​Mahalo to all those who came to our first Hospitality Industry Pau Hana of 2019 at Appetito last night! This is wonderful networking opportunity for our members to mix and mingle with one another, and it presents an ideal platform for us to recognize an exceptional professional from within our industry. 
 
In particular, I would like to acknowledge our newest members, who formally joined HLTA, and attended their first event! Warm welcomes to Corey Campbell of Akamai Training & Consulting, Ruben Perez of Oahu Extractions, Kortney Dacanay of Hawaii Self-Storage, Richard Davis of Bank of Hawaii, Lydia Yabsley of Aqua-Aston Hospitality, David Murphey of David Murphey Photography, Rashan and Ronnie Corpuz of Honolulu Premier Flooring, and Breann Guzman of Heide & Cook. 
 
In addition to our Thursday night festivities, we were pleased to honor Outrigger Hospitality Group’s Jerry Dolak, Director of Loss Prevention, with our Kahiau Award.
 
Jerry has been on the front lines championing visitor and public safety, in his capacity as Director of Loss Prevention for Outrigger Resorts, as well as President of HHVISA, the Hawaii Hotel Visitor Industry Security Association.  In addition to being an active member of our organization,  Jerry has been a valued partner in many of our emergency management seminars and conferences, as well as coordinating our security efforts for the Visitor Industry Charity Walk on Oahu. 
 
There was raucous support shown for Jerry, particularly from his Outrigger Ohana, who turned out in force to Appetito at the Ohana East Waikiki by Outrigger.  Congratulations, Jerry – this was so well-deserved!

​As part of our many partnerships with the Hawaii Tourism Authority, accompanied by several retired NFL pros, a couple of whom played for the Rams, and a dozen of Hawaii’s finest football coaches, I was excited to be part of yesterday’s press conference announcing the LA Rams’ preseason game.  For those of you who may have missed it, the Rams will host the Dallas Cowboys at Aloha Stadium on Saturday, August 17th at 4pm.  This will officially be the first exhibition game held at Aloha Stadium since 1976.  
 
Through their partnerships with Hawai’i’s tourism industry, the Rams are looking forward to providing several opportunities for community engagement.  Chris Tatum, HTA head, has invited me to share my expertise as the former mayor of Honolulu, and as the current president & CEO of the Hawaii Lodging & Tourism Association to help connect the Rams’ organization to several key community organizations, schools and individuals.  The plan is to hold clinics for several high school football teams, including an 11-on-11 tournament & skills competition and a series of PLAY 60 events.  Coinciding with their ongoing military outreach efforts, we will be helping to connect the Rams with Hawaii-based service personnel and their families.
 
I for one am looking forward to this match-up between last year’s Super Bowl contender, The LA Rams, and “America’s Team”. As one who was tasked with the responsibility of keeping the Pro Bowl in Hawaii for several years, I say mahalo to the LA Rams and HTA for bringing the NFL back to Aloha Stadium!

To watch this morning's KHON Take2 appearance, please click here.  For the Press Conference coverage via  KHON, click here.  For KITV's, click here.

​Last week we announced the Ho’oilina Scholarship, which is a two-pronged approach at incentivizing local students interested in becoming tourism professionals to stay in our islands and work toward becoming the next generation of leaders. 
 
The program will award a total of five, four-year scholarships at $12,000 per student per year for students enrolling at the University of Hawaii TIM School, and the Hospitality programs at Brigham Young University- Hawaii, and Hawaii Pacific University.
 
Additionally, there will be ten available two-year scholarships for community college students utilizing the Hawaii Promise Program and enrolling in the TIM program at the University of Hawaii. Scholarship awards break down as follows: two Oahu County students, two Maui County students, two Kaua‘i County students, two Hawai‘i Island students, and two at-large students from any island.
 
The scholarships are already open for application on our website,  at http://www.hawaiilodging.org/scholarship-opportunities.html.  But, as announced on KHON2 on Monday evening, we are extending the deadline to April 15th at 12 noon, to allow as much time as possible for these student applicants to showcase themselves and their passion for Hawaii’s number one industry. To catch that interview, please click here.

