Ko Olina Marketplace changes?

[gcoleman]

Aloha,

I've heard that the Marketplace at Ko Olina is changing, and is currently in a transition to new operations.

Does anyone know what the status is? What's changing? When the changes will be complete?

(We are headed to Ko Olina for the next couple of weeks and are wondering if we'll be able to shop there for the usual supplies, the morning bagel/coffee, etc.)

Mahalo!

G

 

[BocaBoy]

I had not heard this, but I have always thought that the Marketplace at Ko Olina was one of the better ones at MVCI properties. I am curious about what is being changed.

 

[PaulaC]

Hopefully, this is not the case. We have been on Kauai for the past two weeks and have been disappointed by the changes in the Marketplaces and grills. We have always appreciated not having to prepare our meals and are frustrated by these changes!

 

[Tamaradarann]

Hopefully, this is not the case. We have been on Kauai for the past two weeks and have been disappointed by the changes in the Marketplaces and grills. We have always appreciated not having to prepare our meals and are frustrated by these changes!

We travel about 120 days a year in timeshares and while we do prepare some meals in the timeshare we also like to be able to go out to a restaurant or bring food back. For us the most important meal to be able to have in the timeshare is breakfast. Getting up to a pot of coffee and then a easy to prepare breakfast like bagels, fruit, medication and vitamins is very comfortable and cost effective. Lunches are also usually light fare with a salad or simple sandwiches in the timeshare for cost saving reasons. When we are out and about we will have lunch out.

Dinner is usually the most costly as well as complicated meal of the day. We like having our alcoholic beverages and salad in the timeshare and then walking to dinner. The possibility of doing that safely without a care is one of the reasons why Honolulu is our favorite vacation place. Bringing prepared food back to the timeshare is, of course, a great alternative which works well in Honolulu. We have vacationed for about 5 weeks in Kauai over the years and enjoyed it very much. We have a car when in Kauai and usually like to be able to prepare meals in the timeshare so that drinking and driving is not an issue. Perhaps the reason it works so well is that my husband does the cooking and cleaning up. While bringing back prepared meals would work well that is never been an issue for me. We either go out to dinner or he cooks and cleans up.

 

[Kapolei]

Aloha,

I've heard that the Marketplace at Ko Olina is changing, and is currently in a transition to new operations.

Does anyone know what the status is? What's changing? When the changes will be complete?

(We are headed to Ko Olina for the next couple of weeks and are wondering if we'll be able to shop there for the usual supplies, the morning bagel/coffee, etc.)

Mahalo!

G

I haven't heard about this. But Island Country Market (large version of ABC stores with prepared food) is only a short walk. Maybe a half mile or less. Prices are reasonable.

 

[LisaH]

Welcome, kapole! I also love Island Country Market. The prepared food is good and priced quite reasonably.
BTW, do you live or work in Ko Olina?

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

Aloha,

I've heard that the Marketplace at Ko Olina is changing, and is currently in a transition to new operations.

Does anyone know what the status is? What's changing? When the changes will be complete?

(We are headed to Ko Olina for the next couple of weeks and are wondering if we'll be able to shop there for the usual supplies, the morning bagel/coffee, etc.)

Mahalo!

G

Yes, some type of change must be going on there. A family member just returned from there on Thursday 2/2 and she told me that the Ko Olina Marketplace had lots of very bare shelves. All the clothing offerings were gone, and the wine cooler was empty from what I was told.



.

 

[gcoleman]

Just got an email from a friends staying at Ko Olina right now. He sent me this picture of a sign posted at the Ko Olina Marketplace.

 

[gcoleman]

Trying again... with the picture...

 

[gcoleman]

Dang...couldn't get the picture loaded.

Here's what it says:

Coming soon: A New Look

Please note that the Marketplace will be under renovation February - April

Special Hours: 10-Feb, 6am-7pm, 11-Feb, 1pm-10pm
Normal hours will resume thereafter 6am-10pm

Refillable Mug Program
Nai'a Bar: Soft Drink Refills
Longboards: Coffee, Soft Drinks and Juice Refills

Can't wait to be there next week for two weeks! Any tuggers I should meet up with?

