Hotel Geek Hawaii Winner: Best Guest Room Decor
"They don't have an ocean view when you arrive. Maybe they could knock out a wing or two," A fellow planner laughed while stepping out of our ten passenger transfer van from the Fairmont Orchid.
The Mauna Lani Resort was hosting us for a sliders & sushi reception with a dose of site inspection on the side.
I associate the Mauna Lani with the film Empire Strikes Back and my middle school gym locker room. Its the blue tile in the lobby. Not an even blue, not quite a craftsman glaze either. But a blue that I nonetheless distinctly relate to the 1980s. I haven't dusted off my VHS to be sure, but I think that sections of Death Star's floors or walls were covered in the same.
We hovered about the open lounge in stagnant evening air munching and drinking before being invited for a cocktail glass-in-hand tour. Regional sales manager Christi led, showing us Corner View Suites, Deluxe Ocean Front rooms, and "Ginormous" (I think Erin said it) villas. The rooms are unexpectedly Hawaiian luscious: Floor-ceiling-windows that open out to lanais, dark tropical wood floors and wood accents, island-themed bed scarf, and artwork etc.
Outside the rooms, the resort is what I would call conscious Mid-Century Modern. But maybe the wrong end of the period. Its a bit banal institutional.
It makes me think of newspaper stories back then about Japanese tycoons buying up US real estate. It gives the sense of being designed in a Tokyo architectural firm, flown over by helicopter, and plopped down on Hawaii's shore.
I have an image of myself trying to relax by the pool, brain racing, analyzing why the resort layout and architecture doesn't work for me. I get tired thinking about thinking about it. I return to the reception and head for the last thing that really did work: Taro chips and mango salsa.
"They don't have an ocean view when you arrive. Maybe they could knock out a wing or two," A fellow planner laughed while stepping out of our ten passenger transfer van from the Fairmont Orchid.
The Mauna Lani Resort was hosting us for a sliders & sushi reception with a dose of site inspection on the side.
I associate the Mauna Lani with the film Empire Strikes Back and my middle school gym locker room. Its the blue tile in the lobby. Not an even blue, not quite a craftsman glaze either. But a blue that I nonetheless distinctly relate to the 1980s. I haven't dusted off my VHS to be sure, but I think that sections of Death Star's floors or walls were covered in the same.
We hovered about the open lounge in stagnant evening air munching and drinking before being invited for a cocktail glass-in-hand tour. Regional sales manager Christi led, showing us Corner View Suites, Deluxe Ocean Front rooms, and "Ginormous" (I think Erin said it) villas. The rooms are unexpectedly Hawaiian luscious: Floor-ceiling-windows that open out to lanais, dark tropical wood floors and wood accents, island-themed bed scarf, and artwork etc.
Outside the rooms, the resort is what I would call conscious Mid-Century Modern. But maybe the wrong end of the period. Its a bit banal institutional.
It makes me think of newspaper stories back then about Japanese tycoons buying up US real estate. It gives the sense of being designed in a Tokyo architectural firm, flown over by helicopter, and plopped down on Hawaii's shore.
I have an image of myself trying to relax by the pool, brain racing, analyzing why the resort layout and architecture doesn't work for me. I get tired thinking about thinking about it. I return to the reception and head for the last thing that really did work: Taro chips and mango salsa.
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