HONOLULU The latest incentive program from Marriott Resorts in
Hawaii, coupled with continued improvements to its Waikiki
property, is providing agents with new reasons for booking clients
on an Oahu vacation.
For every five nights booked at a participating Marriott, agents
get a $25 American Express gift check. The offer applies to travel
from Sept. 1-Dec. 20.
“We’re having a fantastic summer and want to ensure the momentum
for bookings through the fall,” said Paul Toner, Marriott
International area marketing director, explaining the timing of the
incentive. “We also want to support our visitor industry partners
who book travel to our properties in Hawaii.”
While the incentive program applies to bookings at any of three
Hawaii Marriotts including JW Marriott Ihilani Resort and Spa on
Oahu and Kauai Marriott Resort and Beach Club it may be most
effective as a sales tool for the third participating hotel,
Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort. Marriott purchased the 1,310-room
twin-tower hotel, formerly the Hawaiian Regent, in November 2000.
It completed a $60 million renovation of the property in 2002, and
officials are eager to show off the results.
Marriott is still tinkering with the Waikiki Beach Marriott.
This fall, for instance, it is opening a full-service spa and salon
created and managed by hair stylist Paul Brown. Called Olakino Spa
Salon, the 6,000-square-foot facility has 10 body treatment rooms,
a 24-hour high-tech fitness center, beauty salon, locker rooms,
steam and sauna rooms, water features and second-story views of
Waikiki Beach. The hotel plans to develop room-and-spa packages and
add spa cuisine to its menus, according to Waikiki Beach Marriott
Resort general manager Stan Engeldorf.
With the opening of the spa, the property will be renamed
Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort and Spa, said Engeldorf. “It’s
important to let everyone know that there is now a Marriott brand
hotel on famed Waikiki Beach,” he said. “Since the modernization
was completed in 2002, it’s like we have a new hotel, with
something for everyone from all market segments. Guest satisfaction
scores have improved dramatically, from 52 percent when Marriott
took over the property in 2000, to 80 percent today.”
New Waikiki Beach Marriott services include Wi-Fi Internet in
some guestrooms, a business center with 24-hour Internet access,
two freshwater swimming pools, renovated meeting rooms, an outdoor
banquet venue, the signature Kuhio Beach Grill Restaurant and
Seattle’s Best Coffee. The hotel has added Hawaiian cultural
activities and live music, and hotel employees have formed their
own hula troupe that performs at the resort.
In the hotel’s Paoakalani Tower, renovated guestrooms now
feature Hawaiian-style decor and furnishings, marble floors and
granite countertops in bathrooms and private lanais with views of
Diamond Head, Waikiki Beach or the Koolau Mountains.
In September, Marriott is renovating the guestrooms in the
hotel’s Kealohilani Tower. “Our resort has an inventory of 85
percent oceanview accommodations,” said Engeldorf. “Being able to
say that we have 85 percent newly renovated oceanview rooms will be
significant.”
Also this fall, Waikiki Beach Marriott will add Arancino di Mare
Italian restaurant and a second Seattle’s Best Coffee, with
sidewalk-cafe seating.
800-367-5370; www. marriottwaikiki.com.