VEA Newport Beach, a Marriott Resort & Spa

VEA Newport Beach, a Marriott Resort & Spa, reopened in the spring of 2022 in the former Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa, bought in November 2020 by Eagle Four Partners and Lyon Living and rebuilt over the following year. The 532-room property on ten acres in Newport Center gained three new dining venues, a 14,000-square-foot spa and a reworked pool, and took a new name while remaining within Marriott.

The place

900 Newport Center Drive, on ten acres in Newport Center, across from the open-air Fashion Island shopping centre and about two miles inland from the Balboa Peninsula beaches.

The concept

Eagle Four Partners and Lyon Living bought the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa in November 2020 and spent 2021 rebuilding it, reopening in the spring of 2022 under an entirely new public name: VEA, from the Spanish for see, a reference to the ocean and city views. The work covered the guest rooms, two new suite categories, three new food and drink concepts, a rebuilt spa and fitness floor, new indoor and outdoor event space and a reworked pool, with HBA and Gensler leading the design alongside Burton Studio and Houston Tyner Architects. It is worth being precise about what changed and what did not: the hotel stayed within Marriott, moving from the Marriott Hotels line to Marriott Resorts, so this is a change of owner, name and positioning rather than a change of operator group.

Dining & wellness

The relaunch introduced three venues: a large restaurant and lounge, a European-style coffee bar and patisserie, and a poolside terrace bar. SpaVea covers 14,000 square feet with fourteen treatment rooms and its own saltwater pool, alongside a fitness centre.