Quick Take
“We don’t just want to be another luxury hotel on the California coast; we want to be Santa Cruz’s luxury hotel,” says an exec at one of the companies spearheading the La Bahia Hotel & Spa along Beach Street on the Santa Cruz waterfront. La Bahia will include 155 guest rooms, as well as four restaurants and bars.
What’s being touted as Santa Cruz’s first beachside luxury hotel and spa is getting closer to opening its doors with the hiring of its new general manager. La Bahia Hotel & Spa on Beach Street is expected to make its debut in spring 2025, with Markus Krebs at the helm.
Krebs brings 35 years of hospitality experience to his new job, including his recent role as general manager of Outrigger Reef Waikiki Beach Resort in Hawaii, where he oversaw that facility’s $80 million renovation and reopening in 2021. He has moved to Santa Cruz and is already at work, getting ready to launch a “pre-opening” office and guide the project through its final stages.
The former La Bahia Apartments on Beach Street slid into increasing disrepair as bureaucratic and development delays held up attempts to either restore or revitalize the landmark. Finally, in September 2022, workers broke ground on the planned luxury hotel and spa. It’s a joint venture between Ensemble Hospitality and the Santa Cruz Seaside Company, owners of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Ensemble, headquartered in Long Beach, also owns the Dream Inn in Santa Cruz.
Once open, La Bahia will likely employ as many as 100 to 200 people. Ensemble plans to start booking guest reservations for next year as early as September, and reservations for groups have already started, said Kristi Allen, Ensemble’s executive vice president of hotels.
“We feel we know Santa Cruz really well and the Dream Inn has been well-established, it’s the iconic surf hotel,” said Allen. “What we hear from customers a lot is that they are looking for something more upscale. This will be a level up in luxury.”
La Bahia will include 155 guest rooms, as well as four restaurants and bars, including a poolside bar and grill, a higher-end Pacific Islands-inspired restaurant called High Tide, a champagne bar called Pearl and a more casual eatery called the Low Tide Bar & Grill. The spa component of the resort will include an ocean-view sauna, steam room and both indoor and outdoor treatment rooms, with design inspired by the old saltwater baths in Santa Cruz from the late 1800s and beyond. The pool will feature a large deck with a view of Monterey Bay and the hotel will also feature a rooftop deck on the fifth floor for events and large parties. Room rates are still being finalized and will be posted later this year when the hotel begins taking reservations.
Allen anticipates weddings will be big for the hotel, as well as large family reunions and gatherings, a market that Santa Cruz really draws in. Of the 14 hotels in Ensemble’s portfolio, the Dream Inn hosts the most family reunions, she said. Attracting business gatherings will be another target market, especially during the months outside the busy summer season.
“We don’t just want to be another luxury hotel on the California coast; we want to be Santa Cruz’s luxury hotel,” said Allen. “Our goal with La Bahia is to really showcase everything else about Santa Cruz and the different things we have here,” beyond just the beach and the Boardwalk, from mountains to wineries and breweries.
Part of Krebs’ work will include building partnerships with local vendors and community organizations, to offer amenities like locally made candles, food items and more.
Ensemble is also “leaning in” to the area’s history, including a Spanish-inspired aesthetic and other designs that pay homage to the location’s former facilities. That includes incorporating La Bahia’s historic bell tower, which has been restored. The original La Bahia was built in 1926, next to the grand Casa Del Rey Hotel next door. Then known as the Casa Del Rey Apartments, it offered more luxurious and/or longer-term stays than the hotel. It was renamed La Bahia in 1964 and eventually became an apartment complex that once housed Boardwalk employees. It even got its Hollywood closeup in the 1983 film “Sudden Impact,” part of Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry franchise. The property was demolished in 2020.
The planned opening of the new La Bahia comes on the heels of a number of hotel renovations and builds throughout the county over the past couple of years, as well as a growing number of proposed projects, including the planned Cruz Hotel on Front Street in Santa Cruz and another in Pleasure Point, among others.
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FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this story described the poolside bar and grill at La Bahia Hotel & Spa as “Mexican-themed”; though that description was on the hotel website at the time of publication, Ensemble Hospitality says it is no longer correct.
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