Resorts

More than 20 years after tourist destination Marineland of the Pacific shipped off its whales and closed its gates, a noticeably more refined attraction is about to open atop the same ocean bluffs in Rancho Palos Verdes. The first official overnight guests at Terranea Resort, a 582-room luxury hotel and spa meant to compete with California's most upscale coastal inns, will check in today.

At the tranquil Four Seasons Resort Aviara north of San Diego, a heated struggle for control of the deluxe hotel's future is playing out in a rare public spat. The increasingly nasty tussle at the Carlsbad resort is indicative of tensions throughout the higher end of the hotel industry, as travelers cut way back on spending. At issue is the very definition of luxury.

Blackstone Group, the buyout firm that owns Hilton Hotels Corp., sold a golf resort near Carmel to an investment firm led by John Pritzker for $20 million. Pritzker, the founding partner of San Francisco-based Geolo Capital and son of the late billionaire Hyatt Hotels founder Jay Pritzker, said his company would spend about $25 million to upgrade Carmel Valley Ranch during the next 18 to 24 months. The resort is spread over 400 acres, and Pritzker's plans include room renovations and a spa.

The Currans of Granada Hills have been taking family vacations on the Las Vegas Strip for years. They weren't about to pass it up just because Jeff Curran's business selling upscale cookware is down sharply. But this summer it would be a smart Vegas vacation. A year ago they plunked down $100 each for tickets to the Blue Man Group show at the Venetian. This year, the family of four -- Jeff, 59, his wife, Michele, 55, and their adult son and daughter -- took in the Mac King Comedy Magic Show at Harrah's with tickets discounted to $10 apiece.

In the scorching deserts of the Arabian Peninsula, water is always precious, carefully rationed, never wasted. Possessing it separates life from death. What a difference a few miles -- and bucket loads of money -- can make. At Atlantis, the Palm, Dubai's latest and possibly greatest luxury hotel to date, water is an ornament and a plaything. It flows in ridiculous, seemingly endless quantities, simply for the pleasure of it.

Two people who died after sitting for hours in an Arizona spiritual resort's sauna-like sweat lodge were identified Saturday as a 40-year-old Wisconsin man and a 38-year-old New York woman. James Shore of Milwaukee and Kirby Brown of Westtown, N.Y., died Thursday night after being overcome in a sweat lodge during a spiritual cleansing ceremony. Nineteen others were taken to area hospitals, suffering from burns, dehydration, respiratory arrest, kidney failure or elevated body temperature.

The site of a proposed low-cost housing project near Disneyland that ignited a firestorm of protest has been sold to a Texas hotel developer. Renaissance Development, a Fort Worth company with more than $1 billion in past projects, said Thursday that it planned to build three upscale hotels and restaurants, shops and pubs on the 26-acre parcel. The sale could signal an end to a battle that has divided Anaheim over the last 18 months. Irvine-based SunCal Cos.

Contract negotiations are seldom easy, but this could be a new low. Talks between Disney and one of the resort's biggest unions are stalled for an unlikely reason: The parties have spent two months trying to agree on a meeting place. Union leaders believe that rancor over a dispute about housing for workers in the Anaheim Resort District has spilled into talks between Walt Disney Co. and employees at three Disney hotels.

A Disney-backed ballot initiative that would essentially strip the Anaheim City Council of its authority to make land use decisions in the city's resort district apparently will still go before Anaheim voters in June. Mayor Curt Pringle asked the council to bypass the ballot and instead adopt the initiative outright, saving taxpayers about $250,000 in election costs. But a majority of the five-member council has indicated a desire to see the anti-housing measure remain on the June 3 ballot.

For many of California's upscale hotels and restaurants, green is the new black. Prompted by trendy, taste-making guests, California's chicest resorts, spas and eateries are integrating local ingredients into their decor, amenities and menus. And high quality may be why local products are now associated with status at many upscale retreats. Celebrity chefs such as Neal Fraser of Grace strive to "reduce our carbon footprint."