San Diego’s Hotel del Coronado has begun a major expansion that will add guest rooms and a conference center, redesign the arrival landscaping, expand an outdoor event venue, and more. The 130-year-old beachfront resort plans to spend $200 million on the multi-year plan.
The biggest news for meeting professionals is the new conference center, with its 15,000-square-foot, clear-span ballroom and 10,000 square feet of prefunction and breakout meeting space. The center will open up to a 14,000-square-foot Great Lawn and have its own kitchen and loading dock. However, planners will have to be patient: The convention center is the final phase of the overall project, and groups won’t be using it until 2022. Before then, the major milestones of the Del’s upgrade include:
• Expansion and redesign of the Vista Walk outdoor event venue by summer 2019, bringing it all on one level and allowing it to host up to 900 guests
• Debut of a Mediterranean-inspired restaurant, Serẽa (summer 2019)
• Renovation of 97 California Cabana guest rooms (summer 2020)
• Addition of underground parking facilities
• Redesign of the main entrance
• Addition of 142 new guest rooms, bringing the property total to 898.
The property enhancements are expected to be complete by the end of 2021.
A rendering of the upgrades underway to Hotel Del Coronado's front porch
