Hotel Resorts in Orange County California - Research Paper Example

? Hotel Resorts in Orange County California Introduction The research paper is concerned with the detailed overview of functioning of hotels and resorts in the Orange County California. The county seat of Orange County is Santa Ana. The county is populated with 3,010,232 people according to the census of the year 2010 putting the county in the list of the highly populated counties in California. Orange County possesses attractive tourism settings like that of Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland. Along with this, the county is also surrounded by a number of beaches located along 64 kilometers of coastline (US Census Bureau, 2010). The popularity of the county with respect to tourism has generated the interest towards evaluating the operational aspect of the county in this research paper. The cost of living index in the county is higher than that of the national average of the United States (124.6 for the county and 100 for the US). The structure of the research paper is framed in a compact manner beginning with introducing the county’s hotels and resort bases and the services that are provided to the tourists. The report will also detail the various challenges that the county faces during its operations in California’s tourism industry. The facts that over the years have brought success to Orange County will also be proficiently dealt along with identification of its core areas of operations. On the basis of the analysis undertaken regarding operational efficiency of Orange County California, certain essential conclusions will be drawn up so as to identify business scope of the hotels and resorts segment. Along with identification of business dimensions in which the county can explore its tourism activities, the present business situations of the county in regards to providing visitors’ satisfaction will also be evaluated. The aim of this research report is to evaluate the operational efficiency of the hotels and resorts segment in the Orange County California. The report is also aimed at measuring the extent to which the hotels and resorts segment of the county enhances the popularity of the ‘brand OC’. Orange County California and their Offerings to the Visitors As also stated in the introductory section of this research paper, Orange County is composed of some of the most attractive tourists’ destinations within the world. Among the various reasons that attract huge number of tourists to the county, the advantage of location is one. The county is bordered on the north by Los Angeles and San Diego has surrounded the county along the south. Towards the east of Orange County, San Bernardino County and Riverside County are situated along with the Santa Ana Mountains. Most importantly, the boundaries of the county towards the west are surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. Due to the features of the location in which the county is situated, the tourists who visited this tourist spot can share the experience of warm climate throughout the year. As the Pacific Ocean is very near to Orange County, the tourists and local people enjoy the beauty of various enchanting and charming beaches. There are a number of cities present within Orange County, both large as well as small. Anaheim in Orange County is known as the ‘home’ of Disneyland and is second in the list of the most populous cities in California. The home of Knott’s Berry Farm in the county is Buena Park and this city paves the gateway of the county to Los Angeles. Apart from these two important and popular cities of Orange County, there are also several cities that add up to the beauty of the county. Fullerton, Surf city, Irvine, Laguna Niguel, Newport Beach, Santa Ana and Seal Beach are the most popular cities of the county (County of Orange, 2011). The hotels and resorts section of Orange County offers several attractive destinations to the tourists. In the South Orange County, Aliso Creek Inn & Golf Course offers an ideal tourist location for families and tourists are made to feel every comfort of home in this hotel. Americas Best Value Laguna Inn & Suites is another attractive tourists’ location towards the south of the county and it offers great value to the experience of the tourists who visits this place. It is situated at a distance of a few minutes from the beaches and all other social gathering places of the locality. Balboa Inn is offered as a unique destination for the tourists who desire recreation activities along with relaxation and romance in their journey to tourists’ places. The South Orange County also offers Best Western Casablanca Inn to the tourist which is situated at a distance of two blocks from the San Clemente’s North Beach. The most attracting feature of this inn is that the tourists can spend the daytimes stretching out in the sun and the evenings in the cozy atmosphere created by the campfires. Casa Laguna Inn is another attractive offering of the hotel and resorts section of the county. This inn is featured with flourishing gardens, architecture of Mission and overwhelming views of the sea. This is situated near to two of the most popular restaurants of the Laguna Beach (Orange County, 2002). Comfort Suites San Clemente is another name which offers comfort and pleasure to the tourists of Orange County. San Clemente State Beach and some other beaches are not too