Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: HST) announced today that the Company acquired the fee-simple interest in the 426-room Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach inHonolulu, Hawaii for$138.5 millionfrom an affiliate of Chartres Lodging Group, LLC and Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund VII Global. Kokua Hospitality will continue to manage the hotel subject to a franchise agreement with Hyatt.
Aston Hotels & Resorts is expanding its collection of eight Waikiki properties with its first designer boutique hotel: Hotel Renew by Aston.
Aqua Hotels & Resorts, a division of Aqua Hospitality, www.aquahospitality.com, recently announced the appointment of Evelyn Shiroma to the new position of Director of Property Sales & Revenue for Aqua Waikiki Wave and Aqua Waikiki Pearl hotels. Prior to joining Aqua, Shiroma was at ResortQuest Waikiki Beach Hotel – where she was recruited to re-open the hotel in early 2001 and later became the recipient of their Manager of the Year award. Shiroma has more than 20 years of experience in management, supervision and customer relations. Her resume includes positions at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort and Spa, Outrigger Waikiki Hotel and Bally’s Hotel and Casino Resort in Las Vegas.
Caceres began her career with Outrigger Hotels and Resorts in 2006 as a guest service representative at the OHANA Waikiki West hotel. Two years later, she was promoted to guest service manager at the then OHANA Waikiki Beachcomber. In 2011, she became a sales coordinator where her skills and talents were quickly recognized and rewarded with her new promotion.
Bruce Schneider, vice president of condominium and vacation ownership at Outrigger Enterprises Group, is pleased to announce the promotion of Loan Montgomery-Freitas to assistant resort manager at the Wyndham Vacation Resorts Royal Garden at Waikiki. In her new role, Montgomery-Freitas is responsible for assisting the resort manager with all aspects of hotel operations. Montgomery-Freitas was most recently front office manager at the Holiday Inn® Waikiki Beachcomber Resort where she saw that property through two brand transitions. Prior to that, she was front office manager at the OHANA Waikiki West hotel and assistant manager at the OHANA Waikiki East.
Halekulani Corporation, which owns and manages the world-renowned Halekulani and Waikiki Parc Hotels on Oahu has appointed Mr. Terry Hamada to the position of Director of Food and Beverage at Halekulani. Mr. Hamada will assume his new position as of February 1, 2012. The announcement was made today by Peter Shaindlin, Chief Operating Officer of Halekulani Corporation. Mr. Hamada joins the Halekulani executive team from his recent tenure as Hotel Manager of the Grand Park Otaru Hotel in Hokkaido, Japan. His award-winning achievements include the gold medal in the International Exhibition of Culinary Art, an event considered the culinary equivalent of the International Olympics.
Ed Ryan, Marriott International's executive vice president and general counsel, said, "While we are astonished at such a self-destructive course of action, we of course respect the law and the fact that a bankruptcy filing freezes any other legal orders for the time being. It is clear that this was a desperate step by the owner and legal advisors to circumvent the New York court's order returning the hotel to our rightful management and control. They will obviously stop at nothing in the effort to escape from the contractual obligations they made to us when they signed the management agreement.
Ms. Nagashima joins Outrigger with over seven years of hospitality industry experience. Most recently, she served as sales manager at Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa where she was responsible for overseeing various market segments, including groups, domestic and international wholesale, social, military and government, educational, religious, and fraternal markets since 2008. Prior to that, Ms. Nagashima was westbound leisure sales administrative assistant before being promoted to leisure sales manager. Before joining Marriott, Ms. Nagashima also worked at the Mandara Spa at the Hilton Hawaiian Village as a concierge shift supervisor.
abu takes on the responsibility of running the 451-room Ocean Resort Hotel Waikiki as the property is in the midst of undergoing some exciting changes, highlighted by a complete renovation over the next year and its rebranding as a Hyatt Place Hotel later this fall. Before joining Ocean Resort Hotel Waikiki last month, Kiyabu had spent her entire career at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa, starting there in 1976. In the ensuing years, she worked her way up through management and most recently served as executive assistant manager since 1999. The position put her in charge of more than 400 associates and numerous responsibilities, including guest services, concierge services, front office, housekeeping, security, and spa operations.
With more than 20 years of sales experience in Asia and the international market, Nozoe represents Aqua’s entire portfolio to existing partners and will create new relationships with Asia businesses in Japan, Korea and China.
Aston Hotels & Resorts announced today the return of the Waikiki Beachside Hotel to the Aston portfolio of hotels and condominium resorts, increasing the number of hotel and resort properties to over 27 on four major Hawaiian Islands, South Lake Tahoe, California; Sun Valley, Idaho and Lake Las Vegas.
Ms. Tsugawa comes to Outrigger from IHG, where she was most recently operations manager for IHG Army Hotels -- lodging units at Tripler Hospital and Ft. Shafter in Honolulu. Prior to that, she was an associate manager, development marketing for IHG’s corporate office in Atlanta, Georgia. In her new role, Ms. Tsugawa is responsible for coordinating and maximizing the IHG brand’s FIT market contribution and will focus on the property’s revenue performance from various transient sources. Additionally, as property champion, she will support all areas of Outrigger’s corporate sales and marketing team as it relates to the resort. After graduating from McKinley High School in Honolulu, Ms. Tsugawa continued her education and received her BA from Georgia State University with a double major in Psychology and Sociology.
