Prettied-up hotel set to fly preferred flag.

THE Huntley Hotel is wrapping up a redesign that's meant to show how the Santa Monica property has left its Radisson days behind and is now entering the luxury sector.

The $12 million makeover will be finished as the hotel switches to a Preferred Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. franchise after it dropped its Radisson Hotels & Resorts affiliation.

"Our basic reason was just to take advantage of the potential that we have in the market," Shiva Aghaipour, the hotel's vice president, said of the switch. "We are looking at the affluent traveler."

The hotel, a block from the Third Street Promenade and the beach, is banking that the affluent traveler will pay a premium for new amenities such as 42-inch plasma televisions, which have been added to its 209 rooms. In the summer, the rooms will start at $299 per night, up about $100 from last year's summer-average daily room rate.

The hike comes as other hotels do the same in preparation for what's expected to be a strong travel season. In March, the average price to spend a night in a Santa Monica hotel room was $215.57, an increase of nearly 5 percent from the prior year, according to PKF Consulting.

"We are getting more in line with the Viceroy, Loews and the Fairmont," said Aghaipour. "That is my comp set."

So far, the Huntley hasn't had a problem filling rooms. Aghaipour, whose family owns and operates the hotel, said that the occupancy rate is hovering around 85 percent, compared with March's Santa Monica occupancy rate of around 81 percent.

West Hollywood-based designer Thomas Schoos directed the revamp, which features a lobby wall covered with piranhas and a front desk topped with sting ray skin.

"It is different, that is what I wanted to do," he said. "To do a nice beige, crystal-chandelier lobby is easy."

Staff reporter Rachel Brown can be reached by phone at [phone], ext. 224, or by e-mail at [e-mail].