Kuilima Cove is one of the popular beaches at Ritz-Carlton Oahu, Turtle Bay.

After changing ownership last year, Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu’s North Shore has operated under the Ritz-Carlton brand for nearly a year with a new name: the Ritz-Carlton Oahu, Turtle Bay. Since the transition, general manager Doug Chang, who is from Hawaii, has fielded many questions and comments from loyal guests.

The most common one? “Please don’t mess it up.”

The second most popular question, he told SFGATE, is if “turtle” will be removed from the name. “No, the turtle is not going away. It’s still going to be Turtle Bay Resort. It’s still going to be the Ritz-Carlton Oahu, Turtle Bay, so turtle is safe,” Chang said, adding that learning and listening to the community has been an important part of the first year of Ritz-Carlton’s operations.

Last year, former owners Blackstone Real Estate sold the resort to Host Hotels & Resorts Inc., a lodging real estate investment trust, for $680 million. Host Hotels owns 1,180 of Turtle Bay Resort’s 1,300 acres. Prior to the sale, Blackstone carved out two sections of land and sold that to developer Arete Collective. Marriott International was then hired to manage the 450-room hotel and began operating it under the Ritz-Carlton brand in July 2024.

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The Sunset pool bar at the Ritz-Carlton Oahu, Turtle Bay is located at the main resort pool deck.

Turtle Bay Resort originally opened in 1972 as Del Webb’s Kuilima Resort Hotel & Country Club, built by the famed Las Vegas developer who took a........

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