'Girl Friday' no longer

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Staff Writer

During her 50 years in the hotel industry, Mildred Courtney learned how important it is to make visitors feel comfortable.

Mildred Courtney, corporate director of military sales for Outrigger, witnessed the first arrival of commercial jets from the Mainland and the building boom of high-rise hotels. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

"I would deal with them first by telephone, and the first thing they ask is, 'You Japanese?' 'Hai,' " she said with a laugh. "Haruko-san, they called me."

Courtney marked 50 years with Outrigger Hotels & Resorts on June 1 — which she said was "just another working day."

From her first job as hotel switchboard operator at age 28 to her current post as corporate director of military sales, Courtney witnessed the explosion of tourism in Hawai'i from a ring-side seat.

"I always said that I was going to write my book once I've retired. And I thought of the name, 'Waikiki Confidential.' "

Courtney, who was born in Honolulu but raised on the Big Island, remembers going out on a tug boat to greet visitors with lei, before commercial jets displaced cruise ships. Courtney would interview guests and write about them in Outrigger's newspaper, the Waikiki Visitor, which was distributed at the Reef on the Beach.

Courtney got to know company founder Roy Kelley as his personal assistant, or "Girl Friday."

Many workers were afraid of Kelley "because ... he knew what he wanted and he wanted just that," she said. "I think during that period people were very timid of bosses. Not today. ... It was a challenge for me to get to know what made him tick. Underneath that he was a very gentle person."

Courtney would sometimes drive Kelley to the then-Outrigger West, and at first couldn't understand why he wanted to be dropped off in the parking garage rather than in front of the hotel. After talking to some front desk workers she soon realized he wanted to observe them at work without the employees knowing he was there.

When he walked in, "they were laughing and playing and so forth," she said. "They said, 'Wow, Mr. Kelley just let us have it.' After a while I got to thinking, 'I'm responsible for that.' So when he said, 'Get the car,' ... I'd call them and say, 'I'm coming.' "

At the time she was part of a cohesive group of employees — from the plumber and electrician to the housekeepers. She and front desk employees from the Edgewater would eat suppers together with their families.

"We had such a nice time," she said. "We don't do those kinds of things anymore. We've gotten much too big."

Determination prevails

Courtney soon climbed the ranks at Outrigger, managing hotels and overseeing a group of properties. Kelley, who died in 1997, never made much ceremony of promotions.

"He said, 'Go up to the Waikiki Surf and open that hotel,' " she said. "That's how he did it. He didn't say you were promoted. ... There were times where I felt it was quite overwhelming and there were a few times I didn't think I'd quite make it, but I was so determined to hang in there and make it work."

Courtney started in the hotel industry before statehood and witnessed the arrival of commercial jets from the Mainland and the building boom of high-rise hotels. She's seen Waikiki and the industry go through many changes.

Courtney has also noticed that guests are expecting more than they did decades ago.

"The people in those days and the people you deal with today are so different," she said. "Technology, I think, has brought that on. They are more sophisticated, basically. They want to know a lot more than before, when you said, 'Well, you're confirmed at a hotel' and that would be it. Not anymore. They want to know the amenities, the location, do you offer anything free, that sort of thing. It's really come a long way.

"The challenges today are so different because before you had a walk-in guest. Today you have e-mails, you have walk-in guests, you have telephones. ... More people before relied on travel agents as opposed to now, where people now surf the Net."

Military liaison

The walls in Courtney's office in the Ohana East hotel are covered with dozens of plaques and awards from various branches of the U.S. military. Countless others are in boxes, she said.

In her current incarnation, as corporate director of military sales, Courtney is a liaison between the hotel chain and the U.S. Armed Forces. Nearly 10 percent of Outrigger's business is from the military.

Courtney's success with the military is legendary, according to Outrigger chairman Richard Kelley, Roy's son, who took over the hotel chain in the late '80s.

"When she needs to find one last room on a night when all properties seem to be sold out, Mildred knows how to search within our system," Kelley said. "Woe be it to a hotel manager who is not fully up to date on what is going on in his or her property and not ready to go that extra mile to get a checked-out, vacant room ready, even late in the evening."

Courtney says she enjoys her work.

"First of all, I'm not micro-managed," she said. "I love the creativity this job affords me, and it's worked out wonderfully well for the Outrigger and Ohana hotels. We are known at every base. At every flag and general officer level, they know who we are."

Despite her 50 years on the job, the mother of three and grandmother of seven has no immediate plans to retire.

"I don't feel old at all. People much younger than me, I find are having a hard time walking and stuff. I walk an awful lot."

Courtney said she's seen many changes for the better. And she will probably be around for more.

"I think people need a purpose for getting up in the morning, don't you?" she said. "I find so many wonderful things about coming to work. I really do."

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 535-2470.