Saturday Briefing

By David Carey

The Wyland Waikiki will soon be flying a new flag, while still under our management. Hotel owner, Lodging Capital Partners LLC, has signed a franchise agreement with Marriott International’s moderately-priced Courtyard by Marriott brand to market the 404-room hotel as the Courtyard by Marriott Waikiki Beach, effective this June. Outrigger Enterprises Group will continue to manage the property for the owners following the conversion.
This is good news for Outrigger on many levels. We’re delighted that the hotel’s owners have expressed their confidence in Outrigger by maintaining our management of the property. This means that hotel employees will continue to be part of our Outrigger ‘ohana, and hotel guests will continue to enjoy Outrigger’s renowned island hospitality.

As with our other independent and franchised properties, Outrigger will retain responsibilities for wholesale travel sales, which means the hotel will continue to benefit from Outrigger’s long-standing relationships and connectivity with travel partners around the world.

We are also pleased to renew our association with Marriott International, a relationship first established nearly a decade ago when we entered into our own franchise agreement to market our former Wailea and Waikoloa resorts under the Marriott flag. That experience was a positive and strategic move for our company, which showcased our expertise in managing world-class resorts under nationally-recognized brands.

For the hotel, the affiliation with Courtyard by Marriott will bring a powerful global brand and distribution system to play, as well as access to the millions of members of the Marriott Rewards® program.

We expect the transition to the Courtyard by Marriott brand to run smoothly over the next few months, under the direction of incoming General Manager Jim Heather and Vice President of Operations Bruce Schneider, with much of the work taking place behind the scenes, while appropriate technical franchise systems are put in place. In the meantime, it will be business as usual, with our staff providing the very best in island hospitality to each and every guest.