16 minute read
HUALĀLAI THEN & NOW
HUALĀLAI
THEN & NOW
A QUARTER CENTURY SINCE ITS GRAND OPENING, THE CELEBRATED RESORT ON HAWAI‘I’S KONA-KOHALA COAST HAS NEVER BEEN BETTER.
BY LORI BRYAN
rowsing through then-and-now photographs of Hualālai placed side by side makes clear that, from the outset, the resort has had the advantage of a sublime location. But a closer look brings something less obvious into focus: the Hualālai community’s ethos of kulia i ka nu‘u. The credo of Queen Kapi‘olani in the late 19th century, the Hawaiian phrase means “to strive to reach the summit,” and it’s through such purposeful effort that Hualālai not only meets but surpasses what continue to be the highest of expectations. Twenty-five years and counting, the majestic property—fresh off a multimillion-dollar renovation—takes island living to the next level.
TOP: ETHAN TWEEDIE; BOTTOM: ED GROSS
Historic Hawai‘i
Long before the Four Seasons Resort Hualālai made its debut in 1996, the hotel’s grounds were home to an ancient fishing village, and reverence for those roots remains palpable. Among the myriad features of Hualālai Resort’s 865 acres (above, an aerial view over the Hualālai Golf Course, and left, an early-1990s look at the land pre-Hualālai) is the Ka‘ūpūlehu Cultural Center, where you can learn about the ancient Hawaiians’ first arrival in the islands, craft a hula skirt from ti leaves, or participate in a traditional Hawaiian chant called an oli. “Our guests just want to be immersed in the Hawaiian culture,” says the center’s longtime manager, Earl Regidor. “They like hearing the stories of Hawai‘i’s ancestors. From the plants to the ocean, they took only what was needed, and that way of life allowed the communities to thrive.”
Royal Blue
The clear blue water at the newly enhanced, swimmable King’s Pond looks so inviting, you won’t hesitate to dive right in every time you’re there, thanks to improvements at the site of the original swimmable pond (above). The pond—a 1.8 million-gallon aquarium where guests can float alongside 1,000-plus tropical fish and sea creatures—now has a pool (right) at its very edge, giving swimmers another perch from which to peer at sea turtles, Kainalu the spotted eagle ray, and more. Seeing marine life up close also is possible at Kumu Kai, Hualālai’s new 400-square-foot marine center, where tide-pool talks and squid dissections are part of the program.
Suite Sensation
If you stayed in the Four Seasons Resort Hualālai’s premier accommodation, the Hawai‘i Loa Presidential Villa, say, 10 years ago, among your most vivid memories might be the mesmerizing Pacific Ocean view from the large private deck. Today, the deck remains, as does its breathtaking vista, but it has been expanded and the villa itself is different—delightfully so, with modern styling and a host of current conveniences. Revitalized during the resort’s recent renovation, Hawai‘i Loa now has a spacious second-story master bedroom—the only bedroom with a bed that faces the ocean—replete with an expansive master bathroom and an indoor-outdoor living room, so that as many as six guests can soak up the sun from the deck or walk straight out to the breaking surf. The standalone villa offers direct beach access.
INSET: ROBERT MILLER; MAIN: NIKOLAS KOENIG
INSET: ED GROSS; MAIN: EVAN SCHILLER
Natural Beauty
The Hualālai Golf Course unfolds along the coastal lava rock so beautifully, you could imagine the 7,100 yards just naturally occurred there—unless, of course, you are golf starter Derek Haspe. Haspe has been with Hualālai from the very beginning—he joined the staff in December 1995, before the course’s 1996 debut—and he witnessed firsthand much of the painstaking work that went into creating the inimitable property. Before coming aboard at Hualālai, he’d been looking for what he describes as “a little change of scenery” from his work on computers and drafting boards in an architectural office, and he’d golfed since he was a kid. Hired by the resort to work in golf operations and quickly appointed to golf starter, the Hawai‘i Island native has never looked back. Course conditions, maintenance, how the greens are rolling—he’s up on all of it, including changes made during the resort’s recent renovations. “The fairways are pristine with paspalum turf and have expanded by wrapping around the bunkers,” he says. “The greens have added subtle angulation to make the experience enjoyable for beginners as well as casual golfers, and yet challenging for avid golfers.” Look to Haspe to get you ready for an unforgettable 18 holes.
