Prince Resorts Is Moving Beyond Luxury Hotels and Golf Courses
The Japan-based parent company is shifting to “asset-light” hotel-management services. Here’s what that means for the Hawai‘i division.
Prince Resorts Hawaii says it’s changing its decades long focus on owning and operating three luxury hotels and three golf courses on O‘ahu and Hawai‘i Island and is set now on expanding its hotel management business in the Islands.
The change comes as Prince Resorts Hawaii’s Japan-based parent company, Seibu Group, pursues an asset-light strategy to help it overcome challenges encountered during the pandemic and make its business model more durable. Seibu runs one of Japan’s largest hotel chains and also has interests in real estate, railway and bus operations, and sports.
Pursuing an asset-light strategy has led to the sale of 31 of Seibu Group’s 76 leisure properties to Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and a restructuring of its hotel holdings into two divisions: one for hotel operations and another for holding assets. Seibu’s goal is to grow its hotel operations business to 250 hotels in Japan and abroad.
Shigeki Yamane, president and CEO of Prince Resorts Hawaii, says Seibu has not instructed him to sell the Hawai‘i properties, but the diversified strategy lessens the overall company’s exposure to asset depreciation and any economic downturns and allows for faster expansion.
“Take Hawai‘i, for example: New assets are very difficult to attain at this point,” he says. “By concentrating on management services, we will still have the ability to grow without the obstacles of finding a property or land to purchase.”
What’s Next
As of April, all Seibu hotels, including Prince Resorts Hawaii, will fall under the Seibu Prince Hotels and Resorts brand, and their loyalty programs under Seibu Prince Global Rewards.
Prince Resorts Hawaii currently owns and operates the 563-room Prince Waikiki; The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort and its 249 rooms; and the 252-room Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, an Autograph Collection; plus the Hawaii Prince, Mauna Kea and Hapuna golf courses.
“The positioning of Prince Resorts Hawaii, being more Western and able to handle that domestic as well as international market, is the best of both worlds,” says Rona Young, executive assistant to the Prince Resorts Hawaii president and corporate marketing manager. “So we’re in a prime position to be key in a lot of this.”
Prince Waikiki employees stamp copper hinana fish that now hang in the hotel’s lobby as part of an 800-piece installation by artist Kaili Chun. | Photo: courtesy of Prince Resorts
In the meantime, Prince Resorts Hawaii is preparing to begin an extensive $180 million overhaul of its Mauna Kea Beach Hotel rooms, restaurants, pool, spa and gardens. Construction is expected to wrap up in spring 2025, in time for the hotel’s 60th anniversary.
Prince Waikiki’s fifth-floor public areas will also be renovated, and Hapuna Beach Resort’s carpeting will be redone and its bedspreads, curtains and furniture will be replaced.
Focused on Growth
Yamane says the Hawai‘i-based company was focusing on its own growth prior to Seibu restructuring its hotel holdings in 2022.
Prince Resorts Hawaii spent $55.4 million to renovate the Prince Waikiki in 2017 and $46 million on The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort in 2018. It was also working on distinguishing its brand by using more locally sourced products, reducing waste, and adopting more energy-efficient practices. The resort company says it also wants to create a 100,000-tree forest at its Hāpuna property, and to better engage and care for employees.
Prince Resorts’ three hotels were recognized by the Hawai‘i Green Business award program in 2022, and Hawaii Business Magazine’s Best Places to Work program in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Its Mauna Kea and Hāpuna hotels were also approved as Blue Zones Project worksites in 2022; under the program, the two hotels partner with the Blue Zones Project to create healthier work environments, according to Prince Resorts.
“The new strategy gave us an opportunity to stop and rethink our definition of assets,” Yamane says. “Our greatest asset may just be our staff with our employee program of lokomaika‘i, sharing genuine hospitality, and our management teams with their experience and unique management styles fostered in an environment that encourages innovative growth.”
He adds that employees are key to Prince Resorts’ success and are why the Prince Waikiki has been the No. 1 traveler-ranked O‘ahu hotel on TripAdvisor for over four years.
“Profit is not a singular goal for us,” he says. “We have always operated with operational excellence and longevity in mind. With these distinct values, which are different from other larger domestic hotel chains, and our sales/marketing tools that draw from international expertise, we can provide potential new partners access to the strength of a diverse international company with a much larger hotel selection.”
