Marriott is once again making headlines for snagging some of the country’s most coveted independent hotels and converting them to high-end brands.
First, the Conrad New York Midtown announced it was reflagging as The Luxury Collection Hotel Midtown Manhattan, a big loss for Hilton but a win for Marriott.
Next, we discovered that the iconic Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii will convert to a Ritz-Carlton.
Now, a third iconic property, The Resort at Pelican Hill, located in Newport Beach, California, will join Marriott’s luxury portfolio July 1 and eventually become a St. Regis. As of today, the only St. Regis in California is found in San Francisco, so The Resort at Pelican Hill will become the second St. Regis in the state and the first in Southern California.
Currently owned by the Irvine Company, The Resort at Pelican Hill sits on 504 acres of California coast and features chic Tuscan-inspired bungalow rooms and suites, plus villas that have up to four bedrooms. The resort’s Coliseum Pool is considered one of the most beautiful hotel pools in the country and is made with over 1 million hand-cut glass mosaic tiles at the bottom. And for golf fanatics, there are few places as beautiful to play as the Pelican Hill Golf Club, which has two 18-hole courses and expansive views of the Pacific Ocean.
Marriott, it seems, is on a roll expanding its luxury collection, with 510 hotels open and 234 signed luxury hotels in the company’s pipeline. While unexpected, these three conversions, spanning from Hawaii to New York, might be a signal that more independent luxury hotels want to cash in on the power of Marriott’s luxury brand names and have access to the company’s 200 million strong loyalty program, Marriott Bonvoy.
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“We are sought out by owners because of the depth and breadth of our brand portfolio and the power of our platform to drive results,” Leeny Oberg, Marriott’s chief financial officer and executive vice president of development, said in a statement. “We look forward to strengthening our leadership in this important customer segment as we continue to work with owners to maximize the potential of their projects.”
Only time will tell how these three properties adapt to their respective new brand standards and meld these brand standards with the characteristics that make them sought-after independent properties in the first place. But once they do, having these three hotels and resorts available to book with points is a big win for points and miles enthusiasts, especially Bonvoy loyalists.
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