A Hawaii couple who founded CheapTickets.com have purchased a beachfront estate in Honolulu’s posh Kahala neighborhood for $11.5 million in cash, one of the highest recorded sales of a single-family home on Oahu so far this year, according to public records.

Designed by Hawaii architect John Hara in 2002, the 5,838-square-foot five-bedroom, six-bathroom home sits on a nearly 0.8-acre parcel at 4711 Kahala Ave.

It was previously owned by Karl Essig, a former Morgan Stanley executive, and Megumi Essig.

Michael and Sandra Hartley, who both founded CheapTickets.com in Honolulu in 1986, are the new owners of the property, which includes a chef’s kitchen and guest apartment.

The estate, which was on the market for just 79 days, has a total assessed value of about $9.7 million.

The Essigs purchased the property for $4.5 million in 1999.

CheapTickets.com is now owned by Orbitz Worldwide Inc. The travel discounter closed its Honolulu call center in 2003, leaving about 200 people without a job.

The Hartleys founded the company at a kiosk location in Honolulu and built it into one of the nation’s larger travel discounters, with five call centers across the country. More than 400 people worked for the company in Honolulu by 2000.

In 2001, Cendant Corp., a conglomerate that already had its own travel discount service, acquired Cheap Tickets Inc. for $280 million. Then in 2006, it was included in a sale to Orbitz.

Duane Shimogawa
Reporter
Pacific Business News