Patrick Fitzgerald, president and chief executive officer of Kona Village and the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, said it is 99 percent certain that Kona Village will reopen. Celebrities often arrived by private plane to vacation at Kona Village because it was the antithesis of the concrete-and-marble mega-resorts that more commonly dot Hawaii’s hotel landscapes. The circa-1965 property was known for its unplugged Polynesian-style, thatched-hut hales that had no door locks or telephones, TV or Wi-Fi. To many the Kona Village is a resort unlike any other in Hawaii, and its fans would be dismayed if it isn’t revived. While the Four Seasons has reopened, and Kona Beach Hotel has been repaired, the Kona Village is still closed. Nine months have passed since an earthquake off the coast of Japan sent the waves hurtling across the Pacific Ocean. It also caused the island’s average daily hotel rate and its revenue per available room to plummet by 14 percent in April, according to Hospitality Advisors LLC. It’s effect on the three hotels cost hundreds of employees their jobs, at least temporarily, and dampened tourism along the Kona-Kohala Coast, a region that accounts for more than 80 percent of Hawaii island’s visitor arrivals. The tsunami temporarily closed the neighboring Four Seasons Resort Hualalai and damaged King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel. When the resort closed on March 11 after a devastating tsunami, the family’s tradition was broken. This was our paradise," said Bilbao-Miller, who has wintered at the resort every year since 1999. in a foot of snow, and by noon we were playing in the ocean. Dana Bilbao-Miller should be packing suitcases for her family’s annual trip to Kona Village Resort and finding respite from the harsh Boise, Idaho, winters.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |