About LanaiHotels.com

LanaiHotels.com is the work of Sharene & Harrison Klein who live near Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii. Often, these “About Us” web pages have some impersonal description of a company, perhaps with a generic mission statement. If you’re lucky, you may see a list showing the CEO, COO, CFO, CIO, CTO, or other alphabet soup. Not this page. This page is a lot more personal because Hawaii is very personal to us. We hope the story of how we came to love Hawaii and ultimately live here will give you some confidence in us and the information in LanaiHotels.com.

A Love for Hawaii

The story of our life together is the story of our love for Hawaii. Each of us fell in love with Hawaii on our first visits almost 20 years ago. We started making one or two trips a year, traveling extensively throughout the islands. With some planning and some luck, we both developed business interests in Hawaii, which brought us to the islands even more often. Within a few years we had traveled just about every public road in Hawaii—and a few not-so-public ones! Harrison, a private pilot, toured every island by small airplane. We explored the trails, beaches, parks and towns, creating new adventures and wonderful memories with every trip.

Each time we returned we learned a bit more about the land and people of Hawaii, and our love for Hawaii deepened. We started listening to Hawaiian music and attending performances regularly, both in Hawaii and on the Mainland. We learned a little of the Hawaiian language. We developed a strong interest in Hawaiian culture, music, and history, and a great admiration for the Hawaiian people.

Building Our Hawaii Travel Knowledge

We have been interested in the business of travel and lodging for years. When Sharene lived in San Francisco before we were married, she opened her home to bed and breakfast guests from around the world. Later, she owned and operated Bed & Breakfast California, a reservation service for several hundred B&Bs throughout California. We built one of the earliest web sites devoted to accommodation rentals.

We stayed in a variety of accommodations during our first trips to Hawaii, including large and small hotels, condominiums, bed and breakfasts, and private homes (including this llama ranch on the Big Island). Whenever we visited someplace new, we took an interest in seeing local hotels and other types of accommodations. Over the years, our knowledge of Hawaii and its places to stay gave us a reputation as the people to contact when planning a trip to the islands.

A Wedding and an Eclipse

Each of us had started visiting Hawaii before we met, and our mutual love for Hawaii played a major part in our own relationship. When we decided to get married, we knew it had to be in Hawaii, and the solar eclipse of 1991 seemed like the perfect opportunity. The eclipse was to be one of the best of the century, with the path of totality passing directly over the Big Island.

Knowing how many people the eclipse would bring to Hawaii, we had made plans two years before to stay at the home of friends in Kona. When we suggested having our wedding there the day before the eclipse, they happily obliged, and we were married on their beautiful lanai overlooking the Pacific. The eclipse the following day disappointed many people, because much of the normally sunny Kona coast turned cloudy, but the skies over the house cleared after an early morning rain and the eclipse was perfect. We took it as a good sign!

Our First Hawaii Homes

Like many visitors, we dreamed of having a home in Hawaii. It took years of planning (and saving), but finally we were ready to purchase our first property. It was tough to choose a location, because we love all of Hawaii and each island offers something unique. We finally settled on Kihei, Maui, because it has a great combination of attractions for a visitor. Kihei’s location in South Maui, on the leeward side of Mt. Haleakala, gives it the sunniest weather on the island. The area near Kihei offers a string of great beaches. South Kihei’s location next to the luxury hotels and resorts of Wailea makes it upscale but affordable.

It took several visits to find the right property, but we found it at the Kihei Akahi condominium complex. From the instant we saw the spectacular view, we knew it had the “Wow! Factor” we wanted. We completely redecorated the unit, incorporating everything we learned from our years of being both travelers and hosts. Makai means “toward the sea” in Hawaiian, so we named our unit Makai Vista because of its sweeping ocean and island panorama.

Not long after we finished decorating Makai Vista, we saw a unit at the oceanfront Kihei Surfside complex that seemed a perfect complement to Makai Vista. Surfside’s beautifully landscaped grounds are just steps away from Keawakapu, Wailea’s first beach, and the view of ocean and palm trees gave the unit its own Wow! Factor. We named it Makai Surf to reflect its oceanfront location, and we did another complete redecoration to make it a place we could be proud to send guests.

We soon had steady guests going to Makai Vista and Makai Surf. We still had our professional lives in the San Francisco area, but we got to Hawaii regularly and experienced our two homes vicariously through our guests.

Now It’s Our Turn

By this time Hawaii felt like home, but we still treated each visit as a new adventure. We kept exploring each island and discovering new things to do and new places to stay. Then just as we started to look for a 3rd vacation rental condo, we discovered our dream house in Puna on the Big Island. We had expected the search for our own Hawaiian hale (house) to take years, but this property was so perfect we had to act fast. The house and grounds were so extraordinary that the Hawaiian word kakahi—unique, outstanding—seemed the only fitting name, so the house became Hale Kakahi.

It took us awhile, but in Spring 2001 we left our California jobs, packed our possessions, and moved to Hale Kakahi full time—proving that sometimes dreams really can come true. We wake each day thankful that we live in such a beautiful place, and we try never to take it for granted. But there is work to be done, and now that we live here we can focus on staying up to date on Hawaii accommodations and travel so we can share the most current information with you.

Hawaiians at Heart

We hope you have enjoyed getting to know us. When you browse through LanaiHotels.com, you’re seeing the work of two real Hawaiians at Heart. We are not some big real estate firm or Internet company, and our comments are based on our personal experiences from years of visiting and now living in Hawaii.

We know that where you stay is important, and we know the only surprises you want are pleasant ones. We hope you find LanaiHotels.com useful and that you have a great trip to the islands. We’re always interested in your comments, good and bad, so please send us your thoughts.

We ask you always to remember that Hawaii is a very small, fragile dot on the map of our world. Wherever you go, go lightly, with love and care for the precious things that give the people of Hawaii their heritage and frame of reference. Wishing you a little paradise and much aloha in your everyday lives.

E malama i ka ‘aina (take good care of the land),
Sharene & Harrison