http://www.hotelchatter.com/ Hotel Reviews, Hotel Ratings, Hotel Openings en-us Copyright 2008 - SFO Media 2009-11-25T15:12:49Z HotelChatter HotelChatter http://www.hotelchatter.com/images/hcwhite.jpg http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Oahu%20Hotel%20Reviews http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2007/4/12/1488/10944 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/turtlebay_resort.jpg" class="imgborder"/><p><b>[Ed. Note: <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/user/asalkever">Alex Salkever</a> who's behind the island blog <a href="http://www.hawaiirama.com">Hawaiirama</a> returns this week to offer his opinion of the Turtle Bay resort, where Sean Penn is staying much to the dismay of some Oahu natives. Enjoy.]</b><p>According to <a href="http://www.nypost.com/seven/04112007/gossip/pagesix/oahu_outrage_pagesix_.htm">Page Six</a> and the blog <a href="http://www.hollywoodinterrupted.com/archives/i_am_sean.phtml">Hollywood Interrupted</a>, the self-righteous Tinseltown crusader Sean Penn and clan is vacationing at the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Turtle+Bay+Resort/ian/111532"><b>Turtle Bay Resort</b></a> on the North Shore of Oahu.<p> This might seem an odd choice considering that the owners of land surrounding this hotel are embroiled in a controversial struggle to load up the pristine, rural coastline with thousands more condos and possibly anger Native Hawaiian activists who claim the site as an ancestral sacred spot.<p> Then juliana 2007-04-12T14:38:49-05:00 21.5383489 -157.84090 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2006/12/5/20487/6499 <![CDATA[<p><b>[Ed. Note: Alex Salkever is the editor of Hawaii travel blog <a href="http://www.hawaiirama.com">Hawaiirama.com</a> and a general travel maven on all things Hawaii.</b>]<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/kahala_resort.jpg"><p><i>From a distance, you can't tell that this is no longer a Mandarin Oriental.</i><p> Apparently the past year of switchover of the <a href="http://www.kahalaresort.com/"><b>Kahala Resort &amp; Spa</b></a> from the Mandarin Oriental flag to an independently managed resort has been a rocky transition. First, the posh Oahu hideaway that's long been a fave of presidents and potentates lost its Five-Star AAA status. <p>Now the <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g60982-d114008-Reviews-Kahala_Hotel_Resort-Honolulu_Oahu_Hawaii-m10559.html">hotel hounds at TripAdvisor</a> are calling downhill alert on the venerable property, which sits on a prime stretch of beachfront ten minutes from Waikiki. In reviews over the past six months, the Kahala got ASalkever 2006-12-06T09:34:51-05:00 21.271857 -157.77369 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/