Sea Change
When the beloved Hualālai Canoe Club reopened in 2017, there was much more for the club’s Members to love. A thoughtful renovation of the retreat had brought forth a second ocean-view swimming pool, several expanses of ipê decking, plenty of additional lounge seating, and a new Alaka‘i Nalu Adventures center. Longtime Hualālai employee and Alaka‘i Nalu member Daniel Perez has witnessed the evolution over the years. “I like variety, I like change, and I don’t like to do the same things over and over again,” says the expert waterman from Kohala. Still, he has his favorites. “Canoeing is probably extra-extra special to me—the outrigger canoe—because it originates with my people, the native people, and it’s connected to history.”
CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM: ETHAN TWEEDIE; KATSUHISA KIDA; ROBERT MILLER: DON RIDDLE
Room to Play
Accommodations at the Four Seasons Resort Hualālai have always been geared toward guests’ complete comfort and enjoyment, but today’s rooms and suites are the most accommodating yet, taking full advantage of modern design touches while staying close to the resort’s authentic Hawaiian roots. All 249 hotel rooms have been remade, retaining the Kona up-country style but updating it with a decidedly modern flair. Contemporary furnishings make for an instantly welcoming environment. You’ll find 65- or 75-inch TVs in the new media walls, which also house a food-and-beverage experience tailored to the individual guest, and in the new bathrooms, granite has been replaced with travertine-type marble. The rooms feature indirect, dimmable lighting to enhance the mood, and on the suites’ outdoor terraces, new lounge furniture provides a perfect spot to watch the sun set over the Pacific.
Pond to Table
In 2015, a Los Angeles Times article described a “posh resort on the Big Island of Hawai‘i” that was “giving new meaning to the words ‘fresh seafood.’ ” The writer was referring, of course, to Hualālai and the tasty oysters cultivated on-site in the resort’s Pūnāwai Lake. Today, the story continues, with the number of oysters raised in Pūnāwai having grown from 9,000 six years ago to some 60,000 today. It was 2003 when marine biologist David Chai, Hualālai’s longtime director of natural resources, oversaw the digging of Pūnāwai (above)—the manmade 3 milliongallon saltwater pond. It was even earlier, back in 1990, when he surveyed the land to ensure that the eventual resort would preserve and rejuvenate any existing ponds. Today, Pūnāwai is an award winner, recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2005 for its design innovation, and the bivalves it produces are hailed by chefs and diners alike at the resort’s restaurants.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: VIOLET TERAWAKI; KYLE ROTHENBORG; DANA EDMUNDS
Best Dressed
For years, shopping at the resort’s upscale emporiums has been part of the unique Hualālai experience—and, like the entire resort, these standout shops get even better with the passage of time. Today, Seaside Beach (above right) and Seaside Luxe, along with the Club Shop and Tennis Shop and the Hualālai Trading Company, offer everything from women’s and men’s designer apparel, resort wear, and jewelry to athletic equipment and one-of-a-kind artworks and gifts. Especially popular are the shops’ seasonal trunk shows, where Hualālai Members and guests peruse the latest wares from some of the world’s top designers and brands.
HUALĀLAI’S 25-YEAR EMPLOYEES
1.Kahu Billy Mitchell 2. Terry Lynn Silva, Sammie Shafer
3. Scott Donager, Kalai Carey 4. Violet Terawaki, Sherri Fernandez 5. Ellen Carvalho
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Tried&True
Loyal employees who’ve been with Hualālai from the start share what makes the resort feel like home.
