Hilton Hotels is in the midst of spending $250 million to $300 million on renovations that include a new pool, a renovated lagoon, an expanded restaurant and the recently opened Grand Waikikian timeshare tower.

In addition to upgrades, the hotel has just completed a make-over on its lu'au, launched Feb. 23. The hotel has expanded it from two nights a week to five, said Jon Conching, vice president of sales and marketing for Hilton Hotels Corp. in Hawai'i.

Was the hotel concerned about the risks of expanding at a time when visitor arrivals and hotel occupancy are declining? "We think with the lu'au, the timing couldn't be better," Conching said about the sought-after Waikiki activity.

So far, he said the lu'au has been drawing about 200 people a night, and has the potential to accommodate as many as 480.

Over the years, the number of lu'au dinners and shows has dwindled to one offered at the military-sponsored Hale Koa Hotel. The Royal Hawaiian Hotel plans to restart its weekly lu'au at the end of this month; the show had been on hiatus since its renovation began last summer.

Two of the island's larger lu'au are outside Waikiki: Germaine's in Kapolei and Paradise Cove at Ko Olina.

The Hilton's lu'au was moved from the lawn next to the lagoon to the rooftop of the Mid-Pacific Conference Center.

Conching said the show was moved because the lawn was in such high demand from conferences and other guest receptions. "They all want something outdoors," he said.

While the previous lu'au ran Wednesdays and Sundays and mostly attracted hotel guests, this is attracting folks from other hotels and kama'aina hosting out-of-town guests.

Conching said the lu'au features contemporary and more traditional Hawaiian cuisine and Tihati Productions dancers who perform a mere 10 to 12 feet from the audience.

HOST OF UPGRADES

Even before the recent construction, the oceanfront Hilton Hawaiian Village already had the largest number of hotel rooms of any resort in the state and the largest of any Hilton in the country, and at least one Web site ranks it as the 12th largest resort in the world, Conching said.

It has 3,543 rooms including the new Grand Waikikian tower. That breaks down to 2,860 hotel rooms and 44 rooms in the Diamond Head Apartments with a mix of monthly renters and hotel guests. Another 639 are time-share units: 331 in Grand Waikikian, 236 in the Lagoon Tower and 72 units in Kalia Tower.

The hotel has declined to release the two-year costs of the new time-share tower, but a 2001 state environmental filing estimated an $80 million price tag.

In addition, Conching said the hotel spent $15 million on the long-debated and much-delayed revamping of the Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon. Another $7 million was spent on the Paradise Pool, which opened last month and boasts a 77-foot tube slide.

The hotel also is renovating the former Tropics showroom at a cost of about $10 million into a full-service restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and should be able to accommodate 300 to 350 people.

NEW LOOK FOR WAIKIKI

In October 2007, Hilton Hotels Corp. was sold to The Blackstone Group for a record $26 billion but some of the changes were planned since before the sale. At the time, Hilton was the nation's second-largest hotel chain.

As part of the continuing upgrades over a five-year period, the hotel also continues to routinely renovate rooms.

Conching said the continued improvements from his company and from nearby Outrigger Enterprises and Kyo-ya Hotels & Resorts represent more than $1 billion in renovations and upgrades to Waikiki.

"I think it's great that major companies are investing," he said. Combined with the Hawai'i hospitality and aloha spirit of the community, "it may sound corny, but ..." he said the state can withstand the slump in the No. 1 private industry.

Conching said hotels also can use the time to reinforce training of workers and manage their hours carefully to avoid major layoffs during slower times.

He said revamping the Tropics showroom to a beachfront restaurant with entertainment made a lot of sense. The room perhaps was best known as the home of singer-dancer Charo for years, but had been dark for about a decade.