The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel on Hawaiʻi Island will complete a $180 million, multiphased renovation in February 2026, marking the most extensive transformation in the resort’s 60-year history. The overhaul spans the 1,800-acre oceanfront property, now part Marriott’s Autograph Collection, and includes updates to the guest rooms and suites, new pools and wellness facilities, revitalized dining, and a reimagined golf course, a refreshed family pool with new private cabanas, and a new oceanfront wellness retreat, all timed to the hotel’s milestone anniversary.
For decades, the iconic resort, which also includes the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort and Mauna Kea Residences, set the standard for luxury hospitality on Hawaiʻi Island, even as ownership and management shifted over time. The renovation is part of a wave of reinvented legacy resorts on the island.
That legacy began in the 1950s, when venture capitalist and conservationist Laurance S. Rockefeller first encountered the crescent-shaped Kaunaʻoa Bay, one of the few white-sand beaches on the lava-laden island. At the time, the remote site lacked roads, electricity, and fresh water. Rockefeller nonetheless envisioned a resort there, and in July 1965, the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel opened as the island’s first major luxury retreat. The open-air hotel was named one of Fortune’s “10 Best Buildings of 1966” and received an American Institute of Architects award in 1967.
While much of the property has been updated in this most recent renovation, several defining elements remain, including the lobby’s original deep blue hue from its 1965 design, and the historic pool overlooking Kaunaʻoa Bay.
Redesigned guest rooms and suites
The renovation updates all 252 guest rooms and suites with new layouts and contemporary furnishings. The already-spacious lānais (balconies) are now outfitted with dining setups and lounge daybeds. Louvered wood shutters replace heavier window treatments, increasing natural light and airflow while opening rooms to the sound of crashing waves.
The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel’s 252 guest rooms and suites now have contemporary furnishings and better layouts that lead to large balconies.
Courtesy of Mauna Kea Beach Hotel
The Rockefeller Art Collection and cultural programming
Through a new app, guests can take self-guided tours of the hotel’s renowned on-site Rockefeller Art Collection, which includes more than 500 historically significant works, from Hawaiian kapa cloth and quilts to artifacts from the Pacific Rim and Southeast Asia. Weekly docent-led tours are also available.
“Every detail of this renovation was guided by Rockefeller’s original vision, preserving the architecture, celebrating local craftsmanship, and honoring Hawai‘i’s culture and the island’s natural beauty,” Kansas Henderson, Mauna Kea Beach Hotel’s manager, told Afar.
That focus on place extends to such guest programming as sailing excursions aboard a waʻa canoe, lau kāpala (leaf stamping) workshops using foliage gathered from the resort’s new Discovery Garden, and hands-on poi-making classes.
Elsewhere on the property, guests can walk through the 28,000-square-foot ʻUlu Garden, a regenerative garden of fruit trees, vegetables, and traditional crops such as taro, bananas, and sweet potatoes. The refreshed Mauna Kea Golf Course, originally designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., also reopens as part of the project.
Reimagined dining
Dining venues were upgraded as part of the renovation. The beachfront restaurant, Hau Tree, now operates as a casual lunch spot serving such island staples as ahi poke bowls and Baja-style fish tacos, before transitioning into a modern cantina at night. Evening menus highlight regional Mexican dishes with local ingredients, like Sinaloa chicken paired with smoked Hawaiʻi-grown sweet potatoes and charred avocado. Longtime favorites, including the mai tai-inspired Fredrico cocktail and the malty, frozen Ovaltine Froth dessert, remain.
At Manta, the hotel’s signature restaurant, the refreshed menu emphasizes locally sourced ingredients, including Kona kampachi, Hilo-grown hearts of palm, and local lobster, prawns, and fish.
On-site amenities, including the adults-only pool and Jacuzzi area, have been renovated.
Courtesy of Mauna Kea Beach Hotel
An expanded spa and wellness complex
The expanded Spa at Mauna Kea is scheduled to open in spring 2026 with 11 indoor and outdoor treatment rooms, steam and sauna facilities, a movement pavilion, and a spa vitality pool. Treatments draw on Hawaiian healing traditions and begin with an oli (chant). The complex will also include a 2,500-square-foot fitness center and an adults-only infinity lap pool.
A 60th-anniversary reopening celebration
The renovation coincides with a reopening gala in June 2026. To mark the anniversary, the resort will offer a limited Grand Reopening Package requiring a four-night stay that includes June 5, 2026. The package includes daily breakfast for two at Manta and two tickets to the gala. Additional nights will include breakfast and a $100 resort credit per night.
Nightly rates begin at $998 and include a daily breakfast buffet for two at Manta.
