Makaha Resort & Golf Club plans to sell more than a fifth of its hotel units as a form of extended time-share to help finance improvements at the 173-unit Makaha Valley property that has undergone a dramatic turnaround in recent years.

Fairmont Resort Properties Ltd., a Canadian firm that bought the West O'ahu resort three years ago, said it intends to begin selling 20 units fronting the golf course's first fairway starting Aug. 21, followed by 20 more next month.

The company is marketing stakes in the studio units for $29,900 to $49,000 that give buyers 60 days of use every other year. A biennial maintenance fee is estimated at about $2,600.

The offer is a variation on what is known as fractional ownership — typically 60 or more consecutive days of annual use — that is emerging as a trend at mostly resort properties but also some residential neighborhoods in Hawai'i.

Fairmont's plan also represents a twist of sorts on a bigger trend in Hawai'i's resort market of converting hotel units into traditional time-shares with one week of use per year, or converting them into condominium units that can be sold in what are often called condotels.

Will Tanaka, president of Aloha Hospitality Consulting LLC, said many resort owners and developers are turning to fractionals to sell real estate, but that Makaha Resort is challenged by its remote location not along the beach and far from shopping, dining and entertainment attractions.

"Fractionals are being looked at as a magic bullet by developers," Tanaka said. "It will be successful in areas that are a resort destination. Makaha has not proven itself to be a destination."

Fairmont in a statement said early indications show relatively strong demand for Makaha Resort units from North America, where fractional ownership of vacation property is more popular. "People love the idea of owning just a slice of paradise," the company said.

Fractional units at Makaha will be offered exclusively to Hawai'i residents for an initial 30 days, then opened up to other prospective buyers, according to Peter Ormesher, director of Fairmont's fractional project called Fairway Cottages at Makaha.

As part of the deal, buyers can trade their unit time for use at other resorts operated by Fairmont, which owns or manages hotel and time-share property on the Mainland, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Ormesher said Fairmont will use sale proceeds to make additional improvements to the nearly 40-year-old resort on 300 acres, and that the company intends to keep operating the other 133 units as a hotel.

Fairmont also may seek to build new units with perhaps one to three bedrooms on resort property, though Ormesher said there is no detailed plan or timetable for such development that would need county approvals.

"It won't be heavily developed," he said. "We want to maintain the resort club feel."

Makaha Resort was built in 1969 by late Island financier Chinn Ho and has gone through a number of management and ownership changes.

For years it was managed by Sheraton. ANA Hotels Hawai'i Inc. bought the property in 1979, but never was able to turn a profit.

In 1995, ANA closed the hotel and laid off 175 employees, though a small crew was kept to run the golf club, which Sheraton stopped managing in 1999.

In late 2000, Wisconsin-based real estate development firm Towne Realty Inc. bought the golf course and shuttered hotel for $6.1 million. Towne began renovating rooms plus some common areas, and in late 2001 reopened the hotel, marketed largely as a kama'aina retreat.

It changed hands again in 2004 when British Columbia-based Fairmont purchased it for $13.5 million, according to property records, and continued renovations.

The company also started a program working with Wai'anae Coast artisans and cultural practitioners to showcase and teach their craft to visitors and residents.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.