A hotel’s montage of controversies, comforts

Barbara Diamond

Montage Resort and Spa was rarely out of the news this year.

The hotel was on the front pages when it expanded its real estate

holdings, in letters to the editors of local papers from residents

who resented the impact on local parking, and in national

publications honoring it as the new plus-ultra of new places to go

for pampering.

Most recently, the news was that the Planning Commission approved

a plan to gussy up the old Unocal Service Station parcel, which the

resort partnership recently purchased from the Esslinger Trust to

handle employee parking. Opponents of the project have 20 working

days to appeal the approval.

The purchase of the parking lot adds to the resort’s real estate

holdings, which include a parcel known as Driftwood Estates, also

formerly owned by the Esslinger Trust, and Aliso Creek Golf Course,

which is in the county’s jurisdiction.

Rumors have swirled about development plans for the golf course,

but Montage representatives have said there are no specific plans are

on the table. Reports of meetings between the county and the resort

have been published, describing a plan to expand the golf course into

the open space and build homes on the perimeter.

“I question the propriety of publishing information without

confirmation from the principal source,” said Carole Hoffman, a

spokeswoman for Montage.

Driftwood and Hobo Canyon Neighborhood Assn. founder Penny Elia

announced at the Nov. 16 council meeting that Montage had also

purchased Chabad Jewish Center, the Reef Inn and the Prudential Real

Estate offices at the northern entrance to Aliso Creek Shopping

Center.

“I’ve been reading a lot about Montage, and I don’t have any idea

of what’s going on,” Councilman Steve Dicterow said.

“I don’t want a fully formed project coming in front of us. I

think we should be informed.”

He has proposed a sub-committee of himself and Councilwoman Toni

Iseman to liaise with Montage and to try gain a seat at the table

with resort and county officials.

Prudential’s Orange County vice president and general manager Bob

Chapman said no one has contacted him about a sale of his company’s

offices in the shopping center.

To be on the safe side, he checked with the company’s legal

advisors, who also reported no contacts.

“We do not comment on potential real estate acquisitions,” Montage

spokeswoman Hoffman said.

“But we do not have any contracts on any of those properties.”

Hotel officials are tight-lipped even when the news is good.

Rumors abound that the hotel has had several sold-out nights, with no

comment from hotel officials.

All done in a pleasant way, of course.

The hotel is building its reputation on the way it deals with the

public.

Montage was named the No. 2 resort in the United States and No. 1

on the West Coast by the voters in Conde Nast Traveler’s annual

Reader’s Choice Poll in the resort’s first year of eligibility.

The hotel also has been recognized in “Robb Report’s Best of the

Best Resorts,” “Gallivanters Guide’s 2003 Best New Hotel/Resort

Discovery” and “Andrew Harper’s Hideaway Reports’ Top 20 U.S. Resort

Hotels.”

Despite the kudos, neighbors and some city officials have been

highly critical of the resort for parking problems in surrounding

areas and of the city’s environmental-impact study, which they

claimed was flawed.

A hired consultant calculated the parking needs based on the

operator at the time: Marriott.

“If Montage was a Marriott, we wouldn’t have any problem,”

Planning Commissioner Norm Grossman said.

However, the standard of service escalated dramatically when

Laguna Beach Resorts LLC switched the operation to Montage Resort and

Spa, which made it dead set at a four-star rating, which means more

employees to serve guests.

Neighbors complained bitterly about the influx of employees

parking on residential streets, so Montage leased the Unocal Station

site and the linear strip to the north.

However, the Coastal Development Permit required the hotel to own

the off-site parking.

Montage is half-way there with the purchase of the Unocal site,

but neighbors are still not happy.

“This used car lot, this eyesore, cannot be condoned,” Elia said.

Hoffman said landscaping would soften the view from Coast Highway.

Montage is the first luxury hotel to open in Laguna since Surf and

Sand.

It competes with the Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis in Dana Point.

The Orange County Planning Commission is considering some changes

to the Newport Coast coastal permits that could restructure the

visitor-serving uses to allow 120 timeshare casitas and a 200-room

resort hotel, according to a memo from City Manager Ken Frank to the

council.