Outrigger Enterprises Group, Hawaii’s largest locally owned hotel operator, and IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), the world’s largest hotel group by number of rooms, today announced the signing of a license agreement to rebrand the OHANA Waikiki Beachcomber hotel as the Holiday Inn Waikiki Beachcomber Resort.
Mendonca has more than 20 years of Hawaii hotel and lodging experience. She has held management positions with Aston Hotels & Resorts and Castle Resorts & Hotels at various properties including Waikiki Shore, Hawaiian Monarch, Inn on the Park and, as general manager of the Waikiki Terrace (now Luana Waikiki).
Koehler joins the team at Embassy Suites-Waikiki Beach Walk after 18 years with Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach Hotel & Resort in Oxnard, California. She brings extensive experience with business development, sales-team training and management, plus familiarity with marketing beachfront resort properties from her time as senior sales manager, then director of sales and marketing. At the Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach Hotel & Resort, Southern California’s only all-suite resort on the beach, Koehler led advertising efforts and developed promotions and packages targeting leisure and group segments. Additionally, she managed public relations efforts and supervised television and movie productions on property. Koehler previously held sales and marketing positions in California, targeting the Western region at Sheraton Hotels, Ramada Worldwide Sales, and Intercontinental Worldwide Sales. The Kamehameha Schools graduate earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Hotel and Restaurant Management from the University of Denver before beginning her career in California. Like many Hawaii-born individuals, Koehler has coveted the idea of returning home to continue her professional business career and is delighted to join the Embassy Suites-Waikiki Beach Walk team.
McConnell joins the Outrigger Waikiki following five years as general manager of two Outrigger affiliate properties, the OHANA Honolulu Airport Hotel and Best Western The Plaza Hotel, where he oversaw multiple renovation phases and re-branded the OHANA Honolulu Airport Hotel. A proven hospitality professional with a strong work ethic and well-honed leadership skills, McConnell brings more than 20 years of management experience in the hospitality industry. He joined Outrigger Hotels & Resorts in May 1988 and has worked in a succession of management positions at various Outrigger properties in Hawaii, including night auditor, relief manager, assistant hotel manager, general manager, and group manager. McConnell also brings several years of international hotel experience, having served as general manager of several of Outrigger’s Pacific resorts in the Marshall Islands, Palau, and Fiji. McConnell is a Certified Rooms Division Executive and a Certified Hotel Administrator through the Educational Institute of the American Hotel and Motel Association. In 1996 and 1997, he was the recipient of Outrigger Hotels & Resorts’ prestigious President’s Award.
Prior to his new post, Nisky served as general manager of the luxury JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong since 2004. He began his career with Marriott International in 1975 at the JW Marriott Camelback Inn in Arizona. He was responsible for opening and managing hotels, and was involved in the opening of four Marriott Hotels, including the first JW Marriott Hotel in South Korea where he was the general manager. Nisky also served as the area general manager in Denver Marriott Tech Centre; general manager of Singapore Marriott Hotel, and held senior positions in Marriott in Arizona, California, Colorado and Kauai where he was at the Kauai Marriott Resort in 1997. Nisky is a native of Phoenix, Arizona. In his spare time, Nisky enjoys mountain biking, traveling and skiing. He is married with two children.
Hyatt Hotels and Resorts® is proud to announce the launch of a standalone Web site for Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa. Designed to appeal to the savvy traveler, this secondary Web site offers improved graphic functionality, a unique left-side navigation bar and increased Web 2.0 integration.
Clark joined Aqua in late 2009 after working for over 20 years with Kyoya Company, Ltd. and Starwood Hotels Hawaii. He held a variety of management positions including Uniformed Services Manager at Moana Surfrider, a Westin Resort and Director of Guest Services at Sheraton Moana Surfrider and Princess Kaiulani. A graduate of the University of Hawaii, Clark is certified in a number of hotel job skills training and Six Sigma processes which are a great resource toward improving guest experiences with Aqua Hotels.
Dietrich Chillous joins the Outrigger Reef on the Beach in the newly-created position of food and beverage manager. As such, he is responsible for the hotel’s overall food & beverage operations including the day to day food and bar operations at Kani Ka Pila Grille, as well as the hotel’s room service, catering, banquet functions and special events operations. Chillous is no stranger to Outrigger having worked as a banquet captain for the former Outrigger Prince Kuhio hotel in 1979. Other career highlights include food & beverage positions at the Waialae Country Club, Royal Hawaiian Cruises, Alana Waikiki Hotel, and Padovani’s Bistro & Wine Bar. In 1999, he returned to the then renamed Radisson Waikiki Prince Kuhio to serve as the banquet and beverage manager before becoming the food & beverage manager for the Honolulu Country Club, a position he most recently held prior to joining the Outrigger Reef on the Beach.