The hotel occupies a site at 202 W. Cabrillo Blvd. Among otherchanges, the renovation will create 22 new junior suites, accordingto Andrews, who calls the hotel "one of the Santa Barbara's coast'sprime destinations." The renovation will include the addition ofhigh-definition plasma TVs, and all new furnishings and accessoriesin all of the rooms. The renovation project is scheduled to becompleted in June.

The Oceana is one of the relatively few hotels along the oceanin Santa Barbara County, where development of new beachfrontproperties is limited by both local restrictions and CaliforniaCoastal Commission regulations that developers typically describeas arduous if not impossible. Hotel development throughout thecounty is limited, according to a recent report by Irvine-basedAtlas Hospitality Group, which showed that only one new propertyopened in 2007—a 98-room Hampton Inn in Goleta. The Atlas reportshowed only two hotels totaling 217 rooms in the planning stages inall of Santa Barbara County at the end of the year, compared withmore than 9,000 rooms under way in L.A. County and more than 15,000in San Diego Coutny.

The Oceana in Santa Barbara is part of a portfolio owned by JRKHotel Group, which is a division of JRK Asset Management. Thecompany's properties include the Oceana Santa Monica, the RogerWilliams in New York City and the largest Holiday Inn Express inthe nation, located in Nashville.