far from this hotel. This is considered as a perfect location not only for leisure time spending of the tourists but also for the visitors who come for business trips. Hampton Inn & Suites San Clemente is yet another offering of the county to the tourists which is also situated near to the San Clemente State Beach. The inn is characterized with provision of excellent services in a friendly manner and also offers romantic environment to the tourists. Situated near to the Newport Beach, Holiday Inn Express offers modern facilities to the tourists and attracts many tourists to the county. This inn is located closely to various attractive local spots inclusive of the beach. Holiday Inn Irvine Spectrum is considered as the most attractive business destination for the tourists who visits Orange County for business purposes. The inn offers a number of business amenities to the tourists and adds value to the Orange County’s tourism position in the world. Hyatt Regency Irvine is an AAA Four-Diamond rated luxurious hotel situated near Irvine. This inn asserts to be the only luxurious inn within the southern part of the county to win the honor. Laguna Hills Lodge is another treasure of the South Orange County which is stated as a unique tourist spot for both leisure and business activities. This feature is attributed by its location advantage as this lodge is situated in the heart of the business, vacation and shopping centers of the South Orange County. Moreover the lodge is situated in the central location of the attractive features of San Diego and Los Angeles (Orange County, 2011). Aside from the attractive tourists’ destinations of the South Orange County, the Northern side of the county is also filled up with a number of gorgeous and charming hotels and resorts. Comfort Suites Huntington Beach is featured with outstanding quality of service to its visitors through offerings of lavishing rooms and stunning accommodative facilities. This is considered yet another exclusive location for the tourists who visit for leisure activities and also those who visit for business purposes. Hilton Orange County is a specialized destination for the tourists who visit the county for business purposes. The place is accommodated with huge rooms for business meetings with area of more than 50,000 square feet. This is located at a very short distance from South Coast Plaza Shopping Resort. Hyatt Regency Orange County is yet another attractive tourists’ lodge situated in the northern part of the county. The most essential feature of this hotel is that it is located near to the Disneyland. The tourists can enjoy attractive entertaining activities by staying in this hotel as it is situated very near to the locations for dining, shopping and hanging out. Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach is the name of another hotel created upon inspiration from the Spanish styles and is located is very close proximity to the Huntington Beach. This is a stunning location for the tourists who visit the county for enjoying its beauty and treasures. Westin South Coast Plaza is the hotel which is located at a short distance from the theatre district of the county. The tourists can experience shopping pleasure by staying in this hotel as the South Coast Plaza is near to the hotel which holds a huge number of retail stores along with restaurants. Apart from the resorts, motels and inns, Orange County is also characterized with specialized resorts. Full service resorts containing luxurious amenities, bed and breakfast and vacation rentals are the various dimensions of offering of the county to the tourists (Orange County, 2011). Along with the above mentioned offerings that the tourists experience in Orange County California, the luxury hotels and resorts aside the Pacific Ocean are mentioned to be essential tourists’ destinations. The Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort is a noteworthy to mention in this regards which is situated in the Huntington Beach. Another essential name in the industry providing luxurious experience to the tourists is Montage Laguna Beach, which is a perfect resort in the oceanfront of the Southern California. The resort offers luxury lodging to the tourists along with spa and places to hang around. Laguna Cliffs Marriot Resort & Spa is another popular name in the category of the beaches that attracts the tourists towards the oceanfront destinations in California. This resort is situated in Dana Point and is considered to be an exclusive location for Oceanfront vacation (the Oceanfront, 2011). Challenges of Hotels and Resorts in Orange County California The popularity and attractiveness of Orange County which is located in the central part of the Southern California pose, at times, as challenges for the hotels and resorts of the county. Due to their location’s features, the county’s contribution towards augmentation of US’s tourism industry has been huge over the past several years. Since prosperity of the tourism industry is an important indicator towards the country’s economic growth, sustenance of the tourism industry’s contribution becomes a challenging issue for the hotels and resorts. During the year 2008, above 43 million tourists were greeted by Orange County. The expenses that the tourists incurred during that year upon staying, enjoying entertaining activities, dinning, purchasing products and travelling amounted to 7.9 billion