The owners of the Waikiki Edition Hotel in Honolulu are attempting to force out Marriott International, which has a 30-year contract to operate the hotel as part of its new Edition brand, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
On Sunday locks were changed at the hotel as new management from locally based Aqua Hotels was installed and the name was changed to the Modern Honolulu.
The ouster is the latest development in a legal battle that began last spring when hotel owners M Waikiki LLC claimed in a lawsuit filed in New York Supreme Court that Marriott had not done its part to make the new hotel a success. Marriott has filed a motion to dismiss the case.
"This is a deeply unfortunate, regrettable and illegal event," Arne Sorenson, Marriott's president and chief operating officer, said in a statement. about the management takeover. "The owners and its partners raided the hotel literally under cover of night, forcibly taking over the property and threatening our employees with dismissal unless they immediately agreed to a change of management. We will agressively and vigorously pursue all remedies against the owner and its partners in this illeal act."
