The cultural tourism-savvy staff from Ka'ānapali Beach Hotel pictured here are (l. to r.) employee training executive Dee Coyle, cultural resource specialist Makalapua Kanuha and Po'okela Project director Lori Sablas. - Photos: Blaine Fergstrom

Kā'anapali Beach Hotel continues its
30-year love affair with cultural tourism

By Liza Simon / Ka Wai Ola

Long known as the real turbine of the state's tourism-driven economy, Maui now ties with Hawai'i Island in seeing the state's steepest decline in hotel occupancy and visitor arrivals, according to state figures for the third-quarter of 2008 ending in September. Hotels are responding by furloughing workers, trimming employees' shifts or cutting jobs. Thirty-four hotel workers last month allege they were laid off without advance notice from the Kā'anapali Beach Club; they've filed a grievance with their union, Local 5. This is one more indication of lean tiems ahead for local households, no thanks to the Hawai'i tourism industry's perfect storm of misery: rising fuel prices, grounded airlines and the meltdown of financial markets worldwide.

But at least one resort property, the Kā'anapali Beach Hotel, is bucking the tide and pledging that lay-offs are not an option. To retain its market share, the 432-room resort is banking largely on its reputation as the state's piko of cultural tourism – the effort to instill cultural values in the hospitality industry.

Native Hawaiian scholar and educator George Kanahele is credited with bringing cultural tourism to life at Kā'anapali Beach Hotel nearly 30 years ago. That's when tourism had become the state's predominant employer, surpassing the military for the first time. But tourism's commercialization of culture and plethora of service jobs were perceived then – as they frequently still are – as stifling to Native Hawaiian identity and economic progress. Kanahele reasoned that travel was an enduring and enriching pursuit and he believed Hawaiians had a special contribution to make.

“Dr. Kanahele said we as Hawaiians do this by being our true ourselves, connecting with guests and sharing the spirit of ho'okipa. This is who we are and it comes to us naturally,” said Lori Sablas, who directs the Po'okela Project, the flagship award-winning cultural tourism program, through which Kanahele first put principles into action at Kā'anapali Beach Hotel.

As part of employee training on company time, Po'okela immerses workers in a creative array of workshops related to Hawaiian heritage. The list of topics spreads in as many directions as a banyan tree's roots: kalo, ahupua'a, Hawaiian monarchy, Lahaina legends – you name it. The resort's corporate headquarters once called Sablas, asking about the program's relevance to its strategic plan. She laughed at the memory. “We don't always do things in that Western way,” she said. “Sometimes we are moved by ke Akua to pick a certain topic. Po'okela is not for commercial promotion, it's truly for employees.”

But what about that Western way of the bottom line? Can Po'okela toe that line and help bring in revenue when personal travel budgets have been subsumed by rising expenses of daily living?

The question gets a hearty laugh from Makalapua Kanuha, one of seven full-time kumu on the Po'okela staff and also the sister of O'ahu hula master Frank Hewitt. “You can only drink so many mai tais and get sunburned in so many places before you want something real. People who come here want to learn our culture,” she said. “So we empower employees to accomplish this together.”

One sign of Kā'anapali Beach Hotel's vested interest in cultural tourism is that the hotel has financed Kanuha's professional development by sending her to the new Native Hawaiian leadership program, known as Ola Hawai'i, at the School of Travel Industry Management at the University of Hawai'i Mānoa. The 18-month certificate course has a curriculum designed by Peter Apo and other leaders of the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association, the lead organization named by the state's Hawai'i Tourism Authority (HTA) to implement a cultural initiative for sustainable and responsible tourism in Hawai'i, another move credited to the legacy of George Kanahele.

But in this grim economy, HTA recently announced it is trimming its budget for Hawaiian-themed events such as festivals, originally components of the initiative. A decline in the Transient Accommodations Tax, or TAT, used to fund the HTA, led to the decision, said Marsha Wienert, state tourism liaison. HTA's top budget priority now is marketing to visitors to get them back into hotel rooms to once again raise revenues generated by the hotel-room tax, which can then be applied to more cultural events.

It may look logical on a balance sheet, but Kā'anapali Beach Hotel manager Mike White said he is wary of luring visitors and not giving them the culture that will bring them back because culture is what distinguishes Hawai'i. Kā'anapali Beach Hotel has proven it makes good business sense to embrace Hawaiian culture, he said. In the economic slump after 9-11, other resort properties cut staff; Kā'anapali Beach Hotel kept a pledge to keep staff and sustain the Po'okela Project. The hotel managed to rebound more quickly than its neighboring properties. “The best marketing is always that guest who has felt good about Hawai'i just by everyday conversations with employees, so that he goes home and tells everyone about the great experience,” said White. One added perk of the Po'okela training, he believes, is a contribution to employee retention, which increased by 24 percent following the establishment of the project.

Then again, the current economic slide is more severe than what came after 9-11. Visitor arrivals are hampered by fewer airlines servicing Hawai'i. Meanwhile, hotel costs – notably resort electric bills – are soaring. Occupancy rates for all Kā'anapali properties have declined. Those that depend on large bookings of conventions are in the worst shape. Kā'anapali Beach Hotel, which has neither timeshare nor convention accommodations, is struggling to retain market share of individual travelers.

White said his property's revenue is down and, yes, he worries. “But when you're a hotel manager, you cannot walk around looking gloomy. You have to set a positive example,” he said.

Certainly, this is the pono way. White, who knew Kanahele and was inspired by his ideas for cultural tourism, said regardless of financial news in reports for the next fiscal quarter, he and others at KBH have something to look forward to, namely the end of makahiki season. As part of a Po'okela workshop on the traditional Hawaiian season, every employee is preparing a related activity.