Hotel renamed The Kahala
By Rick Daysog
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Kahala Mandarin Oriental will be known simply as The Kahala beginning March 1 in conjunction with a change of management at the luxury hotel.
Landmark Hotels Inc., which is headed by one of the partners that acquired the 364-room hotel last year, will replace The Mandarin Oriental Group, which has managed the exclusive resort for the past 11 years.
Terms of the new management contract were not disclosed.
Charles Sweeney, Landmark's chairman, said the new owners plan an extensive renovation.
A spokeswoman for the company added that the renovation plans have not yet been completed.
Sweeney, a former Amfac Inc. executive, also is chairman of Trinity Investments LLC, whose affiliate Kahala Hotel Investors LLC acquired the hotel last year in a deal estimated at $170 million.
Other investors in the venture include high-end Japanese furniture company Sala Azabu Co. and hotel developer Ken Corp. The group acquired the Kahala hotel from Japanese commodities executive Katsumi Iida's Kahala Royal Corp.
Landmark has managed a number of Trinity properties during the past several years, including the Kea Lani Resort, Villas and Spa.
Mandarin had held a 40 percent interest in the hotel until last summer, when it sold its stake to Iida's Kahala Royal Corp. for $97 million.
Built in 1964 on leasehold land owned by the Kamehameha Schools, the Kahala hotel is O'ahu's only AAA-5 Diamond resort.
Reach Rick Daysog at rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com.