Outrigger Hotels debuts
in Tahiti

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

Outrigger Hotels & Resorts this week opened a 200-room hotel in Tahiti, the first of up to six it plans to operate in French Polynesia.

Owned by Tahiti residents Louis and Lulu Wane and managed and marketed by Outrigger, the new Outrigger Hotel Tahiti is on a 6.2-acre oceanfront site that is a five-minute drive from Faa"a International Airport. The location formerly held the Hotel Tahiti which was owned by Honolulu restaurateur Spencer Weaver.

Perry Sorenson, Outrigger Hotels & Resorts chief operating officer, said another hotel, the Outrigger Moorea Lagoon, will open in the Society Islands in mid-2000, and a third, the Outrigger Bora Bora, is being designed.

The company also is considering three other possible resorts in French Polynesia, he said.

"Over the past few years, we've seen the birth of a new Outrigger brand focused on deluxe resort properties in island destinations," Sorenson said.

Guest rooms in the Tahiti property are air-conditioned and fitted with safes, cable television and data ports for computer users.

Sandi Yara, a spokeswoman at Outrigger headquarters in Honolulu, said the company will be working with Hawaiian Airlines Inc., which runs one flight a week between Honolulu and Tahiti.

"We're looking to target the upscale kamaaina who usually travels to the neighbor islands for a three-four day long weekend and encourage them to take a couple of more days and visit our luxury property in Tahiti," she said.

Tahiti is French territory and valid passports and visas are needed to go there, she said.

Outrigger Hotels & Resorts is part of Hawaii-based Outrigger Enterprises Inc. It operates or has under development 45 hotels, representing more than 12,000 hotel rooms and condominium units in Hawaii, Micronesia, Australia and the South Pacific. An affiliate, Outrigger Lodging Services, manages nearly two dozen hotels and resorts on the mainland.