MARC CHOQUETTE
ONLINE CONTENT MANAGER
After being closed for more than a year for large-scale renovations, David Geffen’s latest Malibu project has re-opened its doors to the public.
The 47-room Malibu Beach Inn quietly re-opened last month with a new, more luxurious and more expensive flair than ever before.
But the quiet re-opening did not last long, as fire ravaged Malibu less than a week later. With road closures preventing anyone from getting to the Inn, Geffen turned all of the rooms over to firefighters and those evacuated from their homes — free of charge.
“It was quite interesting housing 90 firefighters in the hotel,” said Managing Director Alan Goldschneider. “But the comments we received were amazing.”
He said that since the fire, he has done over 65 interviews over the phone and 20 on television.
For many of the firefighters, the five-star accommodations were like nothing they had ever experienced. Most told Goldschneider that they usually have to sleep in tents or on beds made of fire hoses.
But the fire certainly threw a wrench into the grand re-opening. Goldschneider said there were quite a few cancellations following the fire. Since the re-opening, the staff has been communicating to customers through e-mail that everything is back to normal and that the Inn is ready to accommodate them.
The Inn, which opened its doors in 1989, had seen little in the way of upgrades in its nearly 20 years of serving Malibu’s visitors and tourists.
David Geffen, media mogul and Malibu resident with a reported net worth of $4.7 billion, purchased the property for $29 million in 2005 (at about $617,000 per room) with big plans for the Inn.
While renovation costs have been kept under wraps, Geffen certainly saw the hotel as an investment judging by the magnitude of the upgrade and the fact that the hotel closed for more than a year to allow a complete renovation.
The newly completed Inn is barely recognizable compared to the old hotel. Goldschneider said the renovations were done to closely reflect the Malibu lifestyle and image.
A new, larger porte cochere (literally, “coach door”) serves as a new overhang to guests pulling up to the front door, fronted by a large plate glass waterfall.
A kitchen and dining area, which did not previously exist at the Inn, adds one of many new elements. However, limited space accommodations limit reservations only to those staying in the hotel.
“Business licensing restrictions forced us to limit our service to guests,” said Goldschneider. “They didn’t want us to be another Moonshadows,” referring to the dangerous traffic and limited space for cars that plagues the famed establishment.
New meeting and banquet facilities are also included in the renovated hotel, amenities which did not previously exist.
All rooms now contain 32-inch HD plasma screens and digital entertainment centers with docks for mp3 players. Most of the 47 rooms have fireplaces, and all contain furniture made from Wenge wood, a dense exotic African timber with a dark, streaky finish.
But such luxury comes with a price. A room in November for one night with a mere partial view of the ocean (the lowest price) runs at $325, while the Ocean Front Queen Suite costs $1,075 per night.
In the past, the Inn has offered Pepperdine guests, students and parents a 15 percent discount on hotel rooms. Even with the drastic changes and the hotel’s ascendance into “luxury” status (i.e. substantially higher room rates), management has chosen to keep the same discount.
But Goldschneider says the Inn, which has always been known to him as the “Pepperdine parent hotel,” is committed to accommodating Pepperdine families.
However, he also notes that space is usually limited during important events at the University, such as graduation.
“We get to know a lot of parents and students over the four year period,” said Goldschneider, who said he looks forward to meeting more Pepperdine people as the Inn is open once again.
11-08-2007
