Marriott International said Thursday it will sue the owners of the Waikiki hotel that dropped Marriott as manager of the property on Sunday.

M Waikiki, owner of the Waikiki Edition hotel, installed a new management team over the weekend and renamed the hotel the MODERN Honolulu.

The owners claim Marriott mismanaged the hotel, leading to more than $6 million in losses so far this year.

Employees of the hotel told KITV 4 News of threats and intimidation behind the scenes, charges the hotel's owners deny.

The dispute involves the MODERN Honolulu, a 353-room hotel on the Ewa side of the Ilikai in Waikiki.

Employees are being told not to speak to the media, but three of them talked to us on the condition that we keep their identities secret.

They claim the new managers have threatened them.

"If you show up late, don't show up, you call in sick or they catch you with your cell phone. You're pretty much, they're telling us we're being terminated on the spot," said one employee.

A spokesman for the hotel's owner said no one was threatened, but employees were informed they had to follow procedures that were already in place under previous management.

Hotel employees said they are short-staffed after the management changeover.