Two Landmark Hawaii Hotels Catch a Renovation Wave

Two well-known Hawaii resorts have new management with new plans: the Hotel Hana-Maui at Hana Ranch and the Molokai Ranch & Lodge.

The 78-room Hotel Hana-Maui is undergoing nearly $10 million worth of what observers say is much-needed renovation. The landmark 66-acre complex on the scenic Hana Highway, dating to 1946, was acquired last year by the Ohana Hotel Co. Its new management is the San Francisco-based Passport Resorts, whose owners also manage the luxury Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur and Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort.

“She was a grand hotel in her day,” Doug Chang, the new general manager, said last week of the Maui hotel. “The current management is committed to restoring her former glory.”

The owners are redoing the interiors of 47 cottages built in the 1980s, and re-landscaping is expected to be completed by May, he said. Last fall Larry Quirit, who formerly worked at the Grand Wailea Resort, Hotel & Spa on Maui and the Post Ranch Inn, took over as executive chef. Room rates begin at $275 per night. (800) 321-4262, www.hotelhanamaui.com.

Starting Monday, the sprawling Molokai resort will be known as the Sheraton Molokai Lodge and Beach Village, becoming one of more than a dozen Hawaiian resorts that parent company Starwood manages under various brand names. It has 40 “tentalows” (bungalow-like tents with private bathrooms) and 22 guest rooms.

A Starwood spokesman said the resort would focus on “the younger, upscale traveler.” Among the changes: Hotel employees will meet all guests at the airport, and most food for the tentalows will be prepared on site instead of at the lodge several miles away. Rates begin at $175 for tentalows and $220 for lodge rooms, through June 30. (800) 782-9488, www.sheraton-hawaii.com.