The general manager of the newly renovated Hotel Hana-Maui is
expecting good things for his property in 2003.
“This will be a year of growth for us,” said Doug Chang, who
came to the renowned East Maui property a little more than a year
ago. “We plan on letting everyone know that we’ve restored the
hotel to its former glory.”
The 66-room hotel, which dates from 1946, completed a $9 million
renovation last August.
The project included refurbishing guest rooms, the main dining
room and the garden pool area.
“We’ve brought in a tremendous number of travel agents since we
finished the renovation,” Chang said. “Our agent guests have told
us that this is the Hawaii their clients are looking for. They’ve
said it will be easy for them to sell the hotel to their
clients.”
Across the board, Chang said, agents have complimented the hotel
staff for its aloha spirit.
A highly rated accommodation until the mid-1990s, Hotel
Hana-Maui lost its luster during a recent series of ownership
changes.
The hotel’s current owner, Passport Resorts of San Francisco,
stepped in at the end of 2001.
Chang said Hotel Hana-Maui has launched a major marketing and
promotion campaign to publicize the renovations.
“We’re participating in all of the Maui Visitors Bureau’s
educational programs for travel agents, and we will continue all of
these marketing efforts in the coming year,” Chang added.
Hotel Hana-Maui is part of a picturesque, rural village at the
end of a 53-mile winding coastal road that begins in Kahului.
“Hana is one of those destinations you need to experience to
really understand,” Chang said. “I tell people they need to visit
for at least four days.”
The hotel has 19 single-story garden rooms, called the Bay
Cottages, and 47 Sea Ranch Cottages, which offer private decks with
hot tubs.
The hotel’s next project is a freestanding spa, expected to open
in September. It will have five body treatment rooms, two wet
treatment rooms and two rooms for facials.
Plans call for a large reception and retail space, locker areas
with steam rooms, saunas and outdoor lava rock showers, an outdoor
whirlpool bath and an open-air Watsu pool for water therapy
treatments.
This year the hotel has created a new romance package that
includes champagne, candlelight dinner for two and two 60-minute
massages. While the spa is being built, the massages are available
in a treatment room or on a cottage lanai. A four-night package is
$2,412 to $3,132 per couple.
A four-night Hana Hideaway package, which comes with daily
breakfasts, is available at 10 percent less than rack rates, which
start at $295 per night in the Bay Cottages and $395 in the Sea
Ranch Cottages. Clients booking five nights will receive a free
sixth night.
800-321-4262.
