Hawaiʻi’s Luxury Myth, $1B in Tech, and the Asset-Light Reality

April 19, 2026

Aloha !

Welcome to the latest edition of the Hawaiʻi Hotel Hui Insider.

As we hit the Legislature’s May 7 finish line, we’re seeing the usual mix of last-minute pushes and quiet exits. The HTA funding reset had a real run this session… until it didn’t.

Before we dive into this issue, a big mahalo to our title sponsor for this quarter, Castle Resorts & Hotels. As CEO, Matt Bailey put it recently, this business isn’t about selling rooms, it’s about creating memories. Castle has been doing exactly that across the islands for decades, with a people-first approach that still shows up in the guest experience. We’re stoked to have them as part of the Hui.

In this issue, we look at the continued rise of soft brands (now heading to Kauaʻi), the growing push toward a luxury-first strategy, and what that actually means for a market where most inventory isn’t luxury. We also dig into Convention Center cost overruns, recent renovation activity across the islands, and where the latest wave of hospitality tech investment is really going.

Good intel is better when shared. Forward this to someone who needs to see it.

Relying on a forward for your news is a risky strategy. Join the Hui directly and get the signal sent straight to your inbox.

Mahalo for coming along for the ride!

Let’s dive in.

Mahalo,

Dan Wacksman
Hawaiʻi Hotel Hui Insider Editor-in-Chief 😄

Legislature Nears Finish Line… HTA Funding Doesn’t

In a previous issue, we talked about the Legislature’s sprint to the finish line. That sprint is about to end on May 7. That’s the hard stop, so anything still alive either gets pushed through in a rush… or quietly dies after months of debate.

One that most of the industry was hoping for: HTA Funding Reset (HB 1950). We’ve covered this in prior issues. The bill would’ve redirected a portion of TAT back to HTA and actually made a real run this session… before getting quietly tabled in Senate Ways and Means.

Encouraging momentum, followed by a very predictable ending.

Dead for now, but feels like a “see you next session” situation.

We’ll give a full breakdown of what passed and what didn’t in our May 19th issue.

Soft Brands Keep Coming… Curio Is Next Up in Kauaʻi

We’ve been tracking the soft brand wave across the islands for a while, and Hilton is finally planting its Curio Collection flag here in Hawai’i. Hale Hōkūala Kauaʻi is slated to open in Fall 2026 (the website says November), adding a 210-room new-build within the 450-acre Hōkūala resort in Līhuʻe. Timbers Kauaʻi has long anchored the residential side of the property. 

As with most soft brand plays, the pitch is local identity with global distribution… or as we like to call it, “fewer brand rules, same fees.” 

Jon Itoga has been named general manager, stepping in to lead the pre-opening team. Jon was most recently at Waikīkī Beach Marriott as the Hotel Manager. Congrats Jon!

For those keeping score, Curio is Hilton’s not-quite-luxury but higher-end soft brand, roughly in line with Marriott’s Autograph Collection. See our last issue for a brand scoreboard.

Stop Gifting Your Guests "Island-Scented" Chemicals
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Let’s be real: guests know the difference between a generic lotion made on the continent and the real thing. If you’re still stocking vanity kits filled with synthetic fragrances, you’re missing a chance to anchor your brand in true place-based luxury.

Based in Waimea, Ua Hawaiʻi has spent 30 years perfecting clean, vegan skincare powered by native ingredients like kukui oil and botanical infusions.

These aren’t just "amenities", they are high-performance products that reflect your property’s quality. They already grace the counters of Hawaiʻi’s top-tier resorts because they deliver actual authenticity. It’s time to ditch the "aloha-wash" and give guests something they’ll actually want to take home.

Luxury Strategy… Built on ~20 Hotels?

A recent PBN article highlights what’s becoming a familiar refrain from industry and policy leaders: focus on the luxury traveler, as if we can just manifest a Four Seasons on every corner and call that strategy.  We’ve talked before about the myth of the “right tourist,” and now we seem to be doubling down with a luxury-first narrative that ignores a pretty inconvenient truth: roughly 82% of Hawaiʻi's hotel inventory is not luxury, while true luxury makes up maybe 18%.

Yes, Luxury has been crushing it, with statewide ADR of around $750 in January 2026 and February 2026.

No argument there. But building a statewide strategy around a sliver of inventory is like optimizing your rates based on your best suite. The reality is that most operators are running Courtyards, not Ritz-Carltons, and the playbook should probably reflect that.

