LAHAINA, Hawaii – Six-year-old twins Luna and Stella Sanchez smile and giggle as they walk toward the century-old rubber tree affectionately called “The Branches” that stands at the heart of the Royal Lahaina Resort & Bungalows.
They enjoy playing under the 75-foot-tall tree canopy, which offers them protection from the harsh sun and other elements. Not long ago, the entire resort provided shelter for the girls, their brother Asher, and their parents Amy Sanchez and Jacob Ah Puck, who were left homeless when the Ohana house they were renting was destroyed in the devastating Lahaina wildfires.
Ah Puck, who has worked as a page at Royal Lahaina for 13 years, said, “We lived here for almost 10 months, so the girls love coming back to play. Staying here has meant the world to us and more.”
Now the family is living in temporary housing in Lahaina, a step toward normalcy while they wait for permanent public housing to become available.
The Royal Lahaina, the first resort on Maui to take in fire survivors, is also continuing to develop, as are the rest of Maui’s hotels. At the height of the government’s non-congregate shelter program, run by the American Red Cross and funded largely by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), it housed approximately 3,100 households (about 8,000 people).
While many hotels on Maui, especially in West Maui, are refocusing on leisure and group travel, the transition is more complicated for the Royal Lahaina Resort, which was fully involved until its contractual obligations ended at the end of June.
Yvette Kitagawa, hotel manager at Royal Lahaina, and Stephen Hinck, Hawaii Highgate area manager, who were on site when the fire broke out, said the resort’s first order of business is to take care of Royal Lahaina guests and employees, many of whom are unsure about the condition of their homes or loved ones.
They also had to relocate guests and employees before the Makai Sunset Inn, a boutique hotel in Lahaina that Highgate managed for Continental Assets Management, went up in flames.
Power and telephones were out, so communication was difficult in the early days of the disaster. Hinck recalled that he finally got a call from Highgate Hawaii President Kelly Sanders.
“I had about 30 seconds to tell him what was going on and then I asked him to call my wife and tell her I was alive,” he said.
Kitagawa shed tears again as she recalled a private moment when Hinck found her crying on the second day of the disaster because she could not find her father, Baye Balmores, who worked as assistant chef at the Royal Lahaina and lived on the property when she was a child.
Kitagawa remembers Hinck hugging her and telling her, “Everything will be fine.”
25 minutes later, the time had come. Kitagawa still remembers how relieved she was when her daughter called and said, “Daddy is here.”
“He lived in these apartments right on Front Street and said if he had turned right out of his apartment, he would have been stuck in all that traffic. In fact, he saved two neighbors.”
Kitagawa said she thanked them and then immediately went back to work as more community members turned to the resort for food and shelter.
“I didn’t go home for a week and a half. We slept in our cars or offices or wherever we could lay down,” she said. “Our community has always been there for Royal Lahaina because it’s one of the oldest properties. Our staff alone is very long-lived. It was an honor to be able to take care of some of the kupuna that I grew up with as a little girl.”
In total, the resort housed 526 families during the 10 months, totaling 1,008 residents, including 83 employees. The oldest survivor of the fire in the resort’s Red Cross non-congregate housing program was 92 years old, and the youngest was born during the family’s stay at the resort.
From the fires of August 8, 2023, to July 27, the resort provided 142,684 room nights and served more than 390,000 meals to fire survivors.
Kitagawa said the property was quickly remodeled to provide more comfort for fire survivors. The arrival area became the pick-up and drop-off lane for fourth through 12th grade students who attend Princess Nahi’ena’ena, Sacred Heart, Lahaina Intermediate and Lahainaluna High School.
She said Royal Lahaina also welcomes the Department of Education and provides space where students can visit tutors, meet with counselors and receive technical support for online classes and homework.
Hinck said the ballroom and banquet halls have become a full-service resource center, offering everything from academic and extracurricular activities to after-school programs, medical services and grief counseling to yoga and healing classes, theater and music and staff development.
