Today her age shows. Once considered a masterpiece of late 20th century architecture, now looks nothing more than failed 1980's modernism. The massive porte cochere is now void of cars and people. Fish ponds, though filled with water, lacks its abundance of sea life. The once grand lobby is eerily quiet, no guests milling about, empty work stations, out of date water features and a once trendy glass elevator now looks strange. What happened to the grand dame?
There are many contributing factors to the hotels demise. The first blow to Mauna Lani came in the form of the Four Seasons Resort at Hualalai, which opened in the late 1990s. To date no hotel has brought to the island the level of luxury and sophistication provided by Four Seasons. Next came September 11th, which as we know resulted in the near collapse of the American tourism industry. The worst damage to Mauna Lani's ability to succeed, was the loss of Pan Pacific as the management firm. What the hotel lacked in beach and views, Pan Pacific brought in terms of service. Finally the hotel's out of date design did not age well by any means. With all of this pilling up on management it was a teetering on the brink of failure and need just one last push. This push came in the form of the 2008-2009 economic downturn.
During my last evening in Hawaii, I dined at the hotel's only remaining venue, The Canoe House. Having finished dinner at around 8:30, I decided to walk around the hotel and count how many rooms had lights on. Lets just say I counted twice since the first count seemed way to low. In a 350 room resort, a whopping 16 rooms had lights on. Now I doubt the hotel is truly running at 4.5% occupancy (both Four Seasons and Mauna Kea were running around 80% at the time) but this gives some indication of Mauna Lani's decline.
Rumor has it that the Mauna Lani's closure in September is for a renovation but the hotel is slated to reopen in November. I foresee two problems with this. A- How do you "remodel" a 350 room hotel and its venues in 60 days? B- If you are running at an absurdly low occupancy rate for an extended period of time, where in the world are you going to get money for a renovation?
The future of Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalows is uncertain. My bet is on the hotel closing in September indefinitely, eventually a new owner will come in and refurbish the it. Only time will tell.
-- Jaguar
Aloha! Interesting post... and I will glady take your bet!!!!
ReplyDeleteNo offense, but I'm always highly amused when visitors such as yourself take a small slice of time here on the Big Island and make sweeping generalizations about what's happened for the past 25 years and what the "obvious" conclusion is about the future, based on the 7 days' time they are "living" here. Especially when they don't work - and have perhaps never worked - in the hospitality industry itself.
The rumor about the hotel shutting for good in September is simply UNTRUE. How do I know? One of my best friends is the Director of Catering and she was really looking forward to a couple of months off because she's been doing this job way too many YEARS without any substantial vacation time away from the hotel. However, she has to work through the renovation months - and I mean, she has to work her regular full-time job. So I ask you, why would a hotel that is planning to shut it's doors for good keep on one of it's highest-paid employees, whose job, btw, is to book HUGE GROUPS of people, corporate incentive travel, etc. because they want her to KEEP BOOKING those groups for future travel? Why would they book groups like Nike and Red Bull and other such Fortune 500 companies rereats out through 2010 and into 20111 if they were planning to shut down for good?
Speaking of group travel, it probably didn't occur to you (which is understandable because most tourists don't think of Hawaii in any terms other than vacation) that the Mauna Lani actually books so many groups to stay at the hotel that it could easily have been the night you walked around and saw 16 rooms, that those were the only 16 out of 200+ rooms that were rented to people not part of the latest group. These groups often have events at night, and the events are not always at the hotel. Thus, it's simply an erroneous assumption to spend 30 minutes walking around a hotel some random night and think what you're observing is the "truth."
The Mauna Lani has been renovating it's guest rooms now for about 2-3 years, a constant project that they began before the earthquake in '06, and have continued through to this day. So it's not as if they are actually renovating every square foot of the hotel for the next two months, which I agree would be absurd given the pace of work in Hawaii.
I'm a real estate Broker, and live in Puako, nestled between the Mauna Lani resort and the Mauna Kea resort. I consider this hotel to be part of my backyard, and my every day life. I have no doubt that the hotel will open up again in the late fall... but if you still want to bet on something different, let me know!!
Warm aloha,
Katie
Good Morning Katie,
ReplyDeleteSorry for a delay to post my response. Thank you for comment and views regarding the future of Mauna Lani. For your information before criticizing "tourists", I have spent 23 years visiting the Big Island, usually three times a year. Having witnessed the changes to the local community and industry since the late 1980s, as well as family members who have lived on and visited the islands since 1960, my opinions are based on more than just a small slice of time. Being a successful member and entrepreneur of the hospitality industry, it is fair to say that one would pick up and notice things that the average person, such as yourself, would not. For your friend's sake and for the sake of the hundreds of employees at Mauna Lani, I hope you are right and that the hotel will resume normal operations.
Once again, thank you for your views and insights.
-Jaguar