The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, an Autograph Collection property on Hawai‘i Island’s Kohala Coast, has unveiled a new $180 million-plus renovation it says is the “most extensive transformation in the property’s 60-year history.”
The renovation, which spans both the hotel’s Main Tower and Beachfront Wing, includes 252 “fully reimagined” guest rooms and suites, along with a refreshed family resort pool with a new oceanfront hot tub and five private cabanas, a recent announcement noted.
Additions throughout both wings include handcrafted textiles, ceiling fans and plantation shutters, bedside lighting control panels, glass lānai doors, bathrooms with deep soaking tubs and more.
The Mauna Kea Suite master bedroom. (Mauna Kea Resort) 
The living room of the Hualālai Suite. (Mauna Kea Resort) 
A room with an ocean view. (Mauna Kea Resort) 
The adults-only infinity pool at Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. (Mauna Kea Resort) 
Renovations include a new oceanfront wellness retreat with a 2,500-square-foot fitness center. (Mauna Kea Resort) 
Another guest room at Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. (Mauna Kea Resort)
There’s also a new oceanfront wellness retreat with a state-of-the-art, 2,500-square-foot fitness center and an adults-only infinity lap pool along with refreshed public spaces with a curated gallery from the Rockefeller Art Collection.
According to the hotel, photovoltaic solar panels that supply about 45% of the resort’s overall electrical energy needs have also been added.
Other enhancements include the redesign of the Mauna Kea Golf Course by Robert Trent Jones Jr., the opening of the 28,000-square-foot ‘Ulu Garden, upgraded in-room amenities, and updates to the hotel’s restaurants, the announcement notes.
The casual, open-air Hau Tree Cantina, for example, is a “re-concepting” of the resort’s beachfront dining venue, the announcement notes. Its lunch menu will include items like salads, burgers and Baja-style fish tacos, and evenings will feature contemporary regional Mexican dishes.
Meanwhile, the resort’s signature Manta restaurant also received a “refresh and introduced a new hyper garden-to-table menu” the hotels says is centered on local and seasonal ingredients that come from Big Island farmers, fishermen, ranchers and the resort’s new ‘Ulu Garden.
And coming this spring is The Spa at Mauna Kea, which will offer 11 treatment rooms, purification gardens, steam and sauna facilities, a pool and more.
“This renovation was always part of our long-term vision for Mauna Kea Beach Hotel,” hotel manager Kansas Henderson said in a statement provided to ASD. “Plans for the transformation were already underway prior to the [Covid-19] pandemic, and while it understandably paused our timeline, it did not pause our commitment.
“As travel resumed around the globe, ownership recognized it was the right time to bring this long-planned vision to life, honoring our responsibility to preserve the hotel’s historic legacy and its culturally significant art collection while delivering the elevated and unforgettable experience today’s guests expect. The timing ultimately reflects both commitment and responsibility, ensuring Mauna Kea continues to create lasting memories for generations to come.”
Henderson says that on average, the hotel hosts approximately 25,000 visitors each year.
Mauna Kea Beach Hotel opened with 154 rooms in July 1965.
“It was while swimming in the turquoise waters of Kauna‘oa Bay, surrounded by a vast landscape of lava rock and ranchland with clear views of Maunakea’s summit, that American conservationist and venture capitalist Laurance S. Rockefeller decided to build Hawai‘i Island’s first resort,” a history on the hotel website notes. “His inspiration to capture the spirit of this special place and ensure the hotel conformed to, rather than intruded upon, these beautiful natural surroundings, became today’s Mauna Kea Beach Hotel.”
Its $15 million build-out made the hotel the most expensive hotel ever built at the time, the site states. Room rates started at $43 per night and included breakfast and dinner. The hotel expanded in 1968 with the Beachfront Wing and has undergone other renovations over the years.
Mauna Kea Beach Hotel shares 1,839 oceanfront acres with The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort and Mauna Kea Residences, which together form the Mauna Kea Resort.
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Stephanie Salmons can be reached at stephanie@alohastatedaily.com.
