Q. What is your take on the problems that are facing the Hawaii Superferry?

A. Certainly the Superferry's situation is in the news and is a disappointing situation. As I understand the issue, the individuals who have concerns are mostly concerned about the process. What I enjoy about the situation is there have been a couple of political individuals who have actively worked to have the different parties come to the table and discuss things in an effort to work out the differences. One of my hobbies is liking to ride on boats, and I certainly wouldn't go on the ferry today, but I do like to go on boats, and if the island and the political process have this means of transportation stay for good reasons, then I know of a few families that would like to go back and forth. I think it's good for the island to pause and for the process to pause as Maui just did to ensure that if this were to become a viable means of transportation, it goes through the processes as all carriers perhaps should.

Q. You've been involved in the visitor industry on Kaua'i for more than 25 years. Why Kaua'i?

A. Kaua'i is an extremely special spot. When I first traveled here in the mid-1970s, I knew right away that this was the type of place that I'd like to stay. At that time, I didn't realize that I'd be spending the remainder of my life here, but it's such a special spot. The people are great, the island is beautiful, and it's been a wonderful place to raise a family.

Q. Were you in the visitor industry when you got there?

A. I started working for a company that was out of Chicago, where I'm from, escorting tours. We were called "tour managers," and we brought visitors from the Midwest to all of the islands and traveled to the various hotel and resort patterns, put them on all the helicopters and all the boats, and brought them to lu'aus and those kinds of things. It was a real exciting time where group travel was really busy in the late '70s and early '80s. That's actually how I got to Honolulu originally, and eventually to Kaua'i.

Q. What was your first job here?

A. Parking cars at the Waiohai Resort. It was the only job I could get, but I knew I wanted to be a part of that great property. Amfac Hotels and Resorts at the time was the managing firm, and they had goals and objectives that were very well represented in the newspaper columns, and I really wanted to be a part of that. So I took a job parking cars and eventually "humping bags" as a bellman, and working my way through the front desk and into the front office assistant-manager positions.

Q. Is Kaua'i a tough sell?

A. I would think all of the visitor destination areas are tough. It's a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week business, and there is a challenge to balance your private and professional life at all times. Kaua'i's been an interesting challenge because our economy has collapsed, since I've been here, on two occasions (hurricanes 'Iwa and Iniki). The rebuilding efforts have been extraordinary, not only physically but from an economical point of view as well. I haven't looked upon it as wanting to compare it with other locations, but I would say, yes, it's been a challenge, but perhaps not more of a challenge than any other area.

Q. Kaua'i has been getting negative publicity when it comes to doing business. How are you dealing with the negative image the island's receiving?

A. Any island needs to be aware of what their image is. When I think of the image of Kaua'i, it's a lot of open spaces and a beautiful place with visitor destination areas that we share with all kinds of travelers. From an image point of view, I would think that we're still looked upon as a fairly comfortable and relaxing place to be, compared to the other, busier islands.

Q. Since you joined the hotel in May, has there been anything that surprised you?

A. Yes. We have Dreamworks here right now, with Ben Stiller's major motion picture, and I learned that this property has hosted several major movie companies during their efforts to film on the island. All of a sudden, I see all of this great infrastructure and some of the rooms to convert into office areas, and I see that we have capabilities of setting up a complete headquarters for an off-island company that's come to film the island and film their movies. That's been an unexpected treat, and the staff is very mature and educated in regard to taking care of these types of crews. So we're looking upon promoting the fact that we are able to take care of these folks, and perhaps will be fortunate to have a couple of future types of groups like this.

Q. What's your business philosophy?

A. It comes from my family. Hospitality was always a big thing in our family. We as children used to make sure the home and the yard were taken care of when we had guests. We helped Mom in the kitchen and prepared food, and we were responsible for busing and cleaning the dishes, too. The same thing holds here. We have an appreciation week coming up in September where we have different things in all departments. One of the things I'm doing is making banana pancakes. I love banana pancakes, and I love to share them with my staff, every once in a while, the way I make them. We have our summer barbecue coming up. Hospitality with our own employees is just as important as the hospitality we share and provide when we service visitors and guests. Also, the hospitality we show in the neighborhood is important, being a good community neighbor with our charity walks support and other major things that we do.

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.