The Holiday Inn Express Honolulu-Waikiki, the largest Holiday Inn Express in the U.S., held its grand opening Monday following the completion of a $30 million renovation and re-branding.
California-based Clearview Hotel Capital LLC owns the former Maile Sky Court, which it purchased in 2015 for $76 million. The 596-room property, which is second in size to the 1,002-room Holiday Inn Express Changbaishan in China, re-branded as a Holiday Inn Express on Feb. 8.
The 44-story hotel at 2058 Kuhio Ave. is the first Holiday Inn Express on Oahu, said Beth Churchill, Aqua-Aston Hospitality Group chief revenue officer. The Holiday Inn Express brand, which launched in 1991 and is currently opening about two new hotels a week, caters to business and leisure travelers. Across the globe there are now more than 2,200 properties under this fast-growing brand.
“It’s very exciting to be the first Holiday Inn Express on Oahu and the largest in the Americas — that resonated with us as well as the chance to work with different ownership groups,” Churchill said.
The brand promotes itself as an affordable upscale hotel. Free amenities include a 24-hour coffee service and a hot breakfast buffet. The fifth-floor sky deck offers a pool, jet spa, nine-hole miniature golf, pingpong, foosball, giant chess and shuffleboard. There’s a fitness center and an interactive kids’ game room with Wii consoles.
The hotel incorporates the Formula Blue design prototype, which is mandatory for all Holiday Inn Express properties. Rolled out in 2015, the design is meant to appeal to self-sufficient, independent travelers. Public space is open so travelers can find what they need without having to ask for help.
“This is a very popular brand worldwide,” Churchill said. “I think we’ll see some shift from the Asia business who were very supportive of the Maile Sky Court to more North American, Australian and European travelers.”
Jon Kline, president of Clearview, said the property is the company’s first hotel endeavor in Hawaii.
“We thought it was an attractive opportunity to invest in a great community and a great market,” Kline said. “We think Kuhio has gentrified.”
Kline said the company made significant investment in the property before adding even more value by flagging it as a Holiday Inn Express.
“An independent hotel can’t hope to generate the awareness that a brand can,” he said.
The investment will pay off for the community in terms of taxes and jobs, he said. The hotel’s workforce has increased to 120 from 80 workers, Kline said.
Pete Cruz, chief of protocol at Hickam Field, said he’s had positive feedback from government visitors who have stayed at the property before and after the renovations and re-branding.
“The feedback is amazing. They say it’s 200 percent better,” Cruz said “It’s a popular government hotel. They look at the ocean views, and the free breakfast is a plus when it comes to military.”
The grand-opening event, which attracted more than 220, moved past the property’s challenging renovation period, which resulted in more than $1 million in contractor and subcontractor fines. Pacific Resource Partnership, which represents the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters, brought the issues to the foreground after wrapping up a six-month investigation.
“As far as we are concerned, we want to be good citizens, and we want to do business with ethical people,” Kline said. “We are Boy Scouts. We follow the rules.”
Clearview wasn’t cited following an August raid by state and federal investigators on the Maile Sky Court to investigate complaints about Texas-based Selby Construction and Texas-based subcontractor R&R Construction Services Corp.
Last fall R&R Construction was fined $767,095 by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations for workplace irregularities. The department found R&R Construction misclassified 65 construction employees as independent contractors.
Following a related investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, R&R Construction paid nearly 100 workers more than $370,000 in back wages and damages for unpaid overtime. Donald P. Selby, owner of Selby Construction, also agreed to a $25,000 fine in October as part of a settlement with the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs for allegedly entering into a contract on April 16 with an unlicensed entity.
