Closing Lanai

Lanai will turn into more of a deserted island when its two Four Seasons hotels close simultaneously to guests for the second half of next year as billionaire owner Larry Ellison upgrades the properties.

The 102-room Four Seasons Resort Lanai, The Lodge at Koele will be closed to the public for most of the year while it houses construction workers, and the 217-room Four Seasons Resort Lanai at Manele Bay is slated to shut down in June for renovations. How long that closure will last is yet to be determined.

"Over here it is ghost town right now," said Nick Palumbo, owner of Lana‘i Surf School & Surf Safari, which has catered to hotel guests for the past decade. "There’s no one around. I hunt and fish already because I’m already struggling."

The hotels are the main economic engine for the rural island community, which is already feeling the repercussions of the impending closures.

Lana‘i Western Adventures, an outdoor activities company offering horseback rides, hunting and archery, is closing Jan. 31, according to owner Bobby Farias, who has six employees.

Ellison’s Pulama Lana‘i company bought the remainder of a 10-year lease Lana‘i Western Adventures previously had with Castle & Cooke Inc., which sold the majority of the island to Ellison in 2012. Farias, who also owns a ranch on Kauai, had been independently operating the activities business since 2009.

"It just didn’t make any sense to keep the business open while they (the hotels) are closed," he said. "We’re a guest-oriented activities company. We’re basically an amenity to the hotel. It sounds like the renovations are going to last all of 2015."

The Manele Bay property will undergo a $75 million renovation that includes a new three-pool complex and improvements to its main lobby building, according to the Maui News. Pulama Lana‘i said it plans to keep all 700 workers at the two resorts employed in positions throughout the island, including in cultural and restoration programs.

The company is awaiting a special management area use permit and project district development approval. The renovations also need to be approved by the Lanai Planning Commission.

A Pulama Lana‘i spokes­­woman wouldn’t comment on details of the closures.

"Tourism is all of our No. 1 moneymaker," said Jenna Majkus, owner of The Local Gentry, a small boutique that sells clothing, shoes, jewelry and souvenirs. "With the closures of the hotels, we are all impacted massively. It’s going to be a very rough year. I’m extremely worried."

Palumbo, a 35-year-old single father of two, already has lost much of his business from two years ago.

"With them being partially shut down, I’m making one-quarter of what I made two years ago," he said. "For 10 years I’ve supported my family solely on my business. What I do is strictly for tourism. I’ve had a contract with the Four Seasons for 10 years since 2005. I get probably 98 percent of my business from them."

Palumbo said a lot of his friends who work in the tourism industry are being forced to move off the island.

Palumbo plans to work with tour companies on Maui to target more of the "day trippers" who come to the island. He said he expects the hotel makeovers will last longer than anticipated.

"Everything on this island takes a lot longer than people expect. Deadlines are rarely met … because we’re so remote. This place is so rural there’s not a Home Depot down the road," he said. "I’m worried but my spirits are high. When all of this is said and done, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. When the hotels reopen, they’re going to be top notch."