​Please don’t forget to register for next Thursday’s Visitor Public Safety Conference, Part II. Tickets are free, thanks to our fellow sponsoring partners: the Hawaii Tourism Authority, Hawaii Hotel Visitor Industry Security Association, Waikiki Improvement Association, & Waikiki Business Improvement District Association.
 
Not registered yet? Click here. 

​I have always said that Hawaii’s tourism industry relies on the fact that we are a safe place to live, play, visit, and do business.  All it would take is a few highly publicized crimes to harm this reputation, which draws millions of visitors to our shores and entices world class conventions such as the APEC conference, the World Conservations Congress, and arriving in 2020 the Festival of the Pacific Arts and Culture.

Last year, our inaugural VPSC was a resounding success - it helped to formulate both short and long-term goals addressing safety and crime, as well as established actionable items for all stakeholders to consider.  In fact, the proof is in the poi, as exactly one-year after our conference, many of the suggestions from the meeting were reflected in the 2019 Waikiki crime-fighting plan, rolled out by the Honolulu Police Department and the City Administration.

But with public safety-related incidences making their way back to the front pages, HLTA has decided to hold a second iteration of our Visitor Public Safety Conference, hosted in partnership with the Hawai’i Tourism Authority, the Waikiki Improvement Association, the Waikiki Business Improvement District Association, and the Hawaii Hotel Visitor Industry Security Association. 

This year’s meeting will be a half-day affair, driven by leaders from all sectors of public safety.  The morning will begin with the Honolulu Police Department’s leadership, sharing their insight on current crime and their numerous new initiatives.  The second half of the conference will feature a panel of specialists who will focus on the seven major concerns in terms of crime reduction and safety: residential, hotels, businesses, visitors, youth, the military, and homelessness.

If you’re interested in attending, please register here.

​For those of you who caught Ben Rafter’s feature in Hawaii Business Magazine, you know that Ben is working on turning OLS Hotels & Resorts into “the next great Hawaii hotel operator.”

The 2015-2016 HLTA Chairperson is CEO of OLS Hotels & Resorts, which operates 23 branded and boutique hotels nationwide, with plans to move its headquarters from LA to Honolulu soon.  OLS Hotels & Resorts is more than 50% locally owned, and is operating five Hawaii hotels.  But with Ben at the helm, they’re expanding their local operations, and are looking to take up the mantle as a great, locally-owned Hawaii hotel operator, following in the footsteps of the Kelley family of Outrigger and others that preceded them. Rafter, a current HTA board member, also has recruited Rob Robinson, formerly with 'Alohilani Resort of Highgate Hotels to be part of his management team.  Both Robinson and Rafter are active board members of HLTA. 

Although the past President of Aqua-Aston Hospitality got his start in the tech world, I think it’s clear that Ben has found his niche in the hospitality world. 

To catch the full Hawaii Business feature, click here.  

This past Monday evening, I had the pleasure of attending and offered remarks at the Concierge Association of Hawai‘i’s 10th Anniversary Gala at Morton's.  I was invited by long-time concierge and friend Wendy Nagaishi. 

The small-but-mighty group represents a very vital lifeline in the visitor industry, and that is the dedication to providing professional and excellent guest services to visitors and local residents alike.  They are passionate in what they do, and take great pride in their work.  The organization is committed to providing continuous career development and education to their members and additionally engages in community opportunities from the Visitor Industry Charity Walk to Aloha Week and more.   
 
Association President Vanessa Greene, of the Halekulani, heads the organization which is comprised of representatives from lodging properties such as the Kahala Hotel & Resort, the Four Seasons Resort O’ahu at Ko Olina, Trump International Waikiki, Prince Waikiki, the DoubleTree Alana Waikiki, and Turtle Bay Resort, as well as industry affiliate.  
 
Mahalo for hosting such a wonderful evening, and I wish you all many more years of happy, educational membership!​

​On March 6, I was invited to be a guest speaker at the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s 2019 Spring Tourism Update at the Hawaii Convention Center. I spoke to an audience of 500, which comprised of members from the tourism industry, government officials, non-profit professionals, and the general public.
 
