The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, which shut down after sustaining structural damage from the 2006 earthquakes, is open for business after undergoing $150 million in repairs and renovations.

More than 300 people attended a grand opening celebration, including former Vice President Dan Quayle.

The Mauna Kea shut down Dec. 2, 2006, about two months after two earthquakes of magnitudes 6.7 and 6.0 struck off the Kohala Coast on Oct. 15. It was forced to close during record tourism in the Islands and has reopened amid a global economic crisis, which has hit the Hawai'i tourism industry hard.

Hotel General Manager Jon Girsonde said 383 employees, representing about 85 percent of those who left when the hotel closed, have returned.

No changes were made to the architecture of the oceanside hotel, which was founded by hotelier Laurance S. Rockefeller in the mid-1960s. However, guest rooms were upgraded and expanded, reducing the number of rooms from 310 to 258.