BOOKMARK
Saga of Mauna Kea Beach Hotel easy, enjoyable read

"MR. MAUNA KEA: Adi W. Kohler" by Catherine Bridges Tarleton; McKenna Publishing, paperback, $17.95

By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Books Editor

Adi Kohler, who retired as general manager of the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel in 2000, belongs to a time — now regrettably past — when the great hotels were run by creative, independent and often idiosyncratic individuals whose names were as familiar to their guests as the guests were familiar to them. Many, like Kohler, were European-born and -trained. Many, like Kohler, became hotel business legends, about whom tales are still told.

Here, Kohler tell his own tales with the aid of writer and Mauna Kea sales and marketing assistant Cathey Tarleton (her 2002 book, "Potluck: Stories that Taste Like Hawai'i" is worth seeking out). But don't expect to uncover the secret quirks of the hotel's many famous guests or hear any nudge-nudge, wink-wink bedtime stories. Kohler adheres to the hotelier's code: Notice everything and tell nothing.

Rather, this is the story of how seemingly every event in Kohler's life led up to the day that he became "Mr. Mauna Kea." Kohler and Tarleton choose a delightful conceit for spinning the story out: A new assistant has arrived at the hotel and accompanies Kohler on one of his daily "property walks," then joins the g.m. for dinner and the story of Kohler's life. The book ends with a detailed history of the hotel, once routinely listed among the top 10 in the world, and still beloved by the well-heeled repeat guests who consider it just another of their vacation homes.

Anyone with an interest in the hotel industry, or who has been a guest in Kohler's "house" will enjoy this easy-reading, as-told-to book, as I did.