Kitagawa said the hotel offers free pony rides for the keiki once a month and hosts a Christmas toy drive. Kanikapila music nights are held every Monday at The Branches.
With the community accommodation program at Royal Lahaina ending, the resort, like many other Maui properties, is investing in the future. The resort has appointed new management and invested millions of dollars in property improvements, including upgrades to the 127 bungalows and tower suites, and first-class poolside amenities, including oceanfront seating for leisure.
On September 3, the Royal Lahaina Resort will open a new oceanfront restaurant, Lahaina Noon, and a new poolside bar, Pineapple Moon. Both new restaurants are part of Highgate’s partnership with TableOne Hospitality, led by renowned restaurateur Patric Yumul.
“This is one of the larger investments for this hotel and we plan to make more,” Hinck said.
Other major investments include wedding facilities, an upgraded spa and a Maui artisan boutique.
The resort comes alive seven nights a week with its oceanfront luau, the Myths of Maui, and a special pickleball tournament will be held on October 27 as part of the Maui Food and Wine Festival. Sanders is also working on a vision to transform The Branches into a gathering place for the community and visitors.
Joshua Hargrove, general manager of the Westin Maui Resort & Spa, said the property, which at its peak had 440 of its 600 available rooms in emergency shelters, is now transitioning back to the leisure and group business with significant reinvestment.
“We had just completed a $160 million renovation when the fires happened. In February, we got the last rooms back from the renovation, so we now have 769 rooms (available), and in March we opened Ulu Kitchen by Merriman. And the Social Space, an arcade and custom food and beverage restaurant, opened on July 8.
“The Westin Maui has never looked so beautiful,” he said. “We are in a good position. We just need the right message to attract people.”
Angela Vento, general manager of Wailea Beach Resort, said the resort returned to the leisure market in October.
“We took care of the immediate needs (of the fire victims and rescue workers) and then a lot of it moved to the west side,” Vento said.
Subsequently, she said, the volume of group business in Wailea helped maintain a greater sense of normalcy in the first quarter, but “as we’ve progressed and with the rebuilding efforts, we’ve seen the awareness of Maui as a destination wane somewhat.”
Vento said she travels every month to welcome visitors back to the resort, which has renewed its emphasis on relaxing outdoor experiences.
Vento said, “One of the restorative elements that has really taken off since the resort came out of recovery phase” is Olakino, a wellness experience that includes culinary refreshments and guided wellness experiences in a private poolside setting.
She said the resort’s “Po’e Malama” (translated as “one who cares”) is dedicated to personalizing a program during the full-day experience, which runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The experience, which begins and ends with an oli (chant), could also include music, farm-to-table food and spa treatments.
Last Christmas, the resort also introduced a new room category with the launch of 12 Sundeck Garden Oasis Rooms.
“We took rooms on the ground floor of the tower of our hotel and created these outdoor verandas that include stone patios, fire pits, outdoor seating areas, and an outdoor shower and tub experience. So we took a room and almost doubled its size with these outdoor patios,” she said.
Vento said the resort has invested in technology and sustainability and began textile renovations in June. She said 100 rooms have been completed so far, and all 547 rooms are expected to be ready by early 2025. A particular focus has been placed on upgrading the veranda to expand the outdoor experience.
Tracy Ompoy, a fire survivor who works at the Marriott Maui Ocean Club, said many workers and hotels are ready to welcome visitors again.
Ompoy said her family suffered greatly during the fires that killed family members Vanessa and Narciso “Ciso” Baylosis Jr. and destroyed five family homes. But she is not torn like some Maui residents about reopening tourism.
“I am grateful for the generosity of the hotels on Maui who have provided us with housing and jobs, and I am grateful to the guests,” she said.
Since the fires, Ompoy said she has been best friends with Shamane Wells, a frequent visitor from Utah. They spent part of the anniversary of the fires on August 8, 2023, at the Kahana boat ramp, reminiscing about the Good Samaritans who came to bring supplies to Maui from other islands after the fires.
“The visitors brought many blessings,” Ompoy said.
