Mufi's Message - September 14, 2017

​Scholarship Presentation and Kauai Charity Walk Allocation
Last Thursday, HLTA attended the Kauai Chapter’s Charity Walk Grant Presentation Ceremony at the Kauai Marriott Resort, where $277,000 was distributed among 60 non-profit organizations. During the program, I took the opportunity to present the R.W. “Bob” Holden scholarship of $1,000 to Faith Rapozo, a junior at Kauai Community College majoring in Hospitality & Tourism. Faith has a passion for customer service and aspires to be a hotel manager or a tourism business owner. She also has an incredible story in which she has had to overcome many hardships to get to where she is today. I certainly hope she continues her path and fulfills her goal of one day becoming one of Kauai's leading hotel executives.
 
The R.W. Bob Holden Scholarship is a tribute to the continuing leadership in the hotel industry and dedication to education of those entering the hospitality profession. “Bob” Holden was the founder of the Visitor Industry Education Council of Hawaii in 1973, a group formed to take the story of Hawaii’s visitor industry and its importance to the citizens and general public of Hawaii. He was a member of the Advisory Council of the University of Hawaii TIM School, former director of the Waikiki Improvement Association and he is considered the “Father” of the Hawai’i Lodging & Tourism Association’s Visitor Industry Charity Walk.
 
New Member Incentive Drawing
In addition to the scholarship and Charity Walk grant presentations that took place that morning, we held a drawing for a new member incentive we ran after the Hospitality, Lodging, and Foodservice Expo this July. All new members who joined within a certain time frame were entered in a drawing for roundtrip tickets to any island on Hawaiian Airlines and a two-night stay at The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas, compliments of Ken Kanter from Douglas Trade Shows and Denise Wardlow, GM of the Westin Princeville. I recognized Denise that morning for her generous gift, and her Director of Operations Marc Bennor joined me on stage to pull the lucky member’s name. Ironically, out of all the allied members who joined during that time frame were up for the prize, the only new active member who joined during that time frame, Embassy Suites by Hilton Kapolei, was the lucky winner. Congratulations to Reid Yoshida, the property’s GM.
 
Generational Mentoring
Almost one year ago we launched the first ever HLTA Generational Mentoring program in partnership with Art Sarkissian, founder of Here and Now Consulting.  The program paired 12 hotel and resort general managers with students from our local universities’ tourism industry management programs.  The result of the 7 month program develops a mutually beneficial relationship between the executives of today’s hospitality industry and the up and coming leaders of tomorrow, an experience that both parties gain valuable insights from.
 
As we near the end of 2017 we will be launching our second iteration of the Generational Mentoring program geared at partnering 15 university students with 15 general managers and visitor industry executives.  This year we have confirmed the participation of 6 new executives to the GM program:  Scott Ingwers, Area VP & Managing Director of the Trump International Hotel Waikiki; Teri Orton, General Manager of the Hawai‘i Convention Center; Simeon Miranda, General Manager of the Embassy Suites Hotel - Waikiki Beach Walk; Gerald Glennon, General Manager of the Kahala Hotel & Resort; Jim Braman, General Manager of the Cliffs at Princeville; and Danna Holck, General Manager at Turtle Bay Resort.  We are very excited to once again partner with Art Sarkissian to launch our second year of this very worthwhile initiative that helps pave the way for the next generation of industry professionals.