Marriott International Inc. called the bankruptcy filing by the owners of the Waikiki Edition hotel a “self-defeating step” and vowed to pursue in court “tens of millions of dollars” of claims for damages to the brand and company.

Hotel owner M Waikiki LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday to prevent Marriott from retaking management of the hotel.

M Waikiki voided a 30-year contract with Marriott at 2 a.m. Sunday, installed a new management team and renamed the hotel the Modern Honolulu. M Waikiki said it took the step because the hotel was losing money. The new manager is Modern Management Services LLC, an affiliate of Aqua Hotels & Resorts.

A New York judge ruled early Wednesday that Marriott managers had to be reinstated by that afternoon, but M Waikiki LLC filed bankruptcy before the judge’s order took effect.

Marriott said in a news release that the bankruptcy filing “is a self-defeating step that ultimately involves the destruction of significant value of the owner’s asset.”

Ed Ryan, Marriott International’s executive vice president and general counsel, said, “While we are astonished at such a self-destructive course of action, we of course respect the law and the fact that a bankruptcy filing freezes any other legal orders for the time being.  It is clear that this was a desperate step by the owner and legal advisors to circumvent the New York court’s order returning the hotel to our rightful management and control.  They will obviously stop at nothing in the effort to escape from the contractual obligations they made to us when they signed the management agreement.

“We will vigorously pursue tens of millions of dollars of claims for damages to the brand and our company in bankruptcy court over time,” Ryan said.

Marriott said, “Occupancy rates at the Waikiki Edition were 67 percent in July and were running in excess of 80 percent in August.”