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Business & Tech

Hotels Anticipating Full House for Festival

West Hollywood is leading the recovery of the hotel industry in L.A. County, and an upcoming weekend with a Strip festival back-to-back with the Emmys promises an additional boost.

West Hollywood hoteliers are gleefully bracing for the annual Sunset Strip Music Festival, anticipating big crowds drawn by the double-whammy of the street party and the Emmy Awards the last weekend of August.

Planners expect crowds for the three-day festival, which begins Aug. 26, to equal or top the 10,000 people who attended last year's inaugural event. The Emmys on Aug. 29 are expected to extend the weekend revelry. 

"We do expect most of the hotels to sell out," said Andy Keown of the West Hollywood Marketing and Visitors bureau.

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That's especially good news as the hotel industry tries to dig itself out of an abysmal 2009 during which the average U.S. hotel saw a 35.4 percent drop in profits, the steepest decline since at least the 1930s, according to PKF Hospitality Research.

Earlier this month hundreds of hotel workers blocked traffic near Andaz West Hollywood, a Hyatt-owned establishment on Sunset Boulevard, protesting cuts in staff and hours and a high rate of employee injuries. Sheriff's deputies made 63 arrests.   

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But the worst may be over. In Southern California, West Hollywood is leading the recovery, with a hotel occupancy rate in April—the most recent numbers available—of 77.9 percent. The rate for all of L.A. County was 69.7 percent, an increase of about 3.5 percent from the previous year.

To further entice revelers, several hotels on the Strip have put together "room and ticket" packages and are working with the festival, the Sunset Strip Business Association and the West Hollywood Marketing & Visitors Bureau on marketing efforts. 

The Andaz will likely see a benefit from such efforts and "expects to sell out this year," said sales department employee Jamie Klein. The Andaz is the "official hotel partner" of the festival, and  is offering two rock 'n' roll themed packages, known as "Whole Lotta Love," starting at $269 per night.

The hotel's "Golden God" package starts at $669 per night and includes a pair of VIP Street Fest tickets and access to the hotel's VIP lounge, among other perks.

Most hotel packages include a combination of tickets, VIP passes, CDs from festival performers Slash and the Smashing Pumpkins, a bottle of spirits and discount vouchers for hotel meals. For a complete list of packages, visit the Sunset Strip Music Festival website.

Zena Chilcoat, sales and marketing coordinator for the Sunset Marquis and Hotel Villas, called the hotel's $250 room rate "a good deal" and said it practically guarantees a full house. Already, she said, "our availability is pretty limited."

"[The festival] is attracting a lot of people, there are bigger headliners and there's more buzz about it," said Gregory Bell, director of sales for the Chamberlain Hotel. His hotel nearly sold out last year and is expecting to this year, he said.

At Le Parc Suites, three blocks from the Strip, the picture wasn't quite as rosy. Barry Padob, who works in the sales department, said he had sold only two of the hotel's festival packages. But he anticipates that Le Parc will benefit from the overflow once the Strip hotels fill up.

"I expect a lot of last minute bookings," he said.

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