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Iconic Waikiki hotel closes
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-11 11:11 HONOLULU: THE Y-shaped Ilikai hotel that has graced the Waikiki skyline for nearly five decades and hosted everyone from US presidents to Elvis Presley is closing.
New York-based iStar Financial Inc, which acquired the hotel for $51 million at a foreclosure auction in May, hasn't indicated what it will do with the 203 hotel rooms in the 1,000-unit hotel-condo property. The final hours for the roughly 75 full-time employees who abruptly lost their jobs were filled with hugs, picture taking and emotions. Wearing bright floral leis and black buttons to show support for their union, they tearfully turned in their hotel ID cards and uniforms before they punched out one last time and werehanded their final paycheck. The employees expressed frustration about how a vibrant, successful 800-room hotel operation has been dismantled, sold off in pieces as time shares and forced into foreclosure in just three years by former owner Brian Anderson. Many still hold out hope that the new owner will reopen the Ilikai with the same employees. However, many fear the iStar will open the Ilikai with a non-unionised work force. Guests are being relocated to other hotels. The 30-story Ilikai was considered Hawaii's first luxury high-rise hotel when it was completed in 1964. It gained prominence in the 1970s when it was featured in the opening sequence of the hit TV series 'Hawaii Five-0.' |
