Normally I wouldn’t stay at The Resort at Pelican Hill in Newport Beach, California. Why? Well basically because it’s pretty damn pricey. The rooms are huge, the restaurants are amazing, there’s a giant infinity pool and an award winning spa. So what’s KIA doing here? That’s a pretty good question, and the answer is the new K900.
KIA has been a brand that most would associate with words like “economical”, “responsible”, and “safe”. Words that one wouldn’t really associate with this resort or even care to think about when purchasing an 7 series BMW, or an S Class Mercedes. Normally in these types of purchases, you’re concerned with equipment, luxury and speed.
So in order to convince myself and about 40 other journalists that KIA’s new K900 was going to be able to stand up to the entrenched and historic luxury brands, they invited us to The Resort at Pelican Hill to see what all the fuss was about.
Day 1:
Our experience began with the idea of comfort. Most of these super high end cars have a sort of look, but don’t touch err about them. If you spent that kind of money on a car, you wouldn’t exactly want to lend it to your buddies for the day. They just wouldn’t treat her right. And you definitely wouldn’t allow your family to eat or drink in it, that would be ridiculous. But that doesn’t feel very inviting or comfortable.
Director of Public Relations, Scott McKee, began to put our minds at ease by inviting us into his home. Of course it wasn’t his home but rather a bunch of super sweet Bungalows, and Scott wasn’t cooking, but there was an awesome chef in each of these Bungalows preparing a unique dish from different regions of the world. The idea being, KIA wants you to feel comfortable and at home, just as if you were invited to a dinner party with friends. You wouldn’t really enjoy being at someone’s house where after taking off your shoes, you had to eat only at the dinner table, and if you needed to drink something, you were required to be seated. Needless to say, the food was amazing, and the drinks were delightful. In keeping with their tradition, KIA had also setup a Hospitality suite where we could all hang out afterwards, and continue to eat and drink, which we all certainly did. And just in case it wasn’t clear, they had a K900 with glowing green light under it just outside the front door.
