Hidden Niche

Maui

Aloha Pualani Hotel Boutique was among the Hidden Gem Hotels in TripAdvisor's 2008 Travelers' Choice Awards.

Sherry Withers was bothered that there were only two types of tourist accommodations on Maui: the high-end chain hotel or the beachfront condo. One offered services, the other pri-vacy. There wasn’t a market that provided both.

In late 2003, with the opening of Aloha Pualani Hotel Boutique, Withers filled that niche. The hotel has six suites, yet like a grand hotel, it provides daily maid service, fine linen and robes from the Hotel Collection, as well as A/C, wireless internet and TV with DVD. Each suite has an Island theme — the Lotus Suite, the Asian motif — and all have ocean views, fully equipped kitchens and balconies overlooking the courtyard. At sunset, guests gather around the cobalt blue saltwater pool for a glass of Sauvignon Blanc or a new hip varietal.

“My hotel is all about creating a place that I would want to stay in,” Withers says.

No doubt Withers has tapped a new market niche in Hawaii with her boutique hotel. Aloha Pualani was picked among the Hidden Gem Hotels in the United States by TripAdvisor in its 2008 Travelers’ Choice Awards. And this year, has also shown a noticeable increase in repeat business.  Withers had never operated a hotel before, but she did have a background in real estate and a passion for design, so when she found the perfect property in North Kihei, she was ready to make her move. Withers hired architect Mary Randall Wagner of Artel Inc. to draw plans and local designer Joan Selix Berman to design the Web site.

Ninety percent of Withers’ business comes from the Web. “In this day and time, with a property like mine, and with print being so expensive, the Web is the avenue for travel.” Catering to couples and honeymooners, the boutique hotel is a haven for people who, as Withers puts it, “just want to get away, read a book and not have a lot of kids jumping in and out of the pool.”  Withers charges a little more than the competition (rooms range from $265 to $355 a night). But as she says, “I want to step it up and provide a bit more, too.”

For instance, all her sheets are 500-thread count.

“It’s what I would want to sleep on,” she says.

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