Green Sea Turtle in one of the Tidal Pools of the Keauhou Beach Resort
In what for me was a very sad bit of news, my friend and top Hawaii Island blogger, Damon Tucker, reports that Kamehameha Schools announced yesterday that it has instructed its for-profit subsidiary, KBH, Inc. to give Outrigger Hotels' management formal notice that it will close the Keauhou Beach Hotel at the end of October.
My wife and I stayed at the resort in November 2008 when I was on the island to cover the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival for which the resort was, for many years, the host hotel. At that time, following a significant renovation in 2007, I reviewed the resort and found it to be one of the favorite places I had stayed in Hawaii.
According to Damon's blog post, the resort had fallen on hard economic times in recent years and would have required another significant investment to bring it up to today's standards. I recall that the following year I stopped by and noticed that the main restaurant had been closed for dinner.
The majority of recent reviews on TripAdvisor have remained quite positive, although some have indicated that the rooms once again were in need of renovation.
The owners plans are to close the resort at the end of October and at some point demolish the property and attempt to restore the site to its original, historic land plan and use the property for cultural and educational purposes.
Be sure to check out Damon's blog post for much more detail on the reasons for the closure, the effects on staff and future plans for the property.
We stayed here in February 2008.
It was really nice,loved the the breakfast out on the patio.
Kind of sad to hear it is closing
So very sad to hear the news of closing of Keahou. My husband and I have stayed there for the last six years on winter vacation. Going there was like going to an old friend’s house. All the personnel were great and will miss seeing them next year. Aloha.
I feel so blessed to have stayed there. In 2003, I took my 9year old daughter to Hawaii for the first time and we both agree that’ it was a magical place to stay. My favorite vacation memories with her are from that trip and the Keahou Beach Resort. You will be missed
This was our honeymoon and anniversary spot since 1995. Many wonderful memories. Learned how to “hula” in a class here. Snorkeled along side a few turtles here. No surprise it turns out to be a Hawaiian Heritage Site. Glad it will be restored to a Cultural Center; very sad to see the hotel go. We are blessed with the times we did have there. Mahalo nui!