Hyatt Centric looks to hire 100 employees

Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach, a new hotel brand for the isles, is recruiting about 100 workers in preparation for its Dec. 8 opening in the former Waikiki Trade Center office building.

The hotel, which is at 2255 Kuhio Ave., will begin hiring for both part- and full-time positions at job fairs on Thursday from 2 to 6 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to noon at the Ala Moana Hotel’s Garden Lanai Room. Hyatt Centric also wants to fill positions at its signature restaurant, The Lanai, by Chef Yoshi Ohata, which is expected to begin operating on the hotel’s opening day.

“We are looking for people that have passion and drive, and want to make a difference in people’s lives,” said Charles Young, Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach general manager. “It’s really more about attitude. I can train the skill, I can’t train the passion. We want people with big hearts.”

CoastWood Capital Group is developing the project along with Chartres Lodging Group and New York investment firm KKR. Kokua Hospitality is the property’s management company. Their conversion of a nearly empty office building into a hotel adds 230 upscale oversize rooms and suites with floor-to-ceiling windows and spalike bathrooms to Waikiki’s tight hotel market.

The project cost more than $30 million, according to building permits. The developers declined to say how much was spent on the conversion.

The project will feature floor-to-ceiling windows, an outdoor pool and entertainment deck, an upscale bar and restaurant, and a fitness facility. Upgrades also are being made to the four-story, 400-stall parking garage and to the property’s public spaces. The average size of the rooms will be 407 square feet, with prices ranging from the high $200s per night for standard rooms to $400 plus for premium-view rooms and suites.

With these changes, Waikiki gains more “upper, upscale” category rooms, which represent the market’s sweet spot, said Joseph Toy, president and CEO of Hospitality Advisors LLC. “Upper, upscale” is one notch below the top category, “luxury.” While there are about 11,000 upper, upscale rooms on Oahu, Toy said those rooms are in high demand.

“It’s the largest category of hotel rooms on Oahu, but the upper, upscale market had nearly 94 percent occupancy in August and it was at nearly 91 percent for the year,” Toy said.

Toy said the conversion of the Waikiki Trade Center continues the list of improvements on Kuhio Avenue, including the opening of the Hilton Garden Inn, the new International Market Place and the Ritz-Carlton Residences Waikiki Beach. The investments in Kuhio are turning a street that used to be home primarily to low-rise apartment buildings, small souvenir shops and inexpensive restaurants into a more upscale retail and hotel district.

The Queen Emma Land Co. owns the land under the hotel and under the International Market Place, which reopened Aug. 25. The properties support the Queen’s Medical Center, the state’s largest private, nonprofit hospital.

“I’m very excited about the future of Waikiki and the Kuhio corridor,” Young said. “Our neighbor is International Market Place. In four to five years, you’ll see a new Kuhio that will emulate Kalakaua. We’ll have two very famed streets. Shoppers won’t have to go all the way to Ala Moana Center. They’ll have everything that they need here.”

The Hyatt Centric brand, which was introduced in 2015, is one of the freshest hospitality brands in the industry. Young said it’s targeted to millennial travelers, who want a trusted hotel brand, but prefer to be housed in the heart of the destinations they visit.

“Hyatt Centric is the lifestyle boutique brand of Hyatt. It’s all about explorers. Come in and use our hotel as a base and go explore the island and everything that it has to offer,” he said. “Our guests want to experience what locals experience. They want to see the little hideouts and tell friends about their new finds.”

The Hyatt Centric property houses a 34,000-square-foot, two-level Nordstrom Rack, which opened Sept. 1. An American Savings Bank branch is open, and it will be joined by street-level retailers such as Starbucks and Jamba Juice later this year, and next year, an Island Gourmet Markets, which is a gourmet division of ABC Stores.

Two retail spaces are not yet rented, Young said. “We’ve had some interest in both spots.”

Hyatt Centric reservations are being taken for Feb. 1 and beyond, and Young said Hyatt will allow earlier bookings as the project gets closer to opening. The grand opening is set for Jan. 19.