lobby area and changing the

concept of the hotel restaurant, which now operates as JW’s

California Grill.

The restaurant will be redeveloped as a contemporary American

eatery, and a new lounge will be built adjacent to it in the lobby

level, Richardson said. The concept for the lounge is still being

developed.

A ground-level lounge without sushi won’t be the same for some

patrons, but they’re taking advantage of the View while they can.

“I live in Fullerton, but I drive all the way down to Newport for

the good sushi,” said Jordan Danly. “It’s always fun to come here.

The view is amazing.”

Danly said she’s been making the trip to the Marriott about once a

week for several months. On Monday, she brought Lauren Lim, a friend

from Fullerton, who had never been to the View before.

“She was telling me about it, so I’m in for a treat,” Lim said.

While patrons will miss the View, the demands of travelers and

business clients have taken precedence. Newport Beach Conference and

Visitors Bureau Executive Director Marta Hayden said the bar has been

raised by newer hotels that offer high-speed Internet connections and

work stations in guest rooms.

“It used to be you were happy to get a table and two chairs,” she

said. “Your whole amenity program has just escalated, and that’s

become the new norm.”

While the Marriott doesn’t expect to compete directly with

higher-end resorts, the redesign of the restaurant and lounge are

part of the company’s overall effort to pursue the corporate and

luxury markets, Richardson said. She declined to provide occupancy

statistics for the hotel.

“Obviously, with an investment this large, we see an opportunity

to really position our hotel under the St. Regis [and] the Four

Seasons luxury collection and really benefit from the location of

this hotel,” she said. “This location has probably been one of the

best locations in Southern California.”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

[email protected].