Guns in Lobbies, Human-Reserved Aloha & André Memories

August 31, 2026

Aloha !

Apparently everyone decided the end of August was a good time to shake things up. Google is starting to book hotels inside AI, the big brands are suddenly worried about owner economics, Grand Wailea has a new boss, and Hawaiʻi hotels now have one more policy decision to make involving something we don't usually cover: guns.

And just when you thought that was enough, Bill Gates dropped a nearly 6,000-word essay about where AI is taking us. Spoiler alert: he has some concerns.

Before we dive in, a big mahalo to this month's sponsor, Sassato. Sassato helps hotel and travel companies untangle complex strategy, process, and technology challenges, bringing experienced hospitality leaders in to solve problems, move stalled projects forward, and get sh*t done.

We also have a few free tickets to give away for AHICE Aloha. Want in? Repost any HHH story on LinkedIn, tag us, and email a screenshot to [email protected]. First-come, first-served!

The latest HHH Monthly Market Report is here. Published on the first Tuesday of each month, it summarizes key hotel data with actionable context. Click below to sound like a pro in your next meeting. 😉

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Mahalo for reading, and as always, thank you for being part of the Hui.

Let’s dive in.

Mahalo,

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

Nothing Says Aloha Like a Gun-Free Zone Sign

We already ask guests to notice the resort fee, pool hours, parking rules, and about 37 other signs they mostly ignore. Now we may need to add one more.

Hawaiʻi’s Act 52 had effectively made private businesses firearm-free by default unless they opted in. On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court struck that down, 6-3. The default has now flipped: firearms are allowed unless a business says otherwise, and that means posting a clear, legible sign at every entrance.

Before the GM group chat melts down, the practical universe here is still pretty small. Hawaiʻi only issues carry licenses to residents and does not recognize permits from other states. So no, your guest from Texas does not suddenly get to pack heat in the lobby. At the end of last year, the AG counted 3,764 licenses statewide, roughly a third of one percent of residents 21 and older. Small number. But licenses were up 70.5% year over year, with Honolulu up 90%.

Of course, the sign itself has now become part of the debate. Brady Hawaiʻi began distributing free no-firearms signs to businesses in July, while the Hawaiʻi Firearms Coalition published an open letter urging businesses not to post them. Strong opinions, though neither side has to run your Saturday-night MOD shift.

Hawai’i Hotel Alliance advises hotels, pick a policy, post it correctly, and have procedures for non-compliance before you need them. The piece I’d add is training. A sign is a policy. Your front desk agent is the person who may have to enforce it at 11 p.m. on a Saturday. That conversation deserves more thought than the sign itself.

Grand Wailea: New Boss. Same For-Sale Sign?

The Grand Wailea has named Jon Gersonde its new managing director, putting a very familiar Hawaiʻi hospitality face in charge of the 795-room resort. Gersonde brings 28 years of luxury hospitality experience, including more than a decade in Hawaiʻi, with leadership stops at Ritz-Carlton Maui, 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay, Turtle Bay Resort, Mauna Kea Resort and The Royal Hawaiian. Congrats to Jon on the new role, and best of luck in this next chapter!

He arrives at an interesting time for one of Hawaiʻi's highest-profile resorts, owned by Blackstone and operated by Hilton under its Waldorf Astoria flag. Blackstone acquired the Grand Wailea for about $1.1 billion in 2018, has since completed a major renovation, and refinanced the property with a $1 billion loan last year. Blackstone has been shopping the resort since December 2024, when Bloomberg reported it had hired a broker. Nothing has traded. (For those who don't follow the PE world, five to seven years is a typical hold period. Blackstone is closing in on nine years at the Grand.)

AHICE Aloha: Big Voices, Real Talk, and Free Tickets (Maybe)
-Sponsored-

AHICE Aloha is back in Waikīkī later this month, bringing together hotel and tourism leaders from across Hawaiʻi and beyond.

The 2026 event takes place September 29–30 at Prince Waikīkī, with industry names including Outrigger, Accor, Colliers, Marriott, Wyndham, JLL, STR and CoStar, and, most importantly, Hawai’i Hotel Hui!

