The Best Little Hotel in Downtown Lana'i

The foyer/sitting room at Lana'i City's laid-back Hotel Lana'i

In all fairness, the Hotel Lānaʻi is the only hotel in downtown Lana’i. Happily, though, it’s a friendly, laid-back place to stay.

On the island of Lānaʻi, when you’re looking to immerse yourself in small-town Hawaiian life (and not spend a king’s ransom on your lodgings), this here — along with its lovely, delicious Lānaʻi City Grille – is your home away from home.

Our breezy cottage at the gently lived-in Hotel Lānaʻi allowed us a welcome opportunity to detox from the (near-) excessive luxury at the oceanside Four Seasons at Manele Bay. As B&B/boutique hotel people at heart, our knee-jerk comfort zone has a sense of history and a foyer instead of a lobby; this joint fits our bill beautifully. Set across the street from Dole Park, the town center of sleepy Lānaʻi City, it invites you to go for a stroll and meet the island’s locals — all of whom seem to have come for a visit and ended up choosing to stay forever.

Built in 1923 to house visiting executives of the Dole Pineapple empire (the island’s main industry for about 70 years), the vibe here is “longtime vacation home.” The 11 rooms here have front porches with rocking chairs, whitewashed baseboards, pedestal sinks, soft-worn floorboards that feel happy on bare feet, and no air-conditioning; the year-round climate here is mild and breezy. Lodging starts at $99 a night, the greatest argument for a stay here rather than Manele Bay or the ranch-land sprawl of the Four Seasons’ Lodge at Koele…which start at about $300.

Because the antique walls in the main buildings tend to be thin, I’d recommend staying in the romantic Cottage, a private little house with its own patio and hammock. (Bonus for unrepentant media addicts: While there’s free wi-fi in every room, only the Cottage has a TV.) The quilted bedspread was pure Hawaii and the screen door sounded like a small-town summer. Our one afternoon at the hotel, we hung on our patio listening to the silken songs of Lionel Richie played on a ukelele, wafting on over from the park. (Cottage, $179 per night + tax)

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The Cottage, our cozy, private digs at the Hotel Lana'i

The only drawback of the Hotel Lānaʻi? The slim pickings at the breakfast buffet. Tiny little muffins and dry scones, bland grocery-store fruit (very little can grow in the island’s plastic-threaded, post-pineapple soil) and coffee that’s too wan for our deep, dark tastes. Fortunately, the hotel is just a block or two from several other breakfast options. To boot, you can get some kick-ass coffee at Coffee Works, which has quite possibly the best sign ever — a big black coffee cup that releases puffs of steam. If you’re into breakfast, you’re better off leaving and paying extra elsewhere.

On the plus side? The hotel’s on-site restaurant, the Lānaʻi City Grille, provided our best dinner experience on the island. Twice.

The evening before our Hotel Lānaʻi stay officially began, we hopped on a shuttle from Manele Bay to Lana’i City and took a short wander ’round the downtown square. We soon learned that Jenny Gentry Majkus, proprietor of swanky island-wear boutique The Local Gentry, and Diane from the Mike Carroll Gallery would both be celebrating that evening at the Lānaʻi City Grille: Jenny’s unstoppable dance-sensation of a daughter was turning 3 and seemed poised to wear out the house band, and Diane’s husband was being surprised for his birthday by all of his grown children gathering from across the U.S…including his newly-pregnant daughter.

We opted, then, to not to miss the show. Settling ourselves in for an early dinner with a view of the lantern-trimmed music stage, we smiled around the summery Cratfsman porch of a dining room and took hostess/manager Michelle Kommes’ advice to try the (goat cheese-phyllo goodness of the) beet carpaccio salad. We’d return for it the next night — and if we lived closer, would probably do so again every month ’til the end of time.

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Lana'i City Grille at the Hotel Lana'i

The neo-Hawaiian menu here (which includes local venison and fish), is the creation of Bev Gannon, chef at Maui’s Hali’imaile General Store, where we ate our faces off back in 2010; not a huge shock, then, that we loved the food. The steel drum tunes, cheerful local bar scene and hands-in-the-air-like-you-just-don’t-care shenanigans of a dancing toddler? Just sweet scoops of ice cream on the Filipino-inspired banana lumpia or the (wait for it) chocolate-chip cookie baked in a skillet. (Dinner for two with some excellent wines and/or cocktails, about $120)

If you want to stay in one central, reasonably affordable location on the island, try the Hotel Lānaʻi. Then, be sure to visit the two resorts and book a few excursions…that is, if you feel like getting up and off your porch. You may just want to stay here a while, drinking in the quiet.

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While all opinions and observations are my own,
our stay at the Hotel Lānaʻi
was sponsored by the Lānaʻi Visitors Bureau
and included our room and one of our (dee-licious) dinners at the Lana’i City Grille.
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