G

 

[PaulaC]

Currently at Ko'Olina and yes, the place is almost empty! The current company is leaving and Travel Traders will be starting the takeover on Feb 11th. Nearly all of the personnel will be leaving and it will be more of a retail operation .... it is so sad, since we may not even have Starbucks (and that is definitely a treat on vacation). We will be here until Feb. 18th, so I will post an update. BTW ....we were informed that this is happening on all the Marriott Hawaii properties.

 

[VacationForever]

Sounds like the old vendor lost the bid.

 

[BocaBoy]

Currently at Ko'Olina and yes, the place is almost empty! The current company is leaving and Travel Traders will be starting the takeover on Feb 11th. Nearly all of the personnel will be leaving and it will be more of a retail operation .... it is so sad, since we may not even have Starbucks (and that is definitely a treat on vacation). We will be here until Feb. 18th, so I will post an update. BTW ....we were informed that this is happening on all the Marriott Hawaii properties.

I would not be sad without seeing the replacement.

 

[PaulaC]

It seems Travel Traders is currently in a lot of the Marriott properties (including the JW San Antonio) and we are familiar with the inventory there. Much more like a convenience store with packaged snacks, etc. The staff indicated it is much more cost effective, since it will require fewer personnel and about 40 people would be losing their jobs here in Ko'Olina.

 

[BocaBoy]

It seems Travel Traders is currently in a lot of the Marriott properties (including the JW San Antonio) and we are familiar with the inventory there. Much more like a convenience store with packaged snacks, etc. The staff indicated it is much more cost effective, since it will require fewer personnel and about 40 people would be losing their jobs here in Ko'Olina.

The marketplace at Ko Olina has 40 employees? I find that hard to believe.

 

[Kapolei]

Welcome, kapole! I also love Island Country Market. The prepared food is good and priced quite reasonably.
BTW, do you live or work in Ko Olina?

I live nearby.

I was at the resort yesterday. Didn't go in the mko store. My friend staying there said to not even bother going in the store. Totally changed for the worse.

 

[VacationForever]

I just got home after spending 2 weeks at MKO. The new marketplace vendor sucked, although we made about 6 trips there over the 2 weeks. None of the 4 girls at the counter was friendly, and I would describe them as inexperienced and somewhat cold. I am going to just describe one incident and leave you to draw your conclusion on my perceived lack of customer service. One guy in front of us ordered coffee at about 4pm. He asked for milk and the girl at the counter handed a box of soy milk to top off his drink and said "we have no milk". He was puzzled and repeated his request a couple of times that he wanted milk. She simply repeated "We have no milk." I could not resist and intercepted the conversation with "But you have milk in the fridge for sale." She flatly said "Those are for sale if you wish to buy." I did not push further and that poor guy looked lost and walked away with his black coffee.

 

[amyhwang]

We go every other year for two weeks, and are going for over a month next summer. I never buy anything there really, so it makes no difference to me (although when they used to give the refill mugs to platinum members we'd get one, and refill it a handful of times, not much).

I found their prices silly, since we always have a car. Like soaps we bought at the flea market for maybe $2 a bar, they sold for almost 5 times that. Typical resort markup.

The sandwiches they offered never appealed to me, as we had our own kitchen anyway. But this new place, I was hoping may offer something better. It would be nice to see them offer something like poke or sashimi, local things, but sounds like it's the same thing only different.

Doubt I'll step foot in it in our visit next summer!

 

[frank808]

The marketplace is now run by an outside vendor. It has been run all these years by marriott and were marriott employees. Quite a few people have lost there jobs. There were certainly close to 40 people that were runing the marketplace. Not just the women and men running the fron of the house, but there were many cooks and food prep personnel.

It is still being remodeled but the staff there are no longer welcoming and helpful like years past when it was run by marriott employees. I say this change is for the worse and no longer stop by every morning. Also the unlimited drink cup is now only at naia pool bar and longboards. Do not think the marketplace will be supporting the drink cup anymore since they are no longer marriott owned.

A few of the former marketplace employees are still around. There is one gentleman now working at the front desk and a couple of them are working at guest activities.