The agenda? Hotel development, operations, investment, tourism, tech, and the real-world issues shaping Hawaiʻi hospitality, plus plenty of networking, site tours, and social events around Waikīkī.

Want in? We’ve got a few free tickets to give away. Repost any HHH story on LinkedIn, tag us, and email a screenshot to [email protected]. First-come, first-served!

Value Over Volume: But What’s the Right Volume?

We finally had some time to digest HTA’s new 2026-2030 Strategic Plan, and there’s plenty to like, particularly the focus on accountability, resident sentiment and collaboration. The plan also doubles down on “Value Over Volume,” with the goal of visitor spending growing faster than arrivals. And to be fair, HTA’s definition of a high-value traveler goes well beyond simply attracting more luxury guests.

But it raises a pretty basic question: has anyone done the math on what the right volume actually is? We’re hotel people, not economists, so consider this very much back-of-the-envelope math. Using roughly 9.7 million visitors and $21 billion in annual spending as a benchmark, reducing arrivals to 8 million would require spending per visitor to increase about 21% to keep total visitor spending flat. Go much lower, and the hurdle gets considerably higher.

And, as we’ve written before, Hawaiʻi isn’t a luxury market. It’s a remarkably well-balanced market. Roughly 82% of our hotel inventory sits outside the luxury segment. That matters because replacing several mainstream visitors with one much higher-spending visitor might work on a spreadsheet, but that spending won't necessarily flow to the same places. The casual restaurant, activity operator, retailer, rental-car company and midscale and economy hotels still need customers. Fewer visitors can mean fewer customers, fewer jobs and, taken far enough, fewer businesses.

None of this means Value Over Volume is the wrong strategy. Generating greater economic benefit without endlessly increasing arrivals makes a lot of sense. But less has consequences, particularly in a visitor economy built to serve a broad range of travelers. So before we decide less is better, we'd love to see the math: How much less? Where does the spending go? And what happens to the rest of Hawaiʻi's tourism economy when the volume goes away?

Hotel Performance

Quick Summary (So You Sound Smart in Meetings):

July was the best RevPAR month of the year, up 9.9% statewide to $325.

Ignore the spending headline; Daily spend jumped 17.1%, but visitors didn't spend more. Same money, fewer days: $2,249 a trip over 7.59 nights instead of 8.83.

That shorter trip is the real story. 9,818 more visitors came in July than last year, but they went home sooner, leaving the state with a million fewer visitor nights. Hotels sold 6.3% more room nights anyway, and vacation rentals sold more too. We can't reconcile it 🤷‍♂️. Hotels would need to have gained an implausible share of the market in a single year. We are open to thoughts on this one.

  • Oʻahu is the outlier: 87.8% occupancy, the highest in the state, converted into only 0.7% more rate. Revenue managers asleep at the wheel?

  • Maui led on RevPAR at +14.5% but still charges 11.8% less per room than pre-fire July 2023.

  • Hawaiʻi Island took the most rate, with Kohala Coast ADR up 18.1% on essentially flat occupancy.

  • Kauaʻi posted the second-best rate growth, ADR up 6.2%. But visitor days fell 16%, the steepest drop in the state, and Līhuʻe adds 10.7% more air seats through October. Somebody has to fill those planes.

  • Looking forward, Honolulu air seats go negative for the next three months.

Click here to sound REALLY smart in your next meeting and download the HHH Market Performance Report.

*Hotel performance data will be published in the first issue of each month.

Everybody’s Helping Owners. Sort Of.

Hotel brands have suddenly discovered owner economics. Funny how that happens when owners start complaining about fees en masse. Here’s how the Big Four are responding:

  • Hyatt: Cut IT implementation fees for new openings and says PMS costs to owners are down about 40%.

  • Hilton: Launched RISE and cut loyalty fees by 30 basis points globally (that’s 0.3% for those of us who still have to Google basis points).

  • Marriott: Offering qualifying hotels a rebate of up to 0.5% of room revenue for hitting guest-satisfaction targets.

  • IHG: Not really cutting fees. Instead, it’s adding marketing, digital, training and group-sales support for franchisees.

The important difference? Who’s paying. Marriott’s rebate comes out of Marriott’s pocket. Some of IHG’s earlier savings came from the system fund, which owners already help fund. And I’d be willing to bet Hyatt negotiated a pretty sweet PMS deal before passing those savings along. There’s a difference between giving owners money back and rearranging their money.

