Four Seasons Resort Lanai is a Four Seasons resort hotel located in Lanai City on the island of Lānaʻi, the smallest and least inhabited of Hawaii's six major islands that once was recognized for its pineapple plantation. The island of Lānaʻi hosts two other hotels, Sensei Lanai, A Four Seasons Resort (previously known as "The Lodge at Koele"), and Hotel Lanai, a 3-star boutique hotel.
| Four Seasons Resort Lāna’i | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Former names | The Manele Bay Hotel |
| Hotel chain | Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts |
| General information | |
| Location | Lānaʻi, Hawaii |
| Address | 1 Manele Bay Rd, Lanai City, HI 96763 |
| Coordinates | 20°44′30″N 156°53′47″W / 20.74167°N 156.89639°W |
| Completed | 1991 (as Manele Bay) |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 168 |
| Number of suites | 45 |
| Number of restaurants | 5 |
| Website | |
| www | |
| [1][2] | |
Originally opened as The Manele Bay Hotel in 1991, the hotel started operating under the Four Seasons brand in 2005. After it underwent a major renovation from 2012 to 2016, the Four Seasons Resort Lanai was reopened in February 2016. It features 168 rooms and 45 suites, and a golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus.
History
editManele Bay
editThe Mānele Bay Resort was built in 1991, the year that marked the island of Lānaʻi's last harvest of pineapple, which was started in the 1920s by James Dole, dubbed as King of Pineapple. Over the following decades, the island became a major supplier, and in some years its production was accounted for 75% of the world's production of pineapple.[3] However, only a few years after it bought the Dole Corporation, Castle & Cooke announced its intentions of transforming the island into a luxury resort destination, and in 1985, after being acquired by David Murdock, Castle & Cooke started taking serious steps for the new development plan. Construction began a few years later and the Lodge at Koele was built and opened in 1990, followed by The Mānele Bay in the next year.[4]
Four Seasons Resort Lanai
editThe hotel came under the management of Four Seasons in 2005.[1] When it was reopened in 2005 under the new brand, the hotel reflected a combination of Polynesian and Hawaiian designs, along with many rooms that had large lanais and views of Hulopoʻe Beach, which offered snorkeling.
In 2012, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison bought 98% of the island from Castle & Cooke for a reported $300 million, with the remaining 2% owned by the state.[5][6][7] After buying the island, Ellison decided to transform the Manele Bay into a luxury resort at a cost of $450 million. It took years of work and a seven-month closure before it was completed in February 2016, with the hotel's lobby being redesigned three times. It featured rooms that were designed by Todd-Avery Lenahan.[8][9]
Property
editFour Seasons Resort Lanai currently houses 213 guest rooms, including 45 private suites. Other amenities include spa services, pools, and fitness facilities. It has three meeting rooms that have 10,867 square feet (1,009.6 m2) of space and are able to hold up to 560 people.[2] It includes a Nobu restaurant, which is a restaurant chain run by chef Nobu Matsuhisa; Ellison owns another Nobu restaurant in Malibu.[10]
The resort was constructed with a 7,039-yard, par-72 championship premier golf course, which was designed by Jack Nicklaus.
Rating and awards
editFour Seasons Resort Lanai is ranked by the AAA as a Five Diamond Resort, while ONE Forty Restaurant ranked it as a Four Diamond Restaurant.[11][12] It is also ranked as a 5-Star Resort by Forbes Travel Guide (formerly Mobil).[13][14]
It was named #1 hotel in the United States by the U.S. News & World Report in their 2018 and 2020 lists.[15][16] It was listed on Robb Report's Best of the Best 2016-Journeys.[17] The golf course received Golf Digest's Editors’ Choice Award for Best in Travel 2018.[18]
The Lodge at Koele
editEight miles away, The Lodge at Kōʻele was built in 1990 and became a Four Seasons in 2005.[19] It was closed in January 2015 to be renovated.[20] It opened in November 2019 as Sensei Lanai, a wellness resort with 92 rooms and 4 suites.[3] At the time it was Four Seasons' first adults-only wellness resort.[21]
References
edit- ^ a b "Resorts Facts - Four Seasons Resort Lanai". Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
- ^ a b "Four Seasons Resort Lanai". Travel Weekly. Archived from the original on 2018-02-17.
- ^ a b "Four Seasons just unveiled its first all-inclusive wellness resort". Fortune. March 7, 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-03-08.
- ^ "Lanai Historic Summary". Lānaʻi Culture & Heritage Center. Archived from the original on 2015-09-15.
- ^ "Oracle CEO Ellison to Buy Most of Hawaiian Island Lanai". Bloomberg. June 20, 2012.
- ^ "Billionaire closes 97% of island's hotels for renovations". USA Today. May 13, 2015.
- ^ "Larry Ellison's Private Eden Is Open for Business". Bloomberg. April 13, 2015. Archived from the original on 2016-04-30.
- ^ "TAL Studio's Todd Avery-Lenahan leads redesign of Four Seasons Resort Lanai at Manele Bay". Hotel Management. July 22, 2014. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
- ^ "Larry Ellison Wants Lanai to Be the Most Incredible Resort in the World". Town & Country. April 7, 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-04-14.
- ^ "Review: Larry Ellison's $2,800 a night Four Seasons Lanai at Koele hotel". January 27, 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-04-22.
- ^ AAA/CAA Five Diamond Hotels January 31, 2019 Archived
- ^ "AAA Hawaii: AAA Five, Four Diamond Restaurants Announced". February 14, 2019. Archived from the original on 2020-06-14.
- ^ "Four Seasons Resort Lanai Named Five star Hotel By Forbes Travel Guide in Official 2019 Ratings (Press release)". Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. February 20, 2019.
- ^ "Four Seasons Resort Lanai". Forbes Travel Guide.
- ^ "Lanai resort tops list of best hotels in U.S. News 2020 ranking". Pacific Business News. February 4, 2020.
- ^ "U.S. News Releases 2018 Best Hotels Rankings". U.S. News & World Report. Feb 6, 2018.
- ^ "Best of the Best 2016: Journeys - Resorts: Four Seasons Resort Lanai". Robb Report. May 25, 2016.
- ^ "Four Seasons Resort Lanai Receives Golf Digest Editors' Choice Award". The Jet Set. Mar 21, 2020.
- ^ "Resort Facts | Four Seasons Resort Lanai, the Lodge at Koele".
- ^ "Larry Ellison's shuttered Lanai resort to undergo $75M makeover, add spa, fitness amenities". Pacific Business News. Jun 20, 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-06-27.
- ^ "Four Seasons Transforms One Of Its Hawaiian Hotels Into Its First-Ever Adults-Only Wellness Retreat". Robb Report. October 16, 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-10-17.