Hawaii beckons, even at half capacity
Hawaii is open to visitors again, even at half capacity
Islands are offering deals as they lure back visitors during pandemic.
One can’t blame Robert Blackborough for getting misty-eyed when asked how thrilled he is now that Hawaii is sharing the aloha spirit with visitors again. After all, it was only the third evening since the Ritz- Carlton Kapalua’s signature restaurant, which he oversees, was open after a monthslong shutdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When I observed our staff welcoming back guests for the first time since March, I was filled with unexpected emotion,” Blackborough said at the beachfront and properly spaced Banyan Tree restaurant of which he is the food and beverage director. “Being isolated on the islands, we longed for visitors to return. Seeing the staff interact with people other than ourselves for what seemed like an eternity nearly brought me to tears.”
Over at the reduced-capacity Old Lahaina Luau, Kawika Freitas, director of public and cultural relations, was posed the same question on the dinner show’s third night back from a ninemonth hiatus.
“We are excited to reopen as it benefits our employees by being employed, our guests who have been patiently waiting to not only travel, but visit Maui and come to our luau, and for Maui’s economic recovery,” Freitas said as guests received food not in a buffet line, but from broad-smiling servers who looked relieved and recharged.
Hawaiians, especially those in the tourist trade, haven’t welcomed visitors with arms this widely open perhaps since Capt. James Cook’s arrival 242 years ago. While the British explorer responded to the islanders’ hospitality by giving them goats, pigs and seeds — not to mention deadly infectious diseases — today’s visitors are leaving behind much-needed dollars to restart a tourism industry that represents Hawaii’s primary source of income.
The sour note on the ukulele you hear is a concern that an economic comeback could come at the price of history repeating itself.
Caught in a catch-22 — weighing the health of citizens during a pandemic against consequences of a loss of more than 100,000 jobs and nearly 20% of tax revenue — the state has implemented a compromise of sorts. The Safe Travels Hawaii program that was rolled out in mid- October allows trans-Pacific visitors to be exempted from the mandatory 10day quarantine — which was 14 days until December — by providing a negative COVID-19 test result within 72 hours of departure. That’s a challenge when state-authorized providers warn that results can take three days.
For the tropics-minded mainlander who simply wants to get away from it all now, getting there isn’t half the fun these days. The program has strict rules and deadlines for testing and requires documentation in print and online formats. Plus, extra steps are needed if your plans include visiting multiple islands, even if it’s just for a layover.
Then after hours of flying, long lines for a temperature check and confirmation that the prep work was done right are not uncommon at the major airport on Oahu, or those on Maui and the Big Island. Kauai, which has the fewest number of ICU beds among the state’s five counties, has tougher restrictions.
And one more thing: “The Safe Travels program is constantly reviewed and evaluated, and policies related to pre-travel testing are subject to change with little notice,” according to a spokesperson with the Hawaii COVID-19 Joint Information Center.
As proof of the program’s winds ever changing, Hawaii Lt. Gov. Josh Green is now proposing relaxed rules for those who have received a second dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Best to check gohawaii.com/travel-requirements early and often.
The good news is that Hi’iaka, Hawaiian goddess of clouds, offers a silver lining: Once the red tape is cut, a red carpet awaits you. Never has this longtime island hopper felt more appreciated by the locals than over the holidays on Maui.
Lahaina’s boutiques and galleries, which felt uppity before, greeted customers with a warm “aloha.” Airport personnel even appeared more welcoming and patient. No one seemed to be taking anything for granted this trip, which makes sense when December visitorship dropped to an estimated 65,000 from 276,000 the year before and arrivals statewide decreased 73.7 percent in the first 11 months of 2020.
Until Hawaii gets back on its sandy feet, the Aloha State is pretty much a buyer’s market. Rates at many of Waikiki’s larger hotels on Oahu are more competitive than ever. Through March, a room at the Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach is going for as low as $135 a night, including breakfast, and on west Maui, a suite at the Kaanapali Beach Club can be booked at half price.
The Ritz- Carlton Kapalua isn’t discounting rooms, but guests are enjoying the added serenity of a tony beachfront property voluntarily maxing out at 50% occupancy to promote safe distancing, and only premium units are being let. On Kauai, a two-bedroom unit with kitchen that normally goes for $800 can be found for about $600.
