Exciting changes are on the horizon for Hawaii's luxury accommodations market, as a combination of brand-new and dramatically overhauled resort properties across the destination are slated to welcome their first guests in the first half of 2016.
The most talked about of these new hotels might well be the Four Seasons Resort Oahu at Ko Olina, located on the island's west coast, where developers are spending $500 million on a renovation and rebranding effort.
"The resort is scheduled to open this spring, and we are taking reservations as of June 1," said General Manager Sanjiv Hulugalle. "And we've seen an overwhelming response by guests eager to stay with us."
The first phase of the project has been a major renovation to what was formerly the 387-room JW Marriott Ihilani, knocking down walls and reconfiguring floor plans for a new total of 357 guestrooms featuring an inventory of 52 suites.
Other major additions include a collection of six new restaurant and lounge concepts, an improved spa and wellness center, enhanced meetings and events spaces and a tennis academy run by former pro Jim Courier. Guests of the Four Seasons Oahu will also have "privileged access to the Ko Olina golf club," according to Hulugalle.
The second phase of construction, work on the resort's 150-unit luxury residence tower, is likely to begin later this year after the hotel welcomes its first guests, Hulugalle said, adding that the project will likely be an 18-month build.
In the meantime, Four Seasons Oahu officials have been assembling an impressive gathering of arrival options for guests landing at the Honolulu Airport, including a helicopter transfer out to the property or the chance to arrive instead via a 75-foot yacht guests will board not far from the airport. Hulugalle noted that Four Seasons guests traveling onboard their own private jets can choose to land at west Oahu's smaller Kalaeloa Airport, which is a very short drive from Ko Olina, and hop into one of the Four Seasons' BMW convertibles.
Resort officials have also been busy developing activity options for future guests, including guided cultural hikes through scenic sections of west Oahu unavailable to the general public.
"These are hikes going through private land," Hulugalle said. "And they just mesmerize you with the beauty of Hawaii. When you do these treks with people who are native to the area, who know the stories and the history of the land and the people, it makes it such a fascinating experience, and it really makes you want to come back for more."
At the Ritz-Carlton Waikiki, each unit will offer unobstructed ocean views.
Later this spring, Oahu will be welcoming a new luxury condo-hotel property when the first tower of the Ritz-Carlton Residences, Waikiki Beach greets its first guests.
"We are still on track for a late April, early May opening," said General Manager Douglas Chang. "It's probably down to a three-week window right now between April 15 and May 9 somewhere."
Property officials hope to begin taking reservations for the 307-unit tower during the first week of February, accepting bookings for stays at the property likely beginning June 1 just to be safe.
A second tower, home to about 250 residential units, is under construction at the site and is tentatively slated for opening in the second quarter of 2018, according to Chang.
Located several blocks northwest from the Pacific, the new Ritz-Carlton Waikiki won't be an oceanfront property, but developers designed the resort with unobstructed ocean views in each residence. The range of available units in the hotel portfolio will include studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts, featuring full kitchens and en suite laundry facilities.
"It provides a very different luxury experience from some of the hotels in Waikiki," Chang said. "Multiple-generation families can come and gather, take advantage of the full kitchen, dining and living areas and really relax and enjoy each other in a very comfortable environment."
The new condo-hotel will be the first Ritz-Carlton property on Oahu and just the second in Hawaii, joining the Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua on Maui. Guests will have access to a large resort terrace with two oceanview pools along with a bar and grill. On-property dining options will include Dean & Deluca, BLT Market and Sushi Sho, run by master chef Ari Kawata.
"It's going to be a phenomenal addition to the local restaurant scene," Chang said of Sushi So. "Kawata is widely acclaimed as one of the top sushi chefs in the world."
The property will also feature a full-service Ritz-Carlton spa, fitness center, a Ritz Kids lounge and an entertainment center.
The Four Seasons Resort Lanai is set to reopen in February.
Affluent travelers looking instead for a high-end Neighbor Island experience will certainly want to consider a stay at the dramatically renovated Four Seasons Resort Lanai.
Work on improvements to the oceanfront property's 217 guestrooms began in 2014, but the resort has been closed since June of last year as a major remodel was completed in the pool area.
"The first guests are booked and confirmed and arriving already on Feb. 1," General Manager Tom Roelens said. "Then we're off to the races. It's a full-on opening of the resort, all of the restaurants, the entire new pool oasis; all services will be ready and open."
Along with major improvements to the property's food and beverage outlets, upgrades in the lobby and arrivals areas, refurbishments to the meetings and events spaces and a dramatic transformation in the guestrooms, the resort features two new pools, where Roelens explained there's plenty of room for people to truly spread out.
"We have the retreat, which is really more of an adult area, where you can totally switch off and have your own space," Roelens said of the new pool features. "The families will be hanging around by the lagoon area, which is much larger and has more space."
New landscaping and layout around the pools offer people a great deal more privacy and a better view of the Pacific, according to Roelens.
"At no point are you sitting shoulder to shoulder with another guest," he said. "No matter where you sit, you have your private little area, and everyone has ocean views. There's not a single seat that doesn't have one."
Fans of the Four Seasons Resort Lanai, the Lodge at Koele, which has also been closed to guests since last summer, will be happy to hear the property should reopen, as well, in 2016. The upcountry hotel has been used to house the construction workers renovating the island's oceanfront Four Seasons.
"As the beehive of activity at the beach resort dies down aggressively in the next two weeks, then the lodge is the next step," Roelens said of Koele. "We don't have an exact opening date, but we do expect likely it will be later in the year after the summer."