By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
The Colony Surf Hotel sits on 2885 Kalakaua Ave.
across Kapiolani Park, in the shadow of Diamond Head.

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Starwood to run
Colony Surf Hotel

The company will market it
as one of its new 'boutiques'

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

The Colony Surf Hotel near Diamond Head will be managed and marketed as a luxury boutique hotel under the recently developed W brand of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.

Starwood said today that on Oct. 4, the hotel across from Kapiolani Park will become the W Honolulu -- Diamond Head.

It has 44 guest rooms, three suites and a penthouse with spectacular views of the ocean and Diamond Head.

Starwood, which already operates many of the major hotels in Waikiki and on the neighbor islands through its Sheraton and Westin brands, rolled out the new W brand in December with the W New York and followed it with the W Atlanta and W San Francisco.

In a statement issued from Starwood's headquarters in White Plains, N.Y. today, Barry Sternlicht, Starwood chairman and chief executive officer, called the W hotels a "style" hotel concept.

"W hotels offer the hip personality and chic style of a boutique hotel, while providing the reliability and comprehensive business amenities and services that savvy travelers expect," he said.

The rooms in the W hotels feature CD players, data ports for computer connection, video cassette players, dual-line cordless telephones and coffee makers with a special W brand of gourmet coffee.

Room rates at the W Honolulu - diamond head will start at $255.

Starwood scheduled a news conference at the Colony Surf this morning to announce details of that hotel and the W concept in general, with a Starwood delegation headed by Juergen Bartels, chief executive officer of the company's hotel group.

Also scheduled to be on hand was David Monahan, senior vice president of the Colony Surf's owner, Los Angeles-based Colony Capital Inc.

Colony, which bought the Colony Surf in 1996 for $10 million in a foreclosure auction, has been managing the hotel itself.

Its general manager, Ren T. Hirose, will stay on under the new arrangement, the companies said today.

The hotel was extensively renovated two years ago.