dollars collectively. The hotels and resorts operating within the tourism sector of the Orange County experiences the pressure of effectively maintain the beauty and benevolence of the tourists’ attractive destinations within the county. In this context, the hotels and resorts sector are extremely required to identify the needs and demands of the tourists so that they can be rightly spotted through framing infrastructure accordingly. Earning of revenue from the tourists’ spending is hugely dependent upon the ability of the tourists’ places to satisfy the tourists’ comfort requirements. Thus a single fault in identifying the requirements of the tourists would downgrade the attractiveness of the tourists’ destinations. On the other hand, effective identification of the comfort requirements hold the strong prospect of enhancing revenue earning from the tourists’ spending which in turn would enhance economic effectiveness of the country as a whole. It is because of this fact that that the hotels and resorts in Orange County takes it at a challenge to sustain its attractiveness to the tourists from all around the world (Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau, 2007). The tourism industry of Orange County strives towards creation of over 150,000 jobs which is a huge figure. The types of jobs in this industry range from the attendants, waiters and luring ticket-takers to various important administrative personnel and general managers of the hotels and resorts. Considering the number of appointed persons within this industry of the county, the hotels and resorts experience the pressure of maintaining their operationally effective position within the county. Operational failure would hamper generation of revenue and would adversely impact the maintenance of working capital. Failure to maintain operational efficiency can even lead to cutting down the huge number of employees in order to reduce cost. Thus this becomes a challenge for the hotels and resorts pertaining to the undesirable impact of huge unemployment upon the economy (Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau, 2007). The sustenance of any growing business like that of the tourism business is largely dependent upon the abilities of the market players towards making huge amount of investment upon promotional activities. In Orange County, there is prevalence of enormous number of hotels, resorts, inns and restaurants. This fact has an obvious indication that the buyers or the visitors have huge bargaining power within the industry. In such a scenario, the hotels and resorts face the challenge of offering attractive discounts and rebates upon the rates being assigned for their service. At the same time, they are also required to promote their innovative offerings to the tourists. For perfect communication of the offerings and attracting the visitors, adequate promotional activities are required through which the hotels and resorts can reach the visitors way before their rivals. Thus the challenging aspect of the hotels and resorts in this regards is to identify the most appropriate marketing tools that not only attracts effectively the visitors but also accomplish their respective tasks in cost effective manner (Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau, 2007). Another crucial challenge that the hotels and resorts within the Orange County faces is due to the adverse impact of the economic crisis upon the tourism business. During the recent global recession, every industry around the world has been affected inclusive of the tourism industry. Specifically, the number of tourists who used to travel for business purposes pre-recession has undergone a radical change after the recession took place. US tourism industry has also experienced the impact of recession during the past few years. Data of the year 2008 reveals that although the number of tourists has increased from those of the year 2000, the numbers could have been even better, had the economy not faced the crisis. The tourism industry in the US would have then added up to 245,000 jobs on a yearly basis. Coping up with the economic crisis and evolving as successful industry players have become a challenging issue for the hotels and resorts in the US. Under the circumstances of the recovering economy, every step is essential and the hotels and resorts are required to initiate their business moves with tremendous caution (Heyer, 2009). Factors Generating Success for Hotels and Resorts in the County Despite the challenging facts for the hotels and resorts in Orange County California, it is a noteworthy issue that the tourism industry in the county is performing successfully. Hence it is essential to evaluate and measure the factors that have led to the success of the hotels and resorts in Orange County California. The most noticeable fact that makes the hotels and resorts successful is the wide availability of a number of tourists’ attractions in and around the county. The primary attractions in Orange County California are the fun and leisure activities, historical sites, the landmarks and the zoos-petting zoos. The tourists who love fun and participate in various activities that sets off the entertaining feeling within their mind prefer to visit Orange County. Dana Wharf Sportfishing, Davey’s Locker, FLIGHTDECK air combat center and many more are the destinations that offer fun and leisure activities