Builder's Paradise

Since Hawaii achieved statehood in 1959, the waves of tourism that wash its many beaches have reached almost tidal proportions. Visitors have increased by 75% in the past six years, and developers have rushed to capitalize on the bonanza. On four of Hawaii's major islands, some 64 resorts and hotels are now in various stages of building or planning. This week one of the biggest names in the resort business in another ocean makes his Pacific bow: Laurance Rockefeller will open his $15 million-plus Mauna Kea Beach Hotel complex on the "big island" of Hawaii.

$100,000 per Room. A rare blend of innkeeper and conservationist, Rockefeller has until now specialized in the Caribbean, building quiet, out-of-the-way resorts on Bali-Ha'i beaches with 24-carat accommodations--Caneel Bay on St. John's, Little Dix Bay on Virgin Gorda, Dorado Beach in Puerto Rico. Mauna Kea may prove his biggest resort investment so far. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the hotel is a tiered, four-story structure whose 154 rooms surround palm-filled inner courtyards. Guests with rooms facing west gaze out on a beach with sand the consistency of powdered sugar and water that has never known seaweed. Those to the east look out over an 18-hole golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones that Jack Nicklaus has described as "more fun to play than any course I know." Farther to the east stands Mauna Kea itself, whose 13,825-ft. snow-capped crest makes it the tallest island mountain in the world.

The interiors are almost as spectacular. Not one to pinch pennies on the extras that make the difference, Rockefeller lined lobbies, corridors and courtyards with $90,000 worth of art objects, ranging from a 13th century Buddha head to colorful Hawaiian quilts. Although modest in size, the guest rooms ($28 to $48 a day) are sumptuously outfitted. All feature willow headboards from Milan, teak bedside tables, Thai bedspreads and framed collections of seashells, plus spacious balconies to sun on. Bathrooms have mirror walls, marble sink counters, built-in ice-cube makers and overhead infrared lamps. A tri-level restaurant affords virtually every table a front-row view of the ocean. Rockefeller's total costs come to an astronomical $100,000 per room--a handsome bet on the hope that intelligent and affluent tourists will spend the extra effort to get to his faraway paradise rather than stop short at Waikiki Beach.

Other Places, Other Builders. South of Rockefeller's Mauna Kea, California Oil Millionaire Johnno M. Jackson is opening Kona Village in September, which will consist of 130 cottages spread around a lagoon, each decorated and designed in Malayan, Fijian, Samoan or Tahitian style. Public facilities will be housed in an authentic long house built over the ruins of an old meeting house. Because a tortuous, seven-mile trail is all that connects the village with public highways and commercial airports, guests will have to be ferried in by private plane or boat.

All of the outer islands, which ten years ago had only one hotel room for every four on Waikiki Beach, are bustling. On Kauai, the Sheraton Corp. of America is about to start spadework on a 200-room luxury hotel, and the foundations were recently begun for the 250-room Royale Gardens Hotel that will look out over the island's east coast. On Maui, the first 160 rooms of Kaanapali Hotel recently opened. Eventually, the hotel will cost $60 million and provide 2,500 rooms, three 18-hole golf courses, a shopping center and convention facilities. Kapalua Beach north of Kaanapali is slated for four new 200-to 400-room resort hotels, one to be built by Hilton.

More Aloha. Oahu developers are not sitting on their lanais. Five miles east of Waikiki, the Hilton chain two winters ago opened a ten-story, 300-room monument to the American tourist. From its 2,500-lb. crystal chandelier in the lobby to its cabana-rimmed oval swimming pool (60 ft. from the ocean), it is a midsummer night's dream of opulence. Higher-priced suites feature divided his and hers bathrooms, hers sporting an oversized bathtub, his a stall shower. Outside, porpoises frolic in a large garden pool shaded by trellises loaded down with bougainvillaea. As a finishing touch, the Kahala Hilton has opened its own heliport, which cuts the hops to Honolulu's airport from 40 to ten minutes.

Equally lavish is the new 30-story Ilikai Hotel, which looms over Waikiki Beach. This towering, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious structure (Julie Andrews is now in residence) was built by Hawaiian Tycoon Chinn Ho and is described by him as having "more aloha per cubic foot than any other hotel in the world." It houses 509 condominium apartments and 506 hotel rooms, each of which commands a matchless view of Diamond Head or Koolau Range, and has its own kitchenette, complete with refrigerator, toaster and coffee maker.

Guests can come and go to their rooms via a glass-walled elevator suspended outside the building or sit by a musical fountain whose waters dance and change colors in harmony with piped-in music. Next project on Ho's agenda is a 5,000-acre development along the northwestern Makaha Beach (famed for its 30-ft. surfing waves). When finished, it will comprise 4,000 hotel rooms, 5,000 homes and a 36-hole golf course.

If the tourist estimates hold up and the new resorts pay off, thousands of Hawaiians will find themselves with a lot of cash on their hands. What will they do with it? Probably spend their vacation in Tokyo or New York City, just to get away from it all.

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