Kiahuna® Castle RAB Blog

Saturday, June 6, 2020

Hawaii’s Governor Declines to Set a Reopening Date for Tourism

Aloha Owners,

Roy just sent me this link. I know many of you have been asking when things will open up.

Aloha,
Denise

Click here for link

Friday, June 5, 2020

Feds give green light to test tourists prior to arrival in Hawai

Aloha Owners,

Violet just sent me this article. I think it is good news and a step in possibly opening up for tourists.

Aloha,
Denise

Click here for article

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

🎆Congratulations Castle on the new property! 🎆

Aloha Owners,

Good news! Castle just added Bamboo Waikiki to its portfolio. Congratulations to Castle!

Aloha,
Denise

Click HERE and choose Open link in New Window to open this document

Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Governor Ige email regarding next steps

Aloha Owners,

Roy sent this to me to blog. I know we are all very anxious for the 14 day quarantine to be lifted regarding out-of-state travel so that we can all start renting our units again.

Aloha,
Denise

Aloha,

Over the past few weeks, we have seen significant progress in our fight against the COVID-19 crisis. With fewer than five cases every day and several days of zero new cases, Hawaiʻi continues to be among the states leading the nation in controlling the spread of the virus, thanks to your commitment to following our physical distancing and health mandates.

Because of our successful efforts, I announced the lifting of the 14-day quarantine for interisland travel effective Tuesday, June 16. This important step for Hawaiʻi will help reunite families and friends who have been separated due to COVID-19. It will also help with the reopening of our kamaʻāina economy.

I want to thank you for your patience while my office worked with county mayors and the Legislature on this plan to reopen interisland travel. I want to assure you that the health and safety of our residents are still our primary concern, and we would not have taken this step if key indicators were not achieved.

In addition to Hawaiʻi’s low counts of new COVID-19 cases, which are among the lowest in the nation, we also have ample healthcare capacity to handle any new outbreak or surge. In addition, our testing and contact tracing capacity continues to increase every day.

Lifting the quarantine is great news, but the experience of flying between islands is going to be different than what we’re accustomed to. A new screening and tracking process will help us minimize any new spread and allow us to quickly respond if an outbreak occurs. This system includes thermal screening at the airport for everyone who travels between the islands. Also, travelers will be required to fill out a new travel form that will help the state track and respond to new cases.

After reopening interisland travel, the next step will be reopening out-of-state travel for residents and visitors. Planning is being done in earnest, but it needs to be a careful, thoughtful process. We have seen what has happened to other communities that reopened too quickly. There have been new outbreaks. And many of our key visitor markets, such as California, still have large numbers of new cases that are of concern.

Opening interisland travel on June 16 is an important first step because we will be able to refine our systems and processes.

We also have been exploring multiple options to allow a reopening of out-of-state travel, including travel corridors and bubbles, screening and contact tracing. We have made excellent progress in our plans, and I hope to be announcing sometime next week an avenue for reopening out-of-state travel.

Everyone in Hawaiʻi has done a great job in coming together to flatten the curve. It’s been difficult, but you followed the mandates, and I am proud of what we have achieved. And even though we are reopening our community, we all must continue our safe practices: maintain physical distancing, wash your hands, wear your masks, stay home if you feel sick, and avoid large gatherings.

Remember that the best way for us to control the virus is through our own actions. We all need to take personal responsibility. So please, take care of yourself, take care of each other, and most importantly, take care of our community.

Aloha,

Governor David Y. Ige

Monday, June 1, 2020

Quarantine lifted on interisland travel June 16

Aloha Owners,

Roy just sent me this. I think this is a step in the right direction.

Aloha,
Denise
Click here for article

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Quarantine Extended on Kauai

Aloha Owners –

As of yesterday, our Mayor, with approval from the Governor, made some changes to the travel restrictions for Kauai. Here is a recap of the new rules, and also a list of recently enacted or changed rules that might not have been conveyed to you in our last message:

New as of yesterday:

The 14 day visitor quarantine was extended to the end of June. This is only for Kauai at this point, and the Governor did sign off on it.
Beaches will be opened on May 15th, limited to groups of 10 or less. All members of the group should be part of the same household. Each group must maintain social distancing from other groups. Beaches will be open a half hour before sunrise to a half hour after sunset, except to fishermen. If people don't comply the opening could be rolled back.

Things that are new within the past week or so:

Rental car companies are prohibited from renting to individuals under the 14-day quarantine. Both the rental company and the driver will be cited if caught violating this rule.
Retail stores were allowed to open Thursday May 7, so long as social distancing is practiced.
TVR's / other rental units are not considered essential, and must remain closed until June 30th under the extended quarantine. They are also prohibited from advertising during this period.
Restaurants remain closed except for take-out or delivery. We are hearing that Memorial Day weekend is a potential date to open dining rooms at between 25% to 50% capacity.
State parks, with the exception of Polihale and Wailua River State Park, reopened last week for exercise purposes. Lookouts in Waimea Canyon and Kokee State park remain closed, but hiking trails are open.
The 9pm to 5am curfew was eliminated on 5/4.
A one-time use hotel key is not part of an emergency order, but was recommended by HTA. About 70% of hotels are issuing one time use keys. (Translated, that means if someone comes here that is subject to quarantine, their key will only open the door once for them upon arrival, then cease to operate)

For those of you operating a listing on VRBO, Flipkey, Airbnb, or individual websites, you MUST remove availability on your unit through June 30^th (or longer if extended). So if someone does a search of AirBnB or VRBO for Kiahuna for June dates (or May), your unit will not show up in the results. Failure to do so risks a fine and/or prosecution from the county, and they are actively searching listings. Castle will not accept any of your bookings for this period.

On a more positive note, housekeeping has completed most of the free deep cleans, and our maintenance team continues to perform light tasks in your units, again at no charge, to improve upon our product.

Some of you will see some cash flow as publicized earlier due to National Guard usage, who have now extended until the end of May. I would assume (and hope) that due to this extension their services will be needed in June as well, but there is no guarantee at this time.

I have no crystal ball on when we will open up for “normal” travel. I guess our hopes and prayers for June did not work, so let us refocus them on July. We are all in this together, and at some point something has to give, as none of us can continue on like this forever.

Please be safe, and feel free to contact your team here on site if we can be of service to you.

Aloha

Roy and the Staff

______________________________

Roy Thompson

General Manager

Castle Resorts & Hotels

ph: (808)742.4604 web: www.kiahunaplantation.com

fax: (808)742.1047 email: rthompson@castleresorts.com

2253-B Poipu Road • Koloa, HI 96756