THE ISSUE
Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa was behind schedule and substantially over budget. A team of current Corinthian Executives was brought in to realign the hotel’s development schedule to coincide with the opening of Disney’s California Adventure in Southern California. Added as a part of a major expansion of the Disneyland Resort in 2001, it is the resort’s flagship hotel and anchor of the Disneyland Resort complex. Disney’s Grand Californian is the first and only hotel in Anaheim to have been built and operated by The Walt Disney Company.
THE PROCESS
- Refocus a distressed Development Project to manage schedule and cost drivers
- Identify and evaluate deficiencies in the schedule, budget, support team
- Analyze and establish a revised budget and schedule, including FF&E purchasing and installation
- Maintain the design integrity throughout the completion of construction without compromising the original quality and intent of the Resort
THE PROGRAM
- Implement a compressed schedule of construction while controlling costs and design criteria through principal based leadership and certifying quality
- Open the property concurrently with the Disney California Adventure Theme Park
- Integrate unique branding requirements of the owner to generate room stays and revenue
- Create stronger revenue growth for the resort through increasing the length of stay for guests visiting resort
- Grow the resorts room mix by 300 keys
THE RESULTS
- Hotel opened on schedule concurrently with Disney California Adventure
- Brought budget under control through diligent and judicious development leadership
- Maintained specific design characteristics without jeopardizing construction timetable
- Substantiated prosperous operating performance metrics to exceed proforma; resulting in occupancy of 85%, ADR of $165, and RevPAR of $140
- Increased the average length of stay at the resort by 0.5 to 1 day by generating an additional 288,000 to 300,000 hotel guest annually
- Resulted in an additional $5.5M in theme park revenue, $1.4M in merchandising revenue, and $1.5M in food and beverage revenue to the owner
Projects are representative of work performed by Corinthian and ADMI employees under Corinthian Development Company or ADMI as well as with prior employers.
