More and more travelers are seeking authentic, localized experiences—what’s your strategy for staying relevant in the marketplace?

Guests have the place nearly to themselves as they walk or ride a horse along the beach or play golf in this beautiful setting—that’s a big part of our experience. There’s no other resort in Hawai‘i that can rival our four and a half miles of coastline, surf breaks and available acreage for sustainable projects.

We’re also very activity based—in addition to surfing experiences and golf amenities, we have everything from mountain bike trail riding to helicopters to glass-bottom kayaks.

We recently added a new canine ambassador to our team, a six-month-old Labrador named Pono. People love animals and miss their pets when they’re away from them on vacation, so when they come here they have a fast friend. As soon as he matures a little bit and is well trained, he’s going to be hiking trails with our guests and following along on their horseback rides. Any time he goes into the lobby, he’s swarmed by guests who have seen him on social media. He’s gotten more likes on Facebook than any of us ever will.

Have these curated experiences always been a part of the picture at Turtle Bay?

The resort has always done a good job of offering experiential activities, but we keep adding to them and have a lot more to go. We’re looking at ropes courses and other guest-involvement activities, such as sustainable agriculture experiences.

We have some very good farmers on the land, and I think we’re about three to five years away from getting our guests involved in that as part of the visitor experience. Imagine eating a pizza made with basil, tomatoes and spices that you picked yourself on property. It’s a very simple thing, but there’s a lot of interest now in experiences like that.

How does the Hawai‘i market different from other places you’ve lived and worked?

I don’t think there’s anything in the world even close to the spirit that’s here in Hawai‘i. I was with Hyatt hotels for 28 years and then Hilton for 10, operating hotels in New York, Las Vegas, Chicago and Monterey off and on but always returning to Hawai‘i.

What’s your take on the rise in popularity of short-term rentals like Airbnb and how have they impacted the resort business?

There’s certainly a place for Airbnb and short-term rentals, but right now it’s like the Wild Wild West. Tourism now is everywhere—even businesses that aren’t directly involved in tourism are affected by it.
    Short-term rentals provide accommodations without the service and amenities, and there’s definitely room for that. But I think travelers who are seeking personalized experiences and high-level service will continue to choose hotels and resorts. And visitor expectations will only grow as short-term rentals become taxed and regulated like those of us in the hotel business.

Any other trends or dynamics in the industry?

We have to keep in mind is that we have two, perhaps three, main economic drivers in Hawai‘i—tourism, the military and, at times, construction—so sustainability of all three is very important. If we take our foot off the pedal in tourism, for example, and fail to market Hawai‘i properly, it’s very easy to lose that sustainability. We’ve had a pretty good run the last seven years, but we have to make sure we’re taking care of our parks and the natural environment and constantly refresh and maintain what it is we’re selling. If we do all these things in conjunction with our marketing arms HTA and HVCB, then I think we’ll have a sustainable industry into the future.

In what way is tourism a fragile industry?

People have so many choices in terms of tourist destinations, so Hawai‘i has to stay on top of its game and remind travelers worldwide about Hawai‘i. That means taking care of our environment, keeping a shine on the natural gifts we have here and sustaining the hospitality centers in order to make sure we’re always viable in the eyes of visitors. It takes a lot to want to get on an airplane and come here, so we need to give people a good reason to make that effort.