We're not Monaco. We're not St. Barts. We're a broad-based market with a long tail of midscale products doing the heavy lifting. So when the strategy becomes "let's just attract luxury travelers," it's worth asking: to where exactly?

Yes, we have some incredible properties. Some of the best in the world. But they represent a handful of hotels statewide (~20 by my count). Meanwhile, most properties sit in that midscale range to upper upscale.

None of this is to say we shouldn't invest in quality, experience, or rate growth. We should. But there's a difference between elevating the product and pretending the market is something it's not.

Because at some point, the math wins.

Convention Center Cost Overruns? Who Could Have Imagined?

The Hawaiʻi Convention Center is officially under construction, but don’t hold your breath for a leak-free reopening in 2028. Lawmakers previously approved $100 million for long-overdue repairs, yet the rooftop terrace alone has already ballooned from $64 million to at least $87 million (and up to $110.5 million with contingencies). Meanwhile, a $55 million request for additional leak-related fixes was just pulled from the budget.

It’s a classic case of deferred maintenance coming home to roost. Back in 2017, this was a ~$27 million problem. Today, it’s… not. And even with all this spending, there’s still no guarantee the leaks are fully resolved. Meeting planners are paying attention, and with 2028 bookings actively being decided, the real risk isn’t just water coming through the ceiling; it’s confidence leaking out of the market. The Legislature should be focused on oversight and making sure the money is well spent, not pulling funding based on their deep expertise in construction and waterproofing (tongue firmly in cheek).

Some Recent Renovation News

  • Courtyard by Marriott Waikīkī Beach – Completed multimillion-dollar renovation of 405 guest rooms, along with refreshed public spaces. Read More

  • Pagoda Hotel (Honolulu) – Completed property-wide refresh of 199 rooms, updated interiors and public spaces, restored koi ponds, and introduced new dining tenants including Rainbow Drive-In and Paris Baguette. Read More

  • Outrigger Waikīkī Beach Resort – Undergoing a $100M, 524-room phased renovation set for completion in late 2026, marking the brand’s fourth major Waikīkī refresh since 2018. Read More

  • Coco Palms Resort (Kauaʻi) – Just kidding… At this point, it’s more legend than project.

Renovation Translation Table:

  • Refresh – The “we had a little budget left” special. Paint, maybe some artwork, and a deep clean that should’ve happened anyway. May include some soft and hard goods.

  • Soft Goods Renovation – New carpet, curtains, bedding, maybe a chair if we’re feeling generous. Same room, we just changed the outfit.

  • Hard Goods Renovation – Furniture, case goods, bathrooms, fixtures. This is actual money being spent, not just a trip to the design showroom clearance rack.

  • Multi-Million Dollar Renovation – Usually means “low” multi-millions. If it were $50M+, trust me… they’d tell you.

  • Full Renovation – Everything short of knocking the building down.

  • Phased Renovation – We’re renovating while staying open with earplugs as the new amenity.

And once any of these are done, you can officially declare that the hotel has been “reimagined.” 😉

RIMPAC Reality Check

In last issue’s poll, readers weren’t exactly bullish. Just 16% think RIMPAC proceeds as planned, while 34% expect it to be significantly reduced, 28% see a slight scale-back, and 22% are predicting a full cancellation. Net: most of the industry is expecting some level of disruption, which means summer may be on sale.

Big Shoes to Fill on Kauai

We previously reported the retirement of longtime leader Sue Kanoho after nearly 30 years at the Kauaʻi Visitors Bureau, big shoes to fill, no question.

Stepping in is Samira Siale, bringing a mix of hospitality, operations, and recent leadership at HLTA Kauaʻi. Her early message centers on community well-being, cultural respect, and long-term destination health, all the right notes.

Congratulations and Aloha to Samira.

New GM at Hilton Waikoloa Village

Hilton Waikoloa Village has named Nicholas Kuhns as general manager, bringing in an operator with deep luxury and resort experience across Hawaiʻi and the continent.

Most recently at Montage Kapalua Bay, Kuhns also previously led Royal Lahaina and held earlier leadership roles with Hilton on the mainland. Solid résumé, strong brand background, and now a big job ahead at one of the Big Island’s more complex resorts, where you not only need to keep the rooms clean, but also need to literally keep the trains on time (and on different tracks)! 

Congratulations and good luck!

Asset-Light Is Great... If You're Not the One Holding the Asset

The hotel industry loves talking about asset-light strategies. Brands shed real estate, collect fees, grow faster, and Wall Street rewards them handsomely. Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, and now Accor (which just sold its ~31% stake in Essendi to Blackstone for roughly $1.1 billion) are all racing toward the same finish line. The logic is clean: own the brand, not the building.

