Black Friday shoppers fill Oahu hotels

Lihue resident Dee Howard and her family arrived at the Ala Moana Hotel on Monday afternoon eager to score Black Friday deals at the largest shopping center in Hawaii.

Howard and her 17-year-old daughter, Tiarie, were thrilled to splurge this week on the deeply discounted items at makeup store Sephora and at Old Navy, both of which have no presence on Kauai.

“This is going to be our first time. We’re so excited to be here,” said Howard, who also traveled to Oahu with her husband, Mike, and 15-year-old son, Terrence. “I came prepared. I’m going to go shopping. I can’t wait to see what’s there.”

Consumers gearing up for Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the holiday season, are helping to boost occupancy at hotels near Oahu malls.

For the first time, the Ala Moana Hotel’s more than 1,000 rooms are nearly sold out on Black Friday, said Marty Milan, director of sales and marketing.

“We’re booked up on Friday,” she said. “Traditionally it has been pretty slow. In past years we promoted business to book over that period, but this year I didn’t and it filled in naturally.”

While online shopping is gaining popularity, the International Council of Shopping Centers said an estimated 81 percent of the nearly 150.7 million U.S. shoppers this Thanksgiving weekend intend to spend their money at brick-and-mortar stores.

Stores expect Thanksgiving sales to climb 3.3 percent this year over last year, following 2.2 percent growth in 2015, the council said. Shoppers surveyed said they planned to spend an average $683.90, mostly in brick-and-mortar stores.

“People are shopping online a lot more, but I think people still like to see and feel stuff, and it’s kind of exciting to get caught up in the Black Friday madness,” Milan said. “So it’s great for our business. Obviously, our connection to the shopping center really helps us because it’s so convenient. It’s the beginning of the season, and people are just excited about the idea of shopping. We’ve had an amazing, amazing year.”

Wade Gesteuyala, general manager at the 175-room Hampton Inn &Suites adjacent to Ka Makana Alii in Kapolei, Hawaii’s newest regional mall, expects a substantial boost in kamaaina bookings this week.

“We’re anticipating a lot of interest from kamaaina for Black Friday shopping opportunities out on the West side,” he said. “We are anticipating a lot of last-minute bookings from the local market.”

Hawaii Prince Hotel has seen a more than 50 percent jump in neighbor island bookings at the 541-room property near Ala Moana Center.

“It’s pretty significant,” said Darla Won, Hawaii Prince Hotel’s marketing manager. “We do see a lot of families or even just shoppers coming in from the neighbor islands for Black Friday. We’re just in that ideal location. There’s a lot of deals out there. There’s more options and new stores to Hawaii that have never been on Oahu until this year. It’s an exciting time.”