BY SHEILA GIBSON STOODLEY
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A number of talented
and dedicated employees have been with the Four Seasons Resort Hualālai since its debut 25 years ago, and it is their heartfelt service to Hualālai’s Members and guests, and to each other, that makes the place truly special. Simply put, you feel the love. You benefit from their striving to make your meal, your round of golf, your meeting, your much-needed respite, your time in Hawai‘i the best it can be. Though their jobs differ, through their varied work they bring to you the same warmth, caring, and generosity of spirit—the spirit of aloha. Thankfully, they’ve remained with Hualālai for a quarter century—52 stalwart staff members whose unwavering devotion and service we honor in the images and captions on these pages. You know Kapena Singson, even if you don’t recognize his name. His is the first face you see when you arrive at the Four Seasons Resort Hualālai. He staffs the gatehouse from 5:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., lifting the bar to admit you to the property. “Familiar faces make my job easier,” he says. “When you’re familiar with the homeowners and the employees, it’s like a family. We all know each other’s names. It’s so cool, and so personal. There’s no awkwardness. It’s so comfortable.”
Singson is equally comfortable welcoming to Hualālai the “celebrities that come over here, people I see in the news, princes from Saudi Arabia, members of Congress, movers and shakers, sports legends—I get to meet them all, because I’m the only entryway,” he says. “I don’t have a long interaction, but I greet them all. Where else can I get a job like that? I love it.”
Brozie Ambrosio, superintendent of golf maintenance, wakes at 2:30 a.m. at his home on the other side of the island and commutes for 100 minutes to ensure he starts work at least two hours before the first tee off at 7:30 a.m. at the
THIS SPREAD: ANNA PACHECO
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25-YEAR EMPLOYEES
1. Leonard “Brozie” Ambrosio, Tiani Jardine (granddaughter), Tia Harris (daughter) 2. Lila Roback, Esther Rosales, James Cantyne, Charlie Long, Jane Hashimoto 3. Vivian Tobias 4. Summer Hai-Kelly, Franklin Weiser, Momi Okamoto 5. David Chai
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resort’s 18-hole Hualālai Golf Course. Between 150 and 200 golfers play the course on any given day. So many of them return again and again to play Hualālai, he says, because of his staff’s dedication to making the golf course immaculate. Ambrosio and his crew of 19 mow the grass, rake the bunkers, and add water to dry places and remove it from wet places. “My favorite part of the job is observing what the staff does. Some guys I like to watch mowing the fairways and the greens; it’s amazing how they keep the lines straight,” he says, referring to the patterns mowers impart onto the grass. “That takes talent. It makes me feel proud inside, what we do here—we did this, and it looks awesome. Admiring and enjoying the fairways and greens that make the execution of each shot amazing— this is what makes the Hualālai Golf Course a memorable experience.” The resort’s director of natural resources, David Chai, knows something about memorable experiences, too, thanks to his uncommon position in the realm of hospitality. In 1990, he was recruited to restore
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and monitor the anchialine ponds on the land that eventually became Hualālai. “The pools are unique in the United States; they’re only in Hawai‘i. They move with the tide, but have no connection to the ocean,” says Chai. “Different animals live in them that are found nowhere else in the world.” He cleared out mud, sand, and vegetation that weren’t native to the ponds and ultimately created a robust natural filtration system. Later, in 2003, he installed a 3 million–gallon pond, Pūnāwai Lake, near the fifth hole of the resort’s Members-only Ke‘olu Golf Course. The lake doubles as an aquaculture site: if you’ve ordered oysters from a resort menu recently, Chai likely deserves thanks for the meal.