to the tourists. Historical sites are the other attractive destinations for the tourists. The tourists who preserve the urge to know the historical backgrounds of different places of the world prefer to visit this county. There are certain attractive historical places in Orange County that generates strong interests among the tourists to visit the county repeatedly. Casa Romantica, Mission San Juan Capistrano, Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace and The Pilgrim are there among several other such historical sites in the county. The landmarks and attractions are the other tourists’ attractions that add up to the success of the hotels and resorts within the county. The most popular landmarks of the county are Crystal Cathedral, Ocean Institute, Wild Rivers Waterpark and Discovery Science Center. Zoos in the county are the other contributor towards success of the players within the tourism industry in Orange County California. The zoos such as Orange County Zoo, Santa Ana Zoo and Zoomars Petting Zoo & Bird Park are among the most popular zoos for the tourists (Orange County, 2011). Along with the advantage from the beauty of the sites, the hotels and resorts are also extremely benefitted from the financial stability of Orange County’s government. The Chief Financial Officer of the County provides the assurance that the county is stable in its financial functioning and would also remain stable during the future courses of time. The officer has backed up this assurance through the fact that the functioning within the county’s tourism industry is carried out in a manner that generates cost efficiency. In such a stable scenario of the county’s government with regards to its financial position, the success factors of the county’s operations can be easily assured. It is in fact true that the hotels and resorts experience the backup support from the financially stable government and this support is a huge contributor towards their successful operations (County of Orange, 2011). Best Ways to Communicate with the Visitors The tourist attractions that are present within the Orange County would always attract visitors on a moderate basis. But the hotels and resorts that want to strategically sustain their position as attractive tourists’ destinations should strive towards thinking in a strategic manner. The hotels and resorts should continuously reassess and target new markets for attracting new visitors in order to enhance their sustainable position within the tourism industry in Orange County. In this perspective, the foremost activity that the hotels and resorts are required to perform for communicating effectively with the visitors is assessment. Assessing the visitors all around the world would lead towards the identification of potential visitors who are feeling eagerness to visit an attractive tourist destination. After the identification is conducted successfully, the hotels and resorts should persist to analyze the demographic profiles of the potential visitors to the county. This would assist the hotels and resorts to identify the attractive spots that they can strike upon for satisfying the visitors. In this context, assessment of the present amenities within the hotels and resorts would be essential. Identification of the areas that require modifications and the areas that need to be regenerated would be possible through this assessment. For communicating effectively with the visitors, it is essential to generate a community wide arrangement. Formation of innovative and effectual marketing strategies would help the hotels and resorts to prominently communicate with the visitors. This process would generate the feeling of belongingness towards the community among the visors and would also assist in making the visitors feel like home. The main aim of the hotels and resorts should be to develop concrete level of the form of tourism in the county among the visitors from various parts of the world. Making use of the blogs and publication of online videos on the official websites of the hotels and resorts would also be effective in the generation of cohesive communication with the visitors. This would be nothing but a form of communicating with the visitors through social media. Making use of the blogs’ posting from various potential visitors would assist the hotels and resorts in identifying the demands and interests of the visitors. Gaining insights upon the various requirements of the visitors, the hotels and resorts can frame their respective infrastructure for attracting more number of tourists to the county. Use of the online media has evolved as an essential aspect of marketing among various major industries of the world. This form of direct marketing assists the hotels and resorts to effectively reach and communicate with the potential visitors located in various parts of the world. Reinforcement of Brand ‘OC’ by Tourism Sector in Orange County From the discussion undertaken thus far concerning the scope and dimensions of the hotels and resorts in the Orange County California, it would be noteworthy to mention that the tourism sector of the county plays an absolute role in reinforcing the brand ‘OC’. To this note, it is worthy to mention that the Orange County Tourism Council depicts as enormously important role towards reinforcement of the brand OC. The council provides stewardship towards effectively promoting the brand along