Hotels report good summer

Despite slightly less airline passenger traffic out of John Wayne Airport, local hotels report business has been steady compared to last summer.

“This summer has been very similar to last summer, but we’ve been able to see a rate increase,” said Doug French, director of the Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa’s revenue management. “People are paying more for rooms.”

Rates of local hotels have gone up about 10% to 15% since last year, French said.

Brad Logsdon, director of sales and marketing for the Hilton, said at the start of the summer hotel staff was nervous about occupancy as they watched gas prices creep above the $3 mark.

“At the beginning of the summer, all of us were holding on to the edge of our seats with gas prices and the fact that most of the airlines aren’t adding new flights and are all full,” he said. “Travel has become much more difficult because of fuel prices and the hassle of the airport.”

One plan that the Costa Mesa Conference and Visitor Bureau set up with area hotels was a Drive and Dine program. Each group that drove to a participating hotel received a $30 dining coupon for about 20 local restaurants each night of their stay. The bureau also sends the guest a check for $30 to cover gas prices.

Based on the amount of walk-in traffic to the Newport Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau — this summer the bureau has had almost a 5% increase — tourism in Newport Beach is on the rise compared with last year, said Jessica Roswell, Newport’s bureau’s marketing and public relations manager.

Last summer, both the Fairmont Newport Beach and the Newport Beach Marriott were under renovation and not fully operational, she said.

“Already, just by those hotels being opened, we have increased tourism because there are more hotel rooms for people to book,” she said.

The Island Hotel Newport Beach is also seeing an increase in occupancy from last summer, which was attributed to the new hotel’s sales and marketing of the new brand, according to an e-mail from Terri Reid, director of sales and marketing.

Total aircraft operations were down 2% at John Wayne, and Roswell said Newport has been seeing an increase of international passengers.