Hotel embodies Hawai'i's values, traditions

By Wanda. A. Adams
Advertiser Travel Editor

The Ka'anapali Beach Hotel is often described as the resort's — perhaps Hawai'i's — "most Hawaiian hotel," known for its cultural programs, its charming holiday cards showing portraits of the 'ohana, the local-style grinds in the restaurants and the frequency with which the employees burst into song (and guests burst into tears).

Each morning, several times a morning, different employees conduct a moving farewell ceremony to which every departing guest is invited. They form a circle in the lobby, employees talk a little about the significance of the lei and each visitor receives a kukui-nut lei with a single white nut amongst the black ones. Every time they return, the guests are told, their lei will be restrung with another white nut.

Since each employee similarly wears a kukui lei, with white nuts indicating years of service, the farewell event is seen as truly bringing each guest into the 'ohana. It ends with a song in Hawaiian comparing the guest to a cherished lei and a great deal of hugging, kissing, camera-snapping and promises to return.

"We've been all over the world," said Doris Lake of Vancouver, British Columbia, as she readied to leave the Ka'anapali Beach Hotel after a third visit a few months ago. "You know, every hotel tries to be welcoming and has their own little ways. But here, it seems genuine. You can tell these people love what they're doing. It's the real aloha."

That, says the hotel's longtime general manager Mike White, is po'okela (excellence), as in Project Po'okela, an employee-run effort to manage the business based on values of mutual respect, loving hospitality and caring for the community and the land.

It began in 1984 at a Governor's Tourism Conference that White attended. There, he heard speakers, among them the late George S. Kanahele, say that if the industry didn't do something to preserve Hawaiian culture the essential thing that attracts visitors to Hawai'i would be lost. This is a familiar theme now, but it was new stuff then, and White was one of those who took it seriously.

He invited Kanahele to come to the hotel to see what could be done to make it a more Hawaiian place. KBH, as it's affectionately known by locals, was different from some others in being largely staffed from manager to maintenance men by lifelong Islanders.

White and the hotel's owners made two important commitments: The new program, whatever it was, would be focused not on the guests but on the people who run and work in the hotel, with the theory that they were the key to making guests feel welcome. And it wouldn't be an "outsider" thing; it would be devised by everyone together, not a management-imposed project du jour but something to guide everyone from then on.

They began with a series of classes in Hawaiian values taught by Kanahele and attended by every employee on company time. This has continued as the core of the Po'okela program; the 50th 10-part class series was completed last fall.

At the first gatherings, they broke into groups — employees, managers, owners — and talked about what they wanted from the people with whom they worked. "It was almost electric when you brought these three groups together. It turned out we all wanted the same things: money, job security, honesty, integrity, fairness, respect. It was one of the most incredible lightning bold moments I've ever seen," said White.

Lori Sablas, Project Po'okela director, explained that the decision was made early on to use Hawaiian words for the elements of Po'okela because one way to preserve a culture is through language.

The classes, which bring together employees and managers from different parts of the hotel, are designed to encourage the formation of personal bonds across departmental lines, to give a sense of place and attachment to those who aren't from Hawai'i and to let people have a little fun while learning everything from language to lei-making, said Sablas.

In 1986, the employees wrote a mission statement which the current KBH brochure proudly declares "has not been edited, revised or changed in any way by management." One of the values named: informality, "which encourages open and direct communication." This is evident as employees stop by the table in the Mixed Plate cafeteria, where White, Sablas and others are chatting with a reporter; information flows easily, suggestions are floated and approved, friendly conversation ensues. They're clearly busy, but not too busy to smile.

Many ideas have grown from this synergy. Some years ago, for example, the housekeeping department said they wanted to learn some songs and sing them as they went about the hotel. "We said, 'go for it,' and that was the start of our becoming the singingest hotel in the world," White said.

A minimum of six cultural activities a day, including frequent songfests, are carried out by employees who move from reservations to lauhala weaving or housekeeping to hula and back again in an easy way, and many family members take part, too.

The sought-after holiday cards, a poi-making project, Hawaiian diet dishes on the menu, craft classes for guests — all are ideas that employees have proposed and been empowered to carry out. After 9/11, the employees got together to talk about what they could do to be even more welcoming to those people who chose to travel in spite of concerns about terrorism and they came up with the idea of giving everyone a free call home.

"We are banking our future on the past," said White. "And it's working."

If you go ...

Ka'anapali Beach Resort

Ka'anapali: A master-planned resort including six hotels, four condominiums, two golf courses, the Whalers Village open-air shopping complex with whaling museum, more than 40 restaurants, 30 tennis courts, Spa Moana (full-service oceanfront spa open to public), wide range of beach activities.

Information: (808) 661-3271, www.kaanapaliresort.com (includes calendar of events).

Other Maui online calendars: www.calendarmaui.com, www.visitmaui.com/calendar.html, www.mauitime.com.

Golf: (866) 454-4653, toll-free; www.kaanapali-golf.com (Web site is being updated).

Tennis: Hyatt Regency Resort & Spa, daily clinics, weekly tournaments, club-style services (808) 667-4444; Tennis Ranch, Royal Lahaina Resort, open to the public, full range of tennis services, (808) 667-5200.

Special events:

• Fourth of July celebration with kid-friendly activities, Whalers Village.
• "Cookin' with Cutty" cable TV taping, First Annual Hawaiian Keiki Culinary Quest, a children's "Iron Chef"-style cook-off, pairing children with Ka'anapali chefs; shooting in the area June 19-23; cook-off Sheraton Maui Resort, June 21. Information: www.cuttytv.com.
• Maui Onion Festival, Whalers Village, Aug. 3-4. Information: (808) 661-4567, www.whalersvillage.com.
• Maui Chefs Presents, sampling event under the stars, Sept. 5, featuring Maui restaurant chefs, Hyatt Regency Maui Resort. Information: www.visitlahaina.com, Lahaina Event Hotline (888), 310-1117, toll-free; or (808) 667-9194.
• 31st Na Mele O Maui, song festival and art exhibit, Dec. 5. Information: (808) 661-3271; (800) 245-9229.