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The Shorebreak Hotel Will Open This Spring for Surf Bums

Where: 500 Pacific Coast Highway [map], Huntington Beach, CA, United States, 92648

We've always recommended JDV Hotels when visiting the San Francisco-area but the options in the Southland were few. However, now Chip Conley and co. are readying a property in surferdom, Huntington Beach, called Shorebreak Hotel. (Secretly, we wish this was called Point Break Hotel and it was located in Malibu.)

The hotel won't be open until sometime this spring but here's what it will include:

Opening in Spring 2009, Shorebreak Hotel in Huntington Beach, California – the original Surf City USA – is a showcase of modern hotel design at the cusp of lifestyle trends. Shorebreak Hotel draws its inspiration from Southern California’s cultivated yet laid-back surf culture, combining four-star touches with a penchant for fun.

Highlights include guestrooms with ocean views, exquisite furnishings, versatile event space, romantic fire pits and ready access to a variety of exciting recreational activities. Shorebreak’s Zimzala Restaurant and Bar will be a popular attraction for locals and visitors, offering rustic Mediterranean cuisine with an emphasis on fresh seafood, surf-inspired décor, and free-spirited good times.

We hope that Shorebreak includes a surfing concierge...named Johnny Utah. We can't find any rates just yet but JDV Hotels' rates are always rather reasonable. Keeping in mind, this will be a full-service, luxury hotel we say rooms will probably start around the $250 mark. For those of you who want a more pampered experience in the OC, don't forget JDV is coming to Laguna Beach.

Tags: Golf Resorts / Hotel News / Hotel Openings / Orange County Hotels / Hotel Spas / → All Tags

The Resort at Pelican Hill to Open November 26

Where: 22701 PELICAN HILL ROAD SOUTH [map], Newport Coast, CA, United States, 92657

While Newport Beach isn't exactly lacking on the hotel side of things, we're kind of excited about the opening of The Resort at Pelican Hill.

The resort is stuffed with jaw-dropping features. The sorts of things that seem just a little too extravagant during a recession, and yet we can't help but drool and yearn. Just keep the folks from AIG away from this place and it should be A-Ok.

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Tags: Hotel Spas / Marriott Hotels / Orange County Hotels / → All Tags

Hotel Spa Review :: Pure Blu Spa at Newport Beach Marriott

Where: 900 Newport Center Dr [map], Newport Beach, CA, United States, 92660

We had the chance to check out the sparkling new Pure Blu Spa at the Newport Beach Marriott recently. We're grateful to spend any day at the spa, but it certainly doesn't stop us from looking at the experience with a critical eye (what? It's our job!).

After the jump, we break down the whole thing for you -- the good, the bad, and the fees you shouldn't bother with.

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Tags: Hotel Hell / Costa Mesa Hotels / Hotel Crime / Orange County Hotels / → All Tags

Are OC Hotels Like Totally Cursed?

Where: 1680 Superior Avenue [map], Costa Mesa, CA, United States, 92627

It's no secret that Orange County, Calif. hotels are having kind of a crappy year as far as strange crime goes. You can see what we're talking about here.

Now, a woman was found barely conscious and naked in a hot tub at a Ramada in Costa Mesa. The LA Times reports:

The unidentified 20-year-old woman, a guest at the Ramada Limited & Suites, was discovered Sunday about 7 a.m. when a hotel employee went to unlock the spa area for another guest, said Costa Mesa Police Lt. Paul Dondero.

The woman was taken to a hospital in Newport Beach where she was treated and released. Apparently, she's "fine" now. Meanwhile, police detectives are trying to find out how this all happened.

We're not trying to be alarmists here. Crime happens in all hotels everywhere. But it is unusual for the OC, especially considering the previous events took place at luxury hotels. However, we spent a night in Costa Mesa recently and we came out just fine. Can't say the same about the hotel after our dog stayed there though.

Tags: Hotel News / Orange County Hotels / Hotel Crime / → All Tags

More Bad News for the OC's Luxury Hotels: Olympic Ice Dancer Drugged at St. Regis

Where: 1 Monarch Beach Resort [map], Dana Point, CA, United States, 92629

Things have not been going well for hotels in Orange County, Cali., recently. Last year, a man and wife were killed in a bizarre murder-suicide at the Montage Resort. The other month a woman's body was found on dry ice inside the Fairmont Newport Beach and now an Olympic ice dancer was slipped the date-rape drug at the St. Regis Monarch Beach.

Grishuk, who won Olympic gold medals for Russia in ice dancing in 1994 and 1998, was attending a business meeting at the St. Regis Monarch Beach on April 12 when she began to feel ill and numb, sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said.

While eating dinner, she spotted a partially dissolved pill in the bottom of her drink. Investigators later found another dissolved pill in the bottom of a drink she ordered in the hotel's lounge.

Amormino says toxicology tests that came back Tuesday were positive for GHB, but it wasn't immediately clear how the pills got in Grishuk's drinks or who put them there.

Grishuk, 36, is native of the Ukraine but now lives in Los Angeles. The St. Regis has not issued a statement to the press as of yet.

In the meantime, you may want to avoid these $400 a night rooms. You never know what will happen during your stay.

Tags: Fairmont Hotels / Hotel Crime / Hotel Death / Hotel News / Orange County Hotels / → All Tags

Fairmont Newport Beach: The West Coast's Hotel Carter?

Where: 4500 MacArthur Blvd. [map], Newport Beach, CA, United States, 92660

Normally, we don't like kicking off a Monday with grisly hotel crime but when it happens at a luxury hotel in Orange County, it's hard to ignore.

A woman's body was found packed in dry ice at the Fairmont Newport Beach Hotel Saturday and the details surrounding her death are mysterious to say the least.

The body of Monique Felicia Trepp was discovered in Room 966 at the Fairmont Hotel just before midnight Thursday, shortly after narcotics investigators say they arrested [Stephen David] Royds with a small amount of cocaine.

There's no cause of death yet but both Trepp and Royds had several prior drug-related arrest. Royds also told the O.C. Register that "Everything that happened was for religious reasons."

This is certainly not the kind of publicity the Fairmont wants after having just completed an extensive $32 million renovation. Maybe the Mondrian West Hollywood has some tips on how to cope.