The recovery’s in full swing in OC’s hotel sector, R.D. Olson’s Bob Olson explains, with hotels underway to meet growing demand regionally. Last week, the company opened its latest hotel development, the 210-room Courtyard by Marriott in Irvine, which addresses demand not only in SoCal, but more specifically at the 5,000-acre Irvine Spectrum, which has 24M SF of office and industrial space. Center-right is Irvine Mayor Steven Choi, and to his right is Olson VP of asset management Jonathon Vopinek. (When they're done, those scissors will be made into two pieces and used as swords at Medieval Times.)

The hotel includes new features for the brand, such as a lobby featuring an interactive GoBoard displaying news, weather, traffic, and restaurants and semi-enclosed media pods with flat-panel TVs. Irvine-based Olson has completed seven hotels (mostly in SoCal) in the last three years and is at work on the Pasea Hotel and Spa in Huntington Beach, as well as Residence Inns in Pasadena, Santa Barbara, and Wailea, Maui. It’s also planing to develop Lido House Hotel in Newport Beach.