Built in 1964 as one of hotel magnate Conrad Hilton's pet projects, the Kahala quickly became a Hawaiian icon -- Liz Taylor and Richard Burton hid out from the paparazzi in a cabana there after getting married (for the first time) in 1964. It has hosted celebrities from all domains ever since. Snoop Doggy Dogg, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Clinton, the 1987 (i.e., mid-"transformation") version ofMichael Jackson -- they're all up there on the hotel's Wall of Fame just off the main lobby, along with dozens of others. Some have even left love notes. Carrie Fisher: "Aloha Kahala -- the only two Hawaiian words I need to know(?!) except mahalo + love." Elton John: "What a great experience to come back to a hotel that is paradise. Thank you SO much for the care and service."
Elton knows a good place when he sees one. And it's that care and service he mentioned that, as much as its quiet locale, separate the Kahala from its few luxury competitors in Oahu. Throw in four superb restaurants, a quasi-private beach, and the only swim-with-the-dolphins experience on the island (the only other one in Hawaii is at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island) and you have a unique Oahu experience more akin to the luxury resorts on Maui and Kauai than anything on its own island.
Others like it too -- and not just celebrities. The Kahala hosts scores of weddings every year, sometimes as many as four or five in a single weekend. It gets named on just about every "best of" list every year, including Travel + Leisure's Top 500 Hotels list and Conde Nast Traveler's Gold List. Even more impressive, it garners those accolades without the benefit of the glitz and flash of the other islands' best hotels. No one spritzes you with Evian water by the pool like they do at the Four Seasons Maui. You're not greeted by a wall of waterfalls and Fernando Botero sculptures like you are at the Grand Wailae. Instead you get a pet stingray, a "kissing point" out off the beach, and toddlers petting dolphins as part of the "Wee Family, Fins and Fun" package.
The service is what really separates the Kahala from its competitors in Waikiki. Some of the employees have worked at the hotel since the beginning (1964) -- a fact the hotel's management takes great pride in. In the dining rooms, I was addressed as Mr. W____. When you arrive in yourroom, Hawaiian slack-guitar music is playing on the CD player. Every employee you pass smiles and says hi. And listen to this:
At breakfast one morning, one of the acai berry compotes at the buffet was filled to the brim, and I spilled juice on my shorts on the way back to my table. Having seen the accident, my waitress immediately grabbed club soda and lemon juice and rushed over to work on the stain. (Get your mind out of the gutter! -- the stain was at the base of my shorts.) By the end of breakfast, when it was clear the stain hadn't completely come out, my waitress sent the manager over. I told her it was no big deal, but she insisted, and left to talk to the hotel manager. A few moments later she returned to let me know that the hotel would wash the shorts for me, no charge, and have them ready by the next day. All I had to do was hang them on my door. The next morning at breakfast, the first thing my waitress asked me was whether my shorts got cleaned. "Yep," I said. "Good as new."Source from http://www.oyster.com
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