First Outrigger pushed through its massive Beach Walk Project, now nearly finished, in western Waikiki. Now Starwood is planning a similar sized renovation and rejuvenation of its four major Waikiki properties, the Sheraton Moana Surfrider, Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, the Sheraton Royal Hawaiian, and the Sheraton Waikiki. This renovations project will run $400 million and is way overdue. Some nice changes have been made to these properrties -- the ongoing room renovations at the Sheraton Waikiki have upgraded those crashpads quite nicely. But the common areas and dining facilities of the Sheraton Waikiki have not be noticeably upgraded. The Royal Hawaiian, a truly lovely hotel, has essentially been left to rot by its tightfisted owners (the Kyo-ya Co.). The classic Victorian-style Moana has suffered from horrible food for some time and its new wing is beachfront but completely graceless. So in some sense this renovation is long, long overdue. The Moana will be rebranded as a Westin, which I hope means an upgrade in service (and perhaps no more cheap plastic cups for $10 mai tais at the patio bar).

Overall, I am very curious to see how this plays out. Beach Walk is definitely an upgrade from the dilapidated properties and cruddy shops that preceded it. However, when I've walked around Beach Walk its felt a bit too shiny, too polished, and too...Disney? I understand the commmercial requirements of these projects, that tenants have to be of a certain quality to get high enough turnover in shops and restaurants. But I think, as part of that process, you lose the wonderful remaining funky aspect of Waikiki, the wackiness that keeps it real. Then again, locals may like it more that way. They sure seem to like Las Vegas a lot! All of this said, the plans for the Royal actually sound solid -- with restaurant upgrades galore. Now if Starwood can only break their longstanding unspoken policy of providing the least possible dining quality to justify the high prices (the words of a popular local media person, not mine) then I'll gladly trek down there to quaff, nibble and drop cashola.

—Alex, 01/31/07