Enhancing hotels, elevating experience are keys for tourism

Waikiki is Hawaii’s most popular global visitor destination, long enjoying remarkable success sharing our rich host culture, world-class shopping and stunning natural beauty with the world. Tourism has long been the mainstay of Hawaii’s economy. However, as federal government spending has declined in Hawaii, the role of tourism in our state’s economic health has become increasingly important.

In recent years, global destinations growing their tourism industries have begun to offer oceanfront, tropical vacations, often for less than we charge in Hawaii, creating new competition for visitors. With Outrigger’s expansion into the Asia-Pacific region, operating resorts in Guam, Fiji, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia and Mauritius, we see first-hand the global competition for visitor business.

A loss of hotel rooms in Waikiki has been documented in recent years; the latest Hospitality Advisors report highlighted that Waikiki lost 5,117 hotel rooms — almost 20 percent of its total number of hotel rooms — between 2000 and 2012.

There is a need for Waikiki to evolve to keep up by creating more higher quality hotel rooms in Waikiki to attract visitors that will maintain our hotel occupancy rates, spend more on food and beverage at restaurants and buy more at retail stores, supporting our state’s economy.

While Waikiki remains a popular destination, its global competitiveness is threatened by an aging and diminishing inventory of hotel rooms, lack of higher quality accommodations and competition from other destinations throughout the world. As a result of what we’ve seen through our expansion abroad, we believe now is the time to continuously improve and refresh Hawaii’s visitor accommodations and experiences in order to ensure that Waikiki evolves into a world-class, epicurean destination that keeps pace with the changing expectations of tourists.

As we see an increase in visitors from Asia, Waikiki’s evolution needs to include language and signage specifically aimed at reaching these visitors, welcoming them as an addition to our existing tourist demographic.

Outrigger has owned and operated hotels in Waikiki for 67 years, and over the course of decades, we have seen investment in Waikiki ebb and flow. The current increase in investment to Waikiki shows that we are not alone in understanding the need to evolve to support our state’s robust tourism market.

While our company is in the early stages of plans for a revitalization that will create new hotel rooms, others — including the Princess Kaiulani Hotel, Hilton Hawaiian Village, OHANA Waikiki West, Hyatt Regency and Waikiki Parc Hotel — are all improving their facilities with renovation projects.

New condominiums are being added in Waikiki, such as those planned by Blacksand Capital at King’s Village and the Ritz Carlton towers under construction on Kuhio Avenue. Condominiums and timeshares also play a role in the improvement and evolution of Waikiki. We are seeing an increase in investment in Waikiki retail. Honey Bee USA’s $31 million retail project at Waikiki Landing is underway and scheduled to be completed in July 2015 and a $400 million revitalization of the International Market Place, centrally located in Waikiki, will follow in spring 2016.

Statewide, enhancement of the visitor experience can be leveraged through a coordinated effort by private investors and public leaders. The city and state have been responsible for upgrades that have greatly improved Waikiki Beach as well as Kalakaua and Kuhio avenues. Working together, public and private sector physical improvements will help Waikiki continue to attract tourists. Waikiki’s highly visible homeless population needs to be addressed, and the problem needs to be resolved in order to provide a safe and attractive destination for visitors.

As part of our ongoing commitment to the continued evolution of Waikiki, we recently announced a revitalization of Outrigger Reef on the Beach that will add more than 200 new hotel rooms, the first new rooms on Waikiki Beach in 30 years. The improvement will create more of what Waikiki visitors come for — vibrant and authentic Hawaiian experiences through culture, music and programs. It’s our hope that our revitalized property will become a model of a beachfront hotel that enhances Waikiki’s position in the highly competitive global tourism market.

W. David P. Carey III is president and CEO of Outrigger Enterprises Group.