Covering the hotel and travel industry, I get a lot of news and releases about hotel and resort renovations, upgrades and expansions. A couple of million dollars doesn’t go as far as it used to, and new beds and carpeting in all the guest rooms is not exactly game changing news for travelers. Upgrades in the $20 million-plus range start to grab attention as offering potential for noticeable improvements, and the rarer $50-plus million investments by owners signifies that they are serious about presenting customers with a new, better and markedly improved property.

So, what does a $100 million upgrade look like?

To anyone who loves Hawaii, it looks like a big win at the venerable Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua. Since 1991 this stalwart has been a top luxury island choice, but it emerged from the pandemic as a tropical superstar. What’s even more impressive than the vast amount spent was that the Ritz was already one of Hawaii’s best hotels, hardly threadbare or tired. Many hotels struggled during COVID lockdowns, and many have yet to recover, often seemingly using the pandemic as an excuse to continue scaled down services, from housekeeping to food, despite once again charging full price for less service. I’ve already seen this kind of self-induced faded glory at several once prestigious properties in the past year. But not the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua, which used an 8-month closure to reinvent itself as a resort for the future, aimed at the traveler of today and tomorrow. All the things travelers have recently come to want that look to be here to stay, such as more