(Quick reminder if you're new here: asset-light means the brand collects fees for its name, systems, and distribution but doesn't own the building. Someone else does.)

But at ALIS earlier this year, IHG CEO Elie Maalouf said the quiet part out loud: "If somebody isn't willing to be asset heavy, then the asset-light game stops." And he's right. Somebody has to hold the building, absorb the capital costs, carry the debt, and weather the storms while the brands print fee income and post record stock gains. The numbers tell the story pretty clearly: over the past five years, the major lodging companies have dramatically outperformed the hotel REITs that actually own the real estate they operate.

Marriott CEO Tony Capuano acknowledged it directly: "There is urgency around making these investments as compelling to our partners as they once were, because that's not where they are." The brands know owners are getting squeezed, and some are starting to examine franchise fees and procurement costs to ease the pain. Whether that's enough is a different question.

For Hawaiʻi, where most hotels are owned by REITs, private equity, and institutional capital (we've covered this extensively), the brand/owner tension is very real. Owners here carry capital costs, navigate state and county regulatory pressure, absorb labor and utility expenses that keep climbing, and then hand a percentage of the top line to a brand that won't be called when the roof leaks.

Asset-light is a brilliant business model. Just ask the brands. The owners might give you a different answer, unless, of course, they are banking on the flip.

Read more: Hyatt, Asset Light, Accor

The Rise of AI-Planned Travel
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Travel planning is entering a new era. Guests are no longer just searching; they are asking AI to decide where to stay, what to book, and when to book it. That shift has major implications for hotels.

TakeUp’s new research report, The Rise of AI-Planned Travel in 2026, breaks down what is changing and what operators can do about it. From how AI tools choose which properties to recommend, to why OTAs are gaining an edge in AI-driven discovery, this report gives hoteliers a clear view of what is coming next.

If you want your property to stay on the shortlist as booking behavior evolves, this is a must-read.

Half Doors, Half Showers, Full Regret

A recent WSJ piece highlighted a trend that makes me wonder if hotel designers have ever actually stayed in a hotel: the push to ditch bathroom doors entirely.

Apparently, "open concept" now means your vanity, toilet, and bed offer a new level of togetherness that precisely nobody asked for. There are things you just don't need to watch your spouse do, and a hotel stay shouldn't change that. But while the industry debates whether a door is an "obstacle to flow," I’d like to pivot to my personal favorite: the half shower glass.

It may look good in architectural renderings, but in real life, you are essentially showering directly into the bathroom; the floor is soaked, the towels are wet, and the pro forma was likely the only thing that benefited. At some point, we have to ask if we are designing for guests or for spreadsheets. And we wonder why people often prefer Airbnb.

I am going on the record: the half-shower glass is my personal #1 hotel pet peeve. What is yours?

$1 Billion Into Hospitality Tech. Now What?

Abode Worldwide (not related to Adobe, the tech company) just dropped its 2026 Hospitality Tech Investment Index, and the headline number jumps out: 40 hotel tech companies raised a combined $1 billion between April 2025 and March 2026. Sounds like a surge… until you look closer. Property management systems led with about 40% of total capital, but Mews alone raised $300 million, meaning one company drove nearly a third of all funding. As we covered in a previous issue, that single raise ends up skewing the entire category. Mews is strong in Europe, gaining traction on the continent, but has few customers here in Hawaiʻi. 

The top raises tell a clearer story: Mews ($300M, PMS), Kindred ($85M, home swapping), Canary ($80M, guest experience), Duve ($60M, guest experience), and Wander ($50M, luxury rentals). Two of the top five going to guest experience platforms isn’t a coincidence. AI messaging, digital check-in, and upsell tools have officially moved out of the “nice-to-have” bucket.

Zoom out, and the breakdown gets interesting: PMS (~40%), alternative accommodations (~29%), guest experience (~15%), everything else (~11%), and revenue management… just 3%. For something we all obsess over, that’s surprisingly low. Either the category is maturing, or it’s being overlooked. Worth keeping an eye on.

BTW… rooting for our own Hawai’i-grown guest experience platform start-up platform Abra to show up on this list next year.

Turn Hawaii Trip Planners Into Direct Bookings
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Hawaii.com reaches visitors while they’re choosing islands, building itineraries, and deciding where to stay, before they ever compare prices on Expedia or Booking.