Marriott’s maximum rebate works out to 50 cents on a $100 room. For Hawaiʻi, where labor, taxes and operating costs aren’t exactly bargain-basement, every little bit helps. But let’s not confuse a little help with a fundamental change in owner economics.

Want to dive deeper? Marriott’s rebate | IHG’s approach

Google Just Moved the Booking Funnel Into AI Mode

Hot off the presses as of August 27: We’ve been talking about AI eventually booking hotels instead of just recommending them. Well, “eventually” is starting to look a lot like today. Google has started rolling out hotel booking directly inside AI Mode in the U.S., letting travelers search, compare, select a room and complete the booking without leaving the Google experience.

The initial lineup includes Marriott, Hilton, IHG, Choice, Wyndham, Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com, Priceline and Trip.com. Google is also adding the ability to see hotel prices in loyalty points.

Of course, we immediately tried it. AI Mode is getting much better at finding and comparing hotels, but we haven’t seen the new booking functionality yet. Google says it will roll out over the coming weeks, so we’ll keep trying and report back.

The traditional Google search → hotel/OTA → booking engine funnel is starting to get compressed into a conversation. And once again, the OTAs and big brands are first through the door. Amadeus is also working with Google to help bring independent hotels into the agentic booking world, but other hotel tech companies need to move fast or their customers risk getting left behind as this new distribution channel takes shape.

We’ve been beating this drum for a while: AI discoverability, clean hotel data, accurate rates and availability, and solid connectivity are quickly moving from “interesting” to “strategic imperative.”

Want to dive deeper? See Google’s announcement

Is Aloha Human Reserved?

Last issue we talked about a movie about AI that scared the crap out of us; this week it is an essay from Bill Gates (if we have to tell you who Bill Gates is, you should unsubscribe now 😁).

Back in 1995, he wrote his now-famous “Internet Tidal Wave” memo, warning that the internet was about to change the rules. Just for fun, I ran his predictions through AI to see how they held up 31 years later. Its verdict: roughly 85% right. He missed some of the details, but absolutely nailed the big picture. So when he publishes a nearly 6,000-word essay arguing that the transition to AI will be “one of the most turbulent times in human history,” it’s probably worth paying attention.

His predictions aren’t exactly light reading:

  • Many jobs will disappear permanently. Entry- and mid-level jobs are particularly vulnerable as AI becomes capable of working without human supervision.

  • This will happen much faster than previous technology shifts. AI already works on devices we own, speaks our language and, as Gates puts it, “can adapt to us.”

  • It won’t stop with desk jobs. He expects AI and robotics to eventually affect physical work too, specifically mentioning hospitality and construction.

  • Some work should remain human. Gates calls this idea “Human Reserved,” intentionally protecting certain roles even when machines become capable of doing them.

That last one really stuck with me.

Most hotel AI conversations today are about what we can automate: reservations, revenue management, guest messaging, marketing, scheduling, reporting. And if AI can eliminate some of the mind-numbing work we’ve subjected hotel employees to for decades, sign me up.

But Gates raises a much more interesting question:

What shouldn’t we automate?

Hospitality is supposed to be about taking care of people. AI may eventually be better, faster, and cheaper at a surprising amount of what happens inside a hotel, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we should let it do all of it.

Twenty years from now (or maybe 3), Gates may look wildly optimistic, wildly pessimistic, or remarkably prescient. But I suspect “Human Reserved” is an idea we’re going to hear a lot more about.

What parts of hospitality do we want to keep human?

Industry Events

  • Hawaiʻi Tourism Conference 2026 - September 24-25 (Honolulu)

    • Two-day statewide tourism conference focused on destination stewardship, industry resilience, sustainability, and improving visitor and resident experiences.

  • AHICE Aloha - September 29-30, 2026 (Honolulu)

    • The event will feature on-stage sessions alongside fantastic networking events over two days in Hawaii.

  • Maui WaiWise Stewardship Summit - Nov 9-10, 2026 (Maui)

    • Free educational forum hosted by Maui County DWS focused on hotel water conservation, sustainability, and operational efficiency

*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].

