Owner of O.C.'s Ritz and Montage says its luxury hotels are up for sale

Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc. – owner of seven California luxury hotels including two in Orange County – is up for sale.

Chicago-based Strategic – which owns the 393-room Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel and the 250-room Montage Laguna Beach – followed Wall Street tradition by announcing the move Monday with the otherwise oddly worded phrase: “exploring possible strategic alternatives for the company, including the potential sale of the company.”

CEO Rip Gellein said in a statement, “We are confident in our strategic plan and the value we have created for our shareholders. At the same time, we are always open to ways in which we can further maximize shareholder value.”

Of course, there was a nudge for the hotel owner’s corporate rethinking.

Technology legend Bill Gates’ investment firm – Cascade Investment Inc. – recently built a 9.8 percent stake in Strategic’s shares, then said it was interested in talking to the hotel owner about possible business combinations. Strategic's hotel portfolio includes 18 high-end hotels nationwide including San Diego’s iconic Hotel del Coronado and the Essex House overlooking Manhattan’s Central Park.

Strategic has been a longtime player in Orange County’s luxury hotel scene.

Its ownership of the Ritz dates to 1997, when a predecessor company bought it Ritz for $225 million.

In 2006, at the height of the previous hotel-buying boom, the current Strategic business – a publicly traded real estate investment trust – bought the the Ritz for $330 million. That was roughly $840,000 per room, at the time the second-highest hotel sale valuation in California.

In January, Strategic Hotels acquired the Montage for $360 million, or $1.4 million per room – a price that shattered state hotel pricing records.