with information propagation and sponsoring the entire tourism industry. The responsibility of the council towards enhancement of reputation and image of the county helps the hotels and resorts to a greater extent in contributing towards the enhancement of brand OC. The contribution of the tourism industry in Orange County towards reinforcement of the brand would be evident from the accomplishments that the industry has achieved with comprehensive cooperation from the council (Orange County Tourism Leadership, 2011). Building of the brand OC has evolved as a dream of the council during the past few years. The council has endeavor towards development of the tagline ‘forever summer’. The aim of the council is to bring the various cities within the county together and thus reinforce a co-branding approach towards making its dream come true. However the council would only be able to achieve its aim through cooperation from various hotels and resorts. It is worth to state that the hotels and resorts within the Orange County, especially the luxurious destinations along the Oceanside are working cooperatively towards enhancing the brand. The participatory effort of the hotels and resorts towards making the brand OC more poplar around the world has really added value to the overall enhancement of the county (Hamanaka, 2011). The Community Convention & Visitors Bureaus (CVBs) have been proficiently co-agreed by the council to work for the development of the OC brand. Through the cooperative moves between the concerned authorities, during the past, the brand OC could be developed to a considerable extent by the tourism sector of the county. The council has conducted conference based on tourism issues every year in order to identify and reinforce the core areas of the county’s tourism. The council has also invested a massive amount upon the enhancement of attractive locations for the visitors along with regeneration of proficient lodging and fooding amenities. The development of the website (visittheoc.com) for OC destination was another such move towards the reinforcement of the brand by the council. Development of more than 10 beach resorts was the other initiative aimed at enhancing the tourism prospect of the county that in turn added up to the reinforcement of the brand in front of the entire world. Along with the beach resorts, a number of other attractive destinations were also promoted by the tourism sector of the county inclusive of various golf destinations, convention centers, facilities for shopping and many more. Considering all these facts about the contributing forms of the tourism sector of Orange County, it would be sensible to state that this sector has added value towards reinforcement of the brand ‘OC’ (Orange County Tourism Leadership, 2011). New Directions in Product and Market Development From the analysis of the tourism industry scenario in Orange County California at present, it has been derived that instead of striving for new dimensions within the tourism industry, it would be effective to reinvest and regenerate the present products. This is because the present attractive locations of the county have not been exclusively explored. The hotels and resorts are required to identify various aspects that are hidden within the natural beauty of the county in order to relocate their tourism business in an effective manner. In this regards, the county’s hotels and resorts would have to persuade growth through investment within the industry from various identified sources. The investment should be directed towards the enhancement of present infrastructures within the tourism industry in the county. For regenerating the available products within the industry, the hotels and resorts are also required to build up a strong workforce for handling tourism business activities. The hotels and resorts are required to ensure that the workforce employed is well-managed, well-trained and well-focused upon the responsibilities being assigned for the development of tourism within the county (British Columbia, 2007). In order to develop a broader market than that of the hotels and resorts in Orange County possess at present, the marketing personnel would have to plan on innovative marketing strategies. For example, as most of the customers prefer to plan their travel online, the hotels and the resorts should build on certain websites that possess professional look and promote certain traits that generates trust among the customers on the websites. Getting the website approved through the concerned authorities would add more value towards authentication of the website. The hotels and resorts can also apply the strategy of promoting their respective locations on the websites that deal with travelling. There are whole lots of information sites, blogs, online newspapers, journals and magazines that can be effectively targeted for promoting the tourists’ locations. Inclusion of posts from the visitors who have already visited the hotels and resorts would further enhance the value of the websites and advertisements on the information websites. Delivery of Visitors’ Experience as per their Expectations The hotels and resorts in Orange County California, over the years, have been able to offer amenities to the visitors as per their expectations. The evidence to this statement can be provided on the basis of the amount of tourists’ proliferation in the tourism