The Mile adds another new hotel

Paul Clinton

An international hotel conglomerate is adding a Holiday Inn in

Newport Beach, making it the second lodging along this section of

West Coast Highway in less than two months.

While an opening date has not been set, the Holiday Inn will act

as a complement to the Balboa Bay Club & Resort, which opened a

132-room hotel in mid-May, said Marta Hayden, the executive director

of the Newport Beach Conference & Visitors Bureau.

The hotel replaces the Newport Classic Inn, which closed for the

conversion.

“It’s changing ownership with a reflagging to a national chain,”

Hayden said. “They’re going to have access to that worldwide

reservation system, which certainly is a big reason to bring in more

people to Newport Beach.”

When it reopens, the hotel is expected to offer 52 rooms, the same

number in the inn. However, by using existing balconies, the rooms

are expected to be bigger, Hayden said.

The hotel also includes a pool and spa.

Newport Classic Inn opened in the early 1990s. Japanese restaurant

Tsuru occupied the second floor.

“They met a market demand here for people who didn’t want to stay

in a high-end hotel,” said Richard Leuhrs, the president of the

Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce. “They wanted something a little

less expensive.”

London-based InterContinental Hotels Group owns the Holiday Inn

brand. Monica Smith, an Atlanta spokeswoman for the company, declined

to comment about the new hotel.

InterContinental Hotels, the forming lodging subsidiary Six

Continents, operates or franchises more than 3,300 hotels in about

100 countries. The company’s brands include Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn

Express, Crowne Plaza and InterContinental. It’s Staybridge Suites by

Holiday Inn feature separate bedrooms and kitchens for extended stay

travelers.

An earlier incarnation of the hotel giant purchased Holiday Inn

International in 1988. Insurance salesman Kemmons Wilson opened the

first Holiday Inn in Memphis, Tenn., in 1952 to “cater for the

traveling needs of U.S. families,” the company’s Web site states.

The new Holiday Inn will be at 2300 W. Coast Highway.