What’s your strategy for staying relevant in the marketplace? What strategies are you utilizing to stay ahead of the curve?
Emerging technologies and the shift to digital have not changed Four Seasons’ commitment to highly personalized service. In truth, new platforms offer us even greater opportunity to customize travel preferences and build bespoke itineraries, enhancing the guest experience. Platforms such as the Four Seasons mobile app (available on iPad in every guest room) and FS Chat allow us to virtually engage with our guests at any time. We chat in real time, with on-property employees, with literally millions of guests in over 100 languages.

How does the Hawai‘i market differ from other places you’ve lived and worked?
It is known that Hawaiian hospitality welcomes like no other – with Ho‘okipa defined as a feeling, a sense of Hawaiian hospitality and even a way of life. How true this is. Aloha permeates the guest experience in Hawai‘i. For someone first arriving, it is truly an intangible, powerful and alive infusion of the senses. I have been fortunate to work in many places, including island nations, to immerse myself in the history of a people and a land, but the spirit of aloha and the beauty and power and diversity of these islands is not easily defined. The world has something to learn from it.

What does it take to be an effective leader? How would you describe your leadership style?
My advice, I think, is to be open and adaptive. To listen. To learn. To work hard and to be fair. Our industry is a complex business made from the sum of many parts. I had the benefit of growing up in a hoteling family, studying hotel administration, traveling and building my career in both city and resort properties. To this day, I enjoy the mentorship of Four Seasons founder, Isadore Sharp. I think one needs to be self-directed and well-mentored, and above all, enjoy interacting with people. As a leader, our responsibility is to help create an environment where our colleagues can thrive.

How has Hawai‘i’s visitor demographic evolved in recent years? What are some initiatives you’ve spearheaded to reach and engage this new demographic?
I think in Hawai‘i in particular, we can all point to the evolution in responsible tourism, which goes hand-in-hand with a generation of millennials who will be traveling with young families in the coming years. It calls for a sustainable interaction with the environment and forging lasting cultural connections, in our case a deepening relationship with Ke Kai O Kahiki, the award-winning hula hālau from Waianae, the introduction of spa treatments and Hawaiian botanical products that connect guests to the leeward coast and new traditions with our employees such as a nightly torch lighting ceremony.

What other industry dynamics have you observed over the course of your career?
Aside from the obvious explosion in technology which has impacted the guest experience in so many ways, there has been a shift in luxury hospitality to create a higher trust work place environment where the employee is empowered to make decisions and encouraged to engage with the guest. This is absolutely necessary if we are to keep ahead of the ever-increasing expectations of our guests. It is an exciting time to be in the industry. There are disruptors, there is consolidation, but with high levels of growth forecasted for decades to come, the future is bright!