This week the inbox was filled with a profound wave of nostalgia, respect, and deep reflection following our tribute to Hawaiʻi hospitality pioneer André S. Tatibouet. Your notes proved that André’s legacy touched every corner of Hawaiʻi’s visitor industry.

As always, this corner of the newsletter is your space for industry therapy and open discourse; printing these reactions doesn’t mean we endorse every take, but we love keeping the conversation flowing.

Remembering André Tatibouet

  • “Your comment on André’s passing … beautifully put.”

  • “If you think you got a good deal, you did.” — André Tatibouet

  • “Consummate hotelier. He learned everyone’s name and genuinely engaged with all, not just the high and mighty.”

  • “The term 'class act' is often over-used, but not when describing Andre. Always ready with a smile, he was articulate, visionary and so well dressed... Did you know his parents founded the Waikikian hotel and its fabled Tahitian Lanai restaurant?”

  • “Most importantly, good point about the Kelleys and Andre and generations past. One of the big problems in Hawaii is that all of the major people/players now report to or work for someone else, usually on the mainland with an investor hat and a closed-end fund... Previously we had local owners who were often hoteliers first. Now we don’t have hoteliers or local owners.”

  • “The Hotel Corporation of the Pacific (HCP) changed its name to Aston on the recommendation of Sally Proctor, who was the DOM of HCP. Andre changed Waikiki on the fly back in the 70’s... we made up stuff from his small office in the Coral Reef Hotel. It would be interesting to know how many Hoteliers Andre helped along the way.”

  • “Wow, back in the day we handled all of his advertising (Gamlin & Wayland Advertising in Honolulu) and came up with the ASTon name using his initials. Rest in peace…”

  • “I had the privilege of knowing him through the development and launch of The Surfjack Hotel & Swim Club... He saw the potential to transform a tired property into something remarkable, and he also saw potential in me, trusting me with an opportunity that helped shape my career. To me, André was an architect of potential.”

  • “Loved the stories he would tell about how his mother, Annalie, and father, Joseph, met and started the roots of Hotel Corporation of the Pacific, soon to become Aston Hotels & Resorts in the late 90's. A true 'Keiki o ka Aina!”

Want to read more memories of André, or share one of your own? Join the conversation on our LinkedIn post.

Renovations, Rates, & ROI Realities

  • “ROI on the renovation spend is heavily dependent on market conditions. You can spend $50 million or more on updating the product, but if demand declines 15%, it will be hard to realize a 10% increase in Revenue... Success of any renovation project also depends on your communication of the changes... Best time to renovate is at the end of a downturn—once you are finished, your new product is positioned to benefit from pent-up demand.”

    • HHH Note: Spot on! The double-whammy challenge is that owners often cut cap-ex during market dips, right when they should take advantage of the slowdown to renovate, and that massive spend often goes toward just maintaining market parity rather than magically boosting rates.

Fresh Stewardship & Reviving Legacy Assets

  • “Looking forward to seeing what the Hawaiian Council has in store for Sea Life Park.”

    • HHH Note: Our top quick-fix recommendations: upgrade the kids' playground and add shade! Turn it into a great spot for keiki and plenty of kamaʻāina will buy annual passes. Add shade to the dolphin show, too! We’ve got a long list; we love the place, but it needs serious TLC (and capital).

  • “Let's see how this project develops. Beautiful location and property.”

Tech Trends & Quick Hits

  • “Regarding AI usage... I saw the 44% number and missed that they’d be willing to try AI end-to-end instead of having tried. Two years from now we’ll get there.”

  • “Yeah, websites are most definitely going to be obsolete in the near future.”

  • “[HDC] was one of the better conferences.”

Praise from the Hui

  • “What did I ever do without Hawaii Hotel Hui! Thanks for the updates.”

  • “SO spot-on, braddah. Perfectly timed topic for hospitality here right now!”

  • “Mahalo for the interesting stories. Keep up the good work.”

Got a hot take on cap-ex timing, a memory of old Waikīkī, or a prediction on when AI will start managing your direct bookings? The inbox confessional is wide open.

Fire off your anonymous thoughts, spicy retorts, or wisdom to [email protected] or [email protected], and you just might see your take in the next issue.

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.