We help hotels show up at that critical moment through ads, sponsored articles, itinerary placements, and native recommendations integrated directly into trusted travel content.

Instead of competing on price, you influence the decision early, when travelers are still forming preferences.

If you want more qualified visibility and a smarter path to direct bookings, we can help.

Industry Events

Ask Me Anything: Leadership Secrets Behind Hawaii's Top Hospitality Leaders

Join HSMAI Hawaiʻi for a candid “Ask Me Anything” session with Hawai‘i’s top hospitality leaders as they share real-world insights on leading and succeeding in today’s market.

Date: Thursday, April 23rd, 2026
Location: Prince Waikiki
Time: 9:30–11:45 AM

*If you have industry events to share, please email me at [email protected].

Spotlight on Hawai‘i Hospitality Opportunities

*If you happen to have any job openings, let us know. We will be glad to include them in the newsletter, space permitting; send the job link to [email protected].

The digital mailbag was a bit heavy this week; overflowing with nostalgia, strategic skepticism, and a few "I told you so's." It’s clear the Hui isn’t just skimming; you’re dissecting every move from Kapalua to the cloud. Whether you’re sending virtual high-fives or schooling me on the evolution of a property, I’m just glad to be the hub for the conversation.

As always, the views expressed here belong to the Hui. I’m just the curator making sure the "industry therapy" stays anonymous and the discourse stays sharp.

The Kapalua Chronicles (Full Circle Edition)
Our recent coverage of the Montage Kapalua Bay transition sparked a wave of "I was there when" stories. It seems the history of certain jewels is as complex as their ownership structures.

  • “It’s interesting that no one is mentioning the fact that this was originally Marriott’s. It began as a Renaissance hotel, then was demolished and rebuilt into a private club and residence model under the Ritz-Carlton flag in 2005. Now, with Marriott taking it back, they’re not only facing that same structural challenge, but also competing with their own luxury brand just down the road. I truly hope they tap into the wealth of knowledge of what worked and what didn’t from its private club era. It’s a very special property. It deserves to thrive.”

  • “I spent six months there at the Montage. It’s one of my favorite properties on the planet. But the fact that 80% of the properties are condos, with a very small percentage being an actual hotel, makes it very challenging for them to even make any money.”

AI: Collusion or Common Sense?
The debate over algorithmic pricing and AI agents is heating up, and the Hui has thoughts on whether we’re looking at a free market or a courtroom.

  • “This will be an interesting case testing the limits of AI in many different forms. Collusion used to be two or more executives discussing rates and setting a strategy. AI, considering the AI actions of a competitor, would be the truest form of a free market. Pricing would fluctuate based on demand and rational decisions. Preventing hotels from looking at aggregate past data for their competitors seems not to be founded on science or logic.”

  • “A bigger distribution engine widens the guest funnel. That will be felt by residents.”

Reality Checks from the Ops Trenches

  • “Having run condotels most of my career, while ownership is complex, it’s often preferable to working in a property owned by a VC, where asset managers focus on how to shave $.00002 off a bar of soap and have often never worked in a hotel.”

  • “If I never have to deal with another condo-hotel, it will be too soon.”

  • “Love and respect the dirt/culture first, then roll in the ‘vision statement’.”

Virtual High-Fives (The Fun Stuff)

  • “Another great edition of the Hotel Hui insider! I love it!”

  • “I have been enjoying your newsletters. I wish there was one of these for every sector in Hawaiʻi…”

    • HHH Note: One sector is enough for my blood pressure, but mahalo for the vote of confidence!

Agree? Disagree? Have a hot take of your own? Fire back at [email protected], and your response might be featured anonymously in the next edition.

About Us

Hawaiʻi Hotel Hui was started by hotel industry veteran Dan Wacksman, CEO of Sassato, a Hawaiʻi-based consultancy that combines deep local expertise with a global perspective.

Our team brings decades of experience across operations, marketing, revenue, tech, and finance, all aimed at helping hotels and travel companies make smarter decisions and move faster. Whether you need additional expertise, extra horsepower, or just someone who thinks like you and moves things forward, we’ve got you. From local independents to global brands, we show up with a no-nonsense, results-focused mindset. To be blunt: we get sh*t done.

Recent projects include brand transitions, system selection (PMS, CRS, CMS — all the acronym soup), implementations, project management, feasibility studies, training, audits, and everything in between.

A lot of organizations deal with stretched teams, siloed processes, and messy tech stacks that quietly stall important work. We fix that. Happy to chat if this hits close to home.