Hotel Review: Four Seasons Resort Hualalai

“Once our guests are here, they unplug their stress connection,” Earl Regidor said. “They go —”

He breathed out deeply.

Regidor, known to most as “Uncle Earl,” is the cultural center manager at Hawaii Island’s Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, where he has worked since the property first opened its doors in 1996. His voice was thick with emotion as he recalled the past tumultuous year, including the resort’s sudden closure due to COVID-19 in March 2020 and the standstill of all tourism across the Hawaiian Islands. Regidor even contemplated what was once unimaginable: his retirement.

But when Four Seasons Hualalai came calling ahead of its Dec. 1 reopening, Regidor didn’t hesitate to pick up where he had left off. He resolved to deliver even greater cultural experiences at the Kaupulehu Cultural Center, where complimentary offerings range from a lauhala (hala tree leaf) weaving workshop to Hawaiian language classes.

We are hoping that our guests will take aloha home with them.

Four Seasons Hualalai is welcoming clients anew, as well: A multimillion-dollar enhancement announced in October 2020 made the best of the lull in guests. The impressive results thus far include a full refresh of 249 guestrooms and suites; the additions of an elevated swimming pool, a lounge deck and the Kumu Kai Marine Center at the swimmable King’s Pond; the new Hualalai Golf Hale; and more.

Feeling at ease thanks to Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts’ Lead With Care health and safety program, I took full advantage of the new offerings with gusto — and with a face mask on — during my April visit.

For clients who have been bested by lonelier snorkeling excursions, they will make plenty of friends at King’s Pond. Dwellers of the 1.8 million-gallon brackish water include a flowery flounder named Hash Brown, 80 milkfish and nearly 1,000 other tropical rescues from the ’90s heyday of aquarium keeping.

The star of the show, however, is Kainalu, a spotted eagle ray and 24-year resident of Four Seasons Hualalai. During a behind-the-scenes tour that began at the new Kumu Kai Marine Center, I got to know Kainalu over breakfast — his, not mine, although I did feed him by hand. Lauren Nakoa, a marine naturalist at the resort, shared remarkable insight into the local environment, including how multiple wells feed the pond’s anchialine system and how the porous volcanic rock acts as a natural filter.

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Kids will also love the Ocean Pool, which features a lava rock breakwater and the occasional sea turtle visitor, as well as the white-sand Keiki Pool. But if adult clients prefer a dip with a cocktail in hand or simply without distraction, they can retreat to one of the resort’s five other pools, including the adults-only Palm Grove pool, which is furnished with a swim-up bar.

I somehow found myself pulled away from sandy shores toward manicured greens — 7,117 yards of it, in fact, punctuated by craggy black lava rock. Designed by Jack Nicklaus, the 18-hole Hualalai Golf Course is world-renowned, and the 3,000-square-foot Hualalai Golf Hale only ups the ante. The brand-new instruction and practice facility is located adjacent to a 9-acre driving range, and special amenities include an immersive Topgolf Swing Suite and hitting bays outfitted with TrackMan launch monitors. Tell clients not to miss the course’s picturesque 17th hole, where the Pacific Ocean backdrop arguably delivers more drama than a hole in one.

There are plenty of other options to while away the hours, including eight pro-level tennis courts, a full roster of fitness classes, a gym equipped with Peloton bikes, paddleboarding, canoeing and even an underwater scooter experience.

Instead, I decided to indulge. Four Seasons Hualalai is celebrated for its luxury experiences — a point of pride just as evident by the on-site Ulu Ocean Grill’s standout Negihama sushi roll (an ingenious combination of yellowtail tuna, green onion, puffed rice and furikake seasoning), as my healing Hawaiian Lomi Lomi massage in a spa hale (house).

Refreshed with timeless Hawaiian decor and furniture fashioned from natural materials, guestrooms are also designed so that clients want for nothing. An in-room iPad handles any desires or needs, and other notable in-room amenities include Kef wireless Bluetooth speakers and an Illy espresso machine.

“From our chi and our deepest of feelings, that is where true aloha comes from,” Regidor had said at the start of my stay. “And we are hoping that our guests will take aloha home with them.”

And so I exhaled at long last, and I filled my cup with aloha.

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Four Seasons Resort Hualalai