BY EMILY SANTIAGO-MOLINA | SEPTEMBER 16, 2024

The ownership of the Ramada by Wyndham Costa Mesa/Newport Beach hotel sold the 137-room property to hospitality firm Excel Hotel Group for $20.5million.

The three-story resort was built in 1983 and went for $149,444 per room in August, according to CoStar. The seller, B D Inns Inc., recruited Alan Reay’s Atlas Hospitality Group to help search for a new owner.

“It’s not very often that this kind of property becomes available,” Vice President Justin Myers from Atlas told the Business Journal.

Myers represented the seller. Oliver Shah, a broker also from Atlas, represented Excel. Myers said the property became available because the previous owners, who had owned the hotel for 30 years, were ready to make a deal.

Atlas set out to select a hospitality group who could perform well.

Excel, a property ownership, management and development company based in San Diego, took over both ownership and management of the hotel. The firm’s current portfolio includes 26 hotels with a 128-room Residence Inn in Paso Robles under development. The Ramada marks Excel’s second property in Orange County, the first being SpringHill Suites Huntington Beach Orange County.

The firm bought SpringHill in 2015 for $3.1 million. Excel’s most previous acquisition was the Carlsbad by the Sea hotel.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, parent company of the Ramada brand, is requiring a hotel upgrade under the new ownership. The property features a heated outdoor pool, a jetted hot tub and a fitness center.

Myers said Excel was “looking forward” to completing a renovation and sees an opportunity to “change operations.”

“This property fits into their wheelhouse, as not many properties became available this close to the Pacific Ocean and in Newport Beach,” Myers said.

The broker added that the hotel has historically performed very well. This, as well as the large suites, building size of 68,500 square feet and number of rooms were all attractive to the buyer, Myers said.

High Leisure Demand

Daily rates are currently starting at $168 per night.

With its proximity to Newport Beach — just 2.5 miles from the city’s coastline — the Ramada in Costa Mesa operates in a leisure-driven market, which is exactly “where [buyers] want to be,” Myers said.

“With the corporate travel market being reshaped since COVID, markets that have a leisure demand attachment are highly desirable.”

Myers noted that more attractive pricing was emerging in the leisure segment of the hotel industry as the surge in post-COVID-19 “revenge travel” has leveled off.

“In general, leisure properties are in high demand for transactions,” he said.