Unlike Hawaii’s hotels, which don’t have capacity restrictions, at least at press time, restaurants by county order must abide by occupancy or table-distancing regulations. At the oceanside Roy’s in east Honolulu, spacing tables the minimum 6 feet apart has reduced capacity by about 50%. Pineapple’s Island Fresh Cuisine, one of Hilo’s top restaurants on the Big Island, was already intimate with 20 tables and now must survive on only 10.
Restaurants in Maui County became the most restricted in the state when amended public-health emergency rules took effect on Jan. 2. Mayor Mike Victorino blamed an uptick in COVID-19 cases to limit bar and restaurant occupancy to no more than 30% of capacity. That’s down from 50% when Duke’s Beach House General Manager Nick Ware scheduled 11 servers for a dinner shift instead of a preCOVID 17.
“Laying off 177 people when we were forced to close in March is the hardest thing I had to do professionally. We’re ohana,” Ware said, using the Hawaiian term for “family” on a busy, albeit socially distanced Christmas Eve. “It was the first time I shed a tear in this business because I knew we wouldn’t be able to bring everyone back.”
Harsher occupancy restrictions can only make rehiring even more difficult for Hawaii’s restaurants — and that’s dependent on their ability to survive. While the Kaanapali Beach Hotel has been taking advantage of scant occupancy to build its first beachfront restaurant, Huihui, planned for an April opening, more than 50 restaurants have closed during the pandemic, according to restaurant support site foodagogo.org.
Tony Roma’s and Kobe Japanese Steak House on Oahu, two Ruth’s Chris Steak Houses and dozens of mom-and-pops have sadly gone the way of the sugarcane in Hawaii.
Even what many consider the best restaurant in all of Hawaii isn’t immune to the virus.
“It remains to be seen if remaining open is even profitable at 50% capacity,” said Karen Christenson, vice president of Maui’s Mama’s Fish House two weeks before occupancy was further shrunk.
Looking toward the positive, the founders’ daughter said when the North Shore landmark reopened for dinner in November regulars appreciated the reduced number of tables and management noticed a lean staff as well-oiled as Mama’s signature stuffed and macadamia nut-encrusted mahi-mahi.
“Some people feel we’re a little better even because of the spacing, the intimacy that you have, and I’ve noticed that our smaller team is, in a way, stronger,” Christenson said before thoughts took her back to March 19, when the near-half-centuryold restaurant was shut down. “It felt surreal, definitely very sad, but it felt necessary at the time. We didn’t argue about it at all. We said, ‘Let’s do it and get it over with.’ No one ever predicted it would go on this long. And the longer it went, the harder it got.
The trickle effect of Mama’s temporary closure impacted all suppliers, including the largest chocolate factory in Hawaii. No billfolds dropped on tables meant no complimentary squares of Maui Kuia Estate Chocolate as a sweet send-off. Wholesale distribution crashed only six months into sales at the fledgling company and a mere two days following the opening of its public tasting room at the Lahainabased factory.
Enjoying an established brand is Chef Gerard Reversade, whose namesake restaurant just had the biggest December in his 38 years owning Gerard’s. With Lahaina Grill down the block not reopening until February, and other fine dining restaurants on Maui’s West Shore still shuttered, visitors with sophisticated palates are clearly hungry for contemporary island French cuisine and an impressive wine list.
It also helps when the clientele is 80% repeat customers.
The ambiance isn’t too shabby either, being seated at a romantic table on the veranda or garden patio of the 18-room Plantation Inn, one of the top bed-andbreakfasts on the island.
Two of the nation’s top golf clubs are also on Maui, and now that their five collective courses have reopened, tee times these days are almost as easy to get as shaved ice. Golfers who’ve dreamed of hitting the links at Wailea Golf Club might want to take advantage of the 50% to 60% drop in rounds at the three 18hole courses now open on a rotating basis. What a treat it was playing as a twosome on the gorgeous Emerald Course with no one in front of or behind us nearly the entire round.
Over at Kapalua Golf, a starter estimated that business is off about 70% partly due to a reduced tee-time period of 8 a.m.-noon.
That goes for both the challenging Plantation Course, and the beautiful Bay Course, home of Maui’s only hole played over the ocean. If not for those darn leeward winds, this duffer would have cleared it, too.