My primary focus was geared toward HTA’s Community Outreach Program, which will now include a new Scholarship Program crafted by HLTA  and HTA . The program is exclusive to Hawaii public high school graduates who are planning to pursue degrees in the tourism, hospitality, or culinary fields.
 
The program will award a total of five, four-year scholarships at $12,000 per student per year for students enrolling at the University of Hawaii TIM School, and the Hospitality programs at BYU- Hawaii and HPU. Additionally, there will be ten available two-year scholarships for students enrolling in the TIM program at the University of Hawaii, for which scholarship awards break down as follows: two Oahu County students, two Maui County students, two Kaua‘i County students, two Hawai‘i Island students, and two at-large students from any island.
 
Beyond having a commendable GPA, leadership skills, volunteer hours in the community, and internship experience, the candidates must also agree to pursue 'Ōlelo Hawaiian language and cultural classes. The goal is to incentivize and retain these future tourism and hospitality leaders and to establish them as pillars in the local community.
 
The Ho’oilina Scholarship recipient selection committee will be co-chaired by Chris Tatum, head of  Hawai‘i Tourism Authority and myself.  The committee members will consist of individuals from across the state in the fields of hospitality, culinary, such as the Hawaii Restaurant Association, and education, as well as union representatives and Hawaiian culture specialists.
 
We are excited to roll out this new scholarship initiative for our 2019 public high school graduates.  Applications will be released this coming week and will be available on our website, along with our other existing scholarship opportunities, at http://www.hawaiilodging.org/scholarship-opportunities.html.

​For the Hawai‘i Lodging & Tourism Association, Visitor and Public Safety is and has been one of our major priority issues.  As a former Director of the State Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism and Mayor of the City & County of Honolulu, and currently as the President & CEO of the Hawai‘i Lodging & Tourism Association, I have always said that our tourism industry relies heavily on the fact that we are a safe place to live, play, visit, and do business. 
 
To that end, HLTA along with industry partners held the first-ever Visitor Public Safety Conference exactly one year ago.  The conference was a huge success, as it addressed rising concerns in the realm of public safety and established a list of goals and initiatives, many of which are part of  the Honolulu Police Department priorities and was included in the City’s newly unveiled Waikiki crime-fighting plan (view the Honolulu Star-Advertiser article here).
 
In response to a successful conference in 2018, we are partnering with the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority, the Waikiki Improvement Association, and the Waikiki Business Improvement District Association to host the second annual Visitor Public Safety conference, once again bringing to the table public safety stakeholders: the Honolulu Police Department,  the Hawai‘i Hotel Visitor Industry Security Association, Visitor Aloha Society of Hawai‘i, Retail Merchants of Hawai‘i, Adult Friends for Youth, Storefront School, and the Military.  Today we held a planning committee meeting to gear up for our March 28th morning conference.  This year’s meeting, albeit on a more abbreviated timeline, will cover updates and initiatives in local law enforcement, and will address the following six key areas that are related or impacted by crime: community ,  business, visitors, military, youth, and homelessness.  The conference will conclude with ways that we as an industry can follow-up and follow through with current and future legislation, programs, and initiatives.
 
Stay tuned as we release more details and registration information for our Visitor Public Safety Part II.

Last year, Oahu took a page from the HLTA Kauai Chapter and unveiled a new initiative: a bowling tournament to help raise funds for the Visitor Industry Charity Walk.  2018’s Strike Out Homelessness successfully raised $10,000 for groups supporting the homelessness community, and we hope to continue to do so.  Our partners at Salem Media helped us organize last year’s event which was filled with competitive fun, and ono grinds from The Alley!  We look forward to hana hou-ing this evening of fellowship and fundraising for a worthy cause.  
 
The idea behind this perennial event will be to rotate focus and fundraise to support a new area of priority each year.  For 2019, we will concentrate our efforts to “Strike Out Domestic Violence.”
 
Join us at Aiea Bowl on Friday, April 12th as we bowl for this important cause!  If you are interested in participating either as a team (of 6 bowlers) or as a prize donor, please direct your requests to Senior Director of Operations, Edgar Palafox of my staff.  We hope to see you there!