Hotels review mold prevention plans
| • | Hawai'i sprouting with mold anxiety |
| • | Q&A: Is my home or health at risk? |
By Kelly Yamanouchi
Advertiser Staff Writer
The mold-related closure last month of Hilton Hawaiian Village's 453-room Kalia Tower has prompted some local hotel companies to review their own housekeeping procedures to see that mold doesn't cause such a costly shutdown at their properties.
Hilton estimated last month that closure of the tower will cost the company at least $10 million, making it the most expensive mold problem for the hotel company and the largest ever faced by a Hawai'i hotel.
Outrigger Enterprises, Hawai'i's largest lodging company, has reviewed its mold-prevention programs, Barry Wallace, senior vice president of operations, said yesterday.
"We found nothing to be concerned about," Wallace said of the company's properties, which include more than 12,000 hotel rooms and condominium units in Hawai'i, Micronesia, Australia and the South Pacific.
Wallace said hotel managers spoke to housekeeping and maintenance employees about preventive maintenance, including the cleaning of fan coil units and the reporting of any out-of-reach mold. The hotels also reviewed their logbooks to ensure cleaning programs are on schedule.
B.J. Whitman, spokeswoman for the Sheraton Waikiki, which has more than 1,800 rooms and suites, and the Royal Hawaiian with 527 rooms and suites, said test results came back yesterday showing no toxic mold at the hotels, only "the safe mold, the everyday mold."
The tests were done last week after the Hilton tower closed.
"We decided to take the aggressive approach and made sure our environment was free and clear," Whitman said. Sheraton hotel housekeepers use a special solution to clean away mold and the engineering department has been checking air ventilation systems, she said.
Donna Wheeler, director of marketing for Aston Hotels & Resorts, said that while mold and mildew have always been issues here, the Hilton incident has raised awareness even further.
Aston hotel employees have been reminded of "the need to be observant and be able to communicate and react to certain situations, unusual situations," Wheeler said.
She said no problems have been found. Aston has more than 4,500 rooms and suites in Hawai'i.
Officials with Local 5 of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union, which represents workers at Hilton Hawaiian Village, said yesterday they have been asking a number of other hotels where their members work for information about possible mold problems.
Eric Gill, financial secretary-treasurer for Local 5, did not identify the hotels. "So far we're kind of going where we see some smoke," he said. "Plus, as we've talked to experts, various information has been proffered to us, and we're trying to follow up on that."
In Waikiki, Local 5 represents workers at the four Sheraton hotels, the Renaissance 'Ilikai Waikiki, the Ala Moana Hotel and the Hyatt Regency Waikiki.
"We're not anxious to go on a mold crusade, but we've got to be cognizant of our members' health interests here," Gill said. "And certainly for any hotel who might be worried, being in a similar situation to Hilton, we wanted to offer them an opportunity to work out with us a scenario as to what to do."
Glenn Vergara, general manager of Aston's 106-suite Executive Centre Hotel, called mold prevention "a daily objective," and said Hilton's tower closure is unprecedented.
"Right now it's an awareness stage," Vergara said. "Certainly it's something that has become an issue that we're talking about."
Advertiser staff writer Susan Hooper contributed to this report. Reach Kelly Yamanouchi at 535-2470.
