Ohana Hotels takes brand to Maui

Outrigger Hotels & Resorts took its Ohana brand to the neighbor islands for the first time this week when it took over the management of the 360-room Maui Islander in Lahaina, now called the Ohana Maui Islander.

The property had been managed since March 1998 by Aston Hotels & Resorts.

Ohana is the brand Outrigger created early last year for its moderately priced hotels, keeping Outrigger to the luxury end. It previously was applied to 15 hotels in Waikiki.

Elsewhere on Maui, Outrigger also this week assumed management of the Royal Kahana Resort on Kahana Beach.

The company already had the Outrigger Wailea Resort, the Maui Eldorado Resort, the Napili Shores Resort condominium and the Palms at Wailea Resort.

Outrigger now manages 1,400 rooms on Maui.

Viata Online signs Outrigger as client

Viata Online Inc., one of two new Hawaii providers of specialized online services that link travel retailers with suppliers, has signed Outrigger Hotels & Resorts as a client.

The service will give travel agents and other sellers of travel services real-time access to the room inventory of the 39 hotels and resort condominium properties Outrigger currently operates or has under development in Hawaii, Micronesia, Australia and the islands of the South Pacific.

Viata's EZREZ software enables clients to book air-room-car packages and other travel combinations direct with the hotels, showing online only the services that are actually available, as well as the best prices.

Viata's package allows instant bookings and confirmations as well as billing and payment options. Viata has been testing its system since February and Outrigger is its first big client.

Another provider of the same type of service, Get2Hawaii, an affiliate of travel provider Panda Group, announced its launching last month, with the signing of Hawaiian Airlines and Panda as its first two big clients.