industry of Orange County. During the past several years, the number of visitors to the county, both domestic as well as international have been increasing. The increasing amount of spending indicates that the hotels and resorts have been able to offer amenities to the tourists in the manner that has been expected by them. The spending of the tourists has been measured to be disposed upon food, staying, recreational facilities and also shopping along with travelling provisions. This indicates that not only the location beauties, the hotels and resorts have also added to the outlook of satisfying the visitors. The total amount of spending being generated by the visitors during the year 2008 amounted to 8.55 billion dollars, which was an increase from 8.46 billion dollars during the year 2007. The increasing level of spending from the visitors has resulted in enhanced level of growth within the county. Thus the average annual growth rate of the county during the period from the year 2004 to 2008 amounted to 4.1%. The figure below has depicted the position of Orange County among seven other counties of the United States (County of Orange, 2011). In addition to the increasing amount of spending from the tourists, the amount of tax revenue has also increased, the impact of which has been depicted in the next section. Source: (County of Orange, 2011) The increasing spending from the tourists visiting Orange County provides strong evidence of the fact that the visitors’ experience in the county has been delivered in the way it should be. The successful delivery of value to the tourists in the form of satisfying their expectations has placed Orange County in the 5th position among its peers within California with respect to enhanced spending from the visitors. Within the United States, the amount of receipts of the various counties in terms of tax has increased except that of Santa Clara. The figure below depicts the position of Orange County during the year 2008 among the seven counties within the US as per the counties’ tax receipts amount in relation to tourism (County of Orange, 2011). Source: (County of Orange, 2011). Conclusion From the multi dimensional discussion undertaken in the present research paper about the scope and utility of hotels and resorts in Orange County California, certain essential conclusion can be drawn up. The contribution of the hotels and resorts within the county is marvelous as far as the enhancement of the brand OC is concerned. The operations within the tourism industry in the county are comprehensively guided by the Orange County Tourism Council that fosters the concept of ‘Responsible Tourism’ within the county. The collaborative participation of the hotels and resorts along with the support from the council has tremendously added value towards the brand OC during the past few years. The joint effort of the council and the industry players has enhanced the image of the county in front of the world and holds strong prospect for improvement in the future as well. Hence from the findings of the present research paper, it can be concluded that the hotels and resorts are essential entities within the group of activities towards enhancing the brand OC that in turn benefits the county’s economy to a vast extent. References Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau. (2007). Tourism Means Business in Anaheim/Orange County. Retrieved October 14, 2011, from http://www.anahiemoc.org/Articles/Archive/Webpage101447.asp British Columbia. (2007). Tourism Action Plan. Retrieved October 15, 2011, from http://www.jti.gov.bc.ca/tourism/docs/tourism_action_plan.pdf County of Orange. (2011). Orange County Cities. Retrieved October 14, 2011, from http://www.ocsd.org/ocgov/Info%20OC/OC%20Links/Orange%20County%20Links/Orange%20County%20Cities County of Orange. (2011). Finance and Budget. Retrieved October 15, 2011, from http://egov.ocgov.com/ocgov/Info%20OC/Departments%20&%20Agencies/Finance%20&%20Budget County of Orange. (2011). Orange County 2011 Community Indicators. Retrieved October 15, 2011, from http://www.ocsd.org/vgnfiles/ocgov/CEO/Docs/2011%20Community%20Indicators.pdf Hamanaka, K. (2011). Behind the Brand OC. Retrieved October 14, 2011, from http://www.allbusiness.com/entertainment-arts/broadcasting-industry/16656477-1.html Heyer. (2009). US Tourism Industry: NOT Totally Out of the Dark Yet. Retrieved October 14, 2011, from http://www.eturbonews.com/9692/us-tourism-industry-not-totally-out-dark-yet Orange County. (2011). Orange County Hotels and Lodging. Retrieved October 14, 2011, from http://www.orangecounty.net/html/resorts.html Orange County. (2011). Attractions in OC. Retrieved October 15, 2011, from http://www.orangecounty.net/html/attractions.html Orange County. (2002). Information on Orange County California - Featuring Businesses, Attractions, Living and Visiting OC. Retrieved October 14, 2011, from http://www.orangecounty.net/ Orange County Tourism Leadership. (2011). Orange County Tourism Council (OCTC) Strategic Business Plan. Retrieved October 14, 2011, from http://visittheoc.com/OCTCStrategicBusinessPlan.pdf the Oceanfront. (2011). Luxury on the Pacific Ocean. Retrieved October 19, 2011, from http://www.theoceanfrontca.com/california-beachfront-hotels.php US Census Bureau. (2010). Orange County, California. Retrieved October 14, 2011, from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/06059.html Read More