TheBuzz Erika Engle

---

Turtle Bay, others win magazine kudos

A Hawaii resort's cottages and several other Hawaii hotels' spas are getting some nice national ink in the current issues of magazines read by well-heeled travelers.

Turtle Bay Resort's upgraded cottages, formerly known as cabanas, were listed on Coastal Living magazine's 15 Best Waterfront Inns in America.

"Turtle Bay Resort may underwhelm you as you enter the main hotel's uninspired grounds," writes freelancer Tate Taylor.

But it gets better. He soon melts away any "yikes" response to his opening salvo.

"Then, as you cross the threshold of your private cottage both your heart and judgments stand still." He describes them as "exquisitely appointed, with views that will keep you from closing your curtains," and mentions the creative food at chef-owner Fred DeAngelo's Ola restaurant, where the views "equal those in your cottage."

Taylor was sent to Turtle Bay by the magazine to check it out since his editors had been hearing "so much about it," and he decided to focus on the cottages rather than on the whole resort, said Susan Haynes, a senior editor at the magazine.

Coastal Living "can't possibly, in our 10 issues a year, cover all of the wonderful hotels," mom-and-pop accommodations and other places that the writers and freelancers discover, she said. So, it was decided the magazine would do an annual roundup of the favorites and that it would be a mix. Not all of them are as high-end as the $900 a night for a Turtle Bay cottage.

Hawaii's first entry on the list, in 2004, was the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

It was a Haynes pick. "I happen to love that hotel," she said, based on many personal experiences staying in "the old, pink part ... the original part." She has been a visitor to Hawaii since "way before I joined the magazine" nine years ago.

Last year the magazine included the Cliff's Edge, a bed-and-breakfast at Huelo Point on Maui. "It's just this small inn that one of our staff writers wanted to check out while she was there and just fell in love with it," Haynes said.

Coastal Living is a lifestyle magazine focused on life "within sight, sound, taste, touch or smell of salt water," along the entire North American coast, including Canada, Alaska and Hawaii, the coast of Central America and the Caribbean. "We don't do lakes," with the exception of the Great Lakes, Haynes said. It has a circulation of 625,000 and readership of 4 million.

"I'll tease you and tell you we will be having a piece on Lahaina in the near future," said Haynes, who freely admits to being a Hawaii enthusiast. "I love the islands," she said.

Spa-mpering

The World's Best Spas in 2006 include 10 hotel spas in Hawaii, according to readers of Travel + Leisure magazine.

The top local vote-getter was the Hualalai Sports Club & Spa at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai.

It was followed by spas at the Hotel Hana-Maui, the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa, Kahala Hotel & Resort, Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa, Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa, the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows, Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, the Fairmont Orchid and the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort & Spa.

This year the magazine did not compile an overall list in which a few Hawaii properties are mentioned, as it did last year.

Rather, there are several lists and Hawaii got its own.

The Hotel Hana-Maui also got a ranking of No. 9 on a list of Value Hotel Spas and the list of Top 10 Hotel Spas by Treatment included seven Four Seasons properties including Four Seasons Resort Hualalai at No. 3 -- the only Hawaii property on that particular list.