Science can be a solitary pursuit, and the notion of working full time at a luxury resort wasn’t on Chai’s radar when he was studying for his master’s in geology at the University of Hawai‘i way back when. “Before I was here, I worked solo. I was independent,” he says. “Now I have five staff under me, and four have marine biology degrees. I’ve learned to do more
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KAPENA SINGSON (pictured below right)
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25-YEAR EMPLOYEES 1.Doug Schulman, George Glyn 2. Dominic Cacal, Marilyn Tanabe, Rudy Delos Santos, Clifford Buendia 3. Loida Enriques, Derek “Brown Bear” Haspe, Jan Stegehuis 4. Amy and Earl Regidor 5. Ken Stover, Lloyd Mendes, Rebecca Hill, Kapena Singson
Hualālai Heroes
How resort employees’ quick actions helped save a life.
Security employee Kapena Singson has seen many mishaps in his 25 years at the Four Seasons Resort Hualālai gatehouse. Most are simple accidents, but one that took place in 2019 stands out. After unhitching his trailer of vendor’s goods at the resort, a driver helming a truck cab turned around and headed for Singson’s gatehouse. Between making the delivery and moving to depart, the driver suffered a heart attack that rendered him unconscious, with his foot pressing the gas pedal.
“He went right over the speed bump, and I thought, ‘What the hell is going on?’” Singson says, recalling that the cab continued rolling for about 100 yards before crashing into a lava field on the property.
Singson and his colleagues in the gatehouse grabbed a medical kit, ran to the vehicle, and extracted the man, whom they found leaning against the driver’s side window. They performed CPR, applied electric-shock paddles, and administered oxygen. “We saved his life,” he says. “It’s one of the highlights of my career. We saved his life.”
Singson hasn’t seen the driver since, but a month after the incident, the man’s wife and some of his coworkers visited the resort gatehouse to express their gratitude with a gift bag, thank you note, and Life Savers candy. —S.G.S.
25-YEAR EMPLOYEES 1.Pranee Cook, Honey Girl Martinez, Estrella Enojardo 2. Gene Macion, Jim Murray 3. Rey Simpliciano, Cora Venzon, Maggie Viloria, Mitchio Nedic 4. Kahu Billy Mitchell, Jenny Mitchell (spouse) 5. Mike Navarro, Kalani Ignacio, Preciliano Soria, Mel Palea Jr., Glen Nagata, Chance Lincoln 6. Jurenne Tenorio
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MOMI OKAMOTO
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with others, to work all together for 6 a common goal. That goal is to educate anyone interested in learning about our natural resources, on the land and in the ocean. Any of our programs will teach you a little bit of the ocean, marine life, or land while you’re having fun.” For Marilyn Tanabe, an administrative assistant in the resort’s engineering department, days are about preventing potential disasters and providing the special touches that make guests feel comfortable. If you’ve ever lost your wedding ring, engagement bracelet, or other cherished jewelry down the drain at the Four Seasons Resort Hualālai, Tanabe probably sent the plumber who rescued it. Or maybe she saw to it that your broken shoe or sandal was repaired when you needed it to complete the perfect outfit for a special evening. Small tasks, perhaps, but they matter. The greater measures of support are also important, of course. Tanabe will find you or your family member a medical bed during your stay if you request one, or extended safety railings for help going up and down to your guest room.
Going the extra mile for guests is Tanabe’s specialty, so her fellow ninjas did the same for her five years ago, surprising her by painting her office pink while she was away on vacation. “Everything was put back in the right place—they took pictures to make sure; they told me the hardest part was picking a pink I would like,” she says. “I look forward to coming here and working with my coworkers. We’ve developed close relationships with each other in the department.”
That feeling of closeness, of ‘ohana (family), is also familiar to staffer Momi Okamoto, who has four children, 16 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren, but her Four Seasons Resort Hualālai colleagues know her as Auntie Momi. If you’ve called the resort to ask a question or arrange a wake-up call, chances are you’ve heard her voice. From the instant her shift begins at 6 a.m. and for the eight hours that follow, she is busy—so busy that she struggles to pinpoint the number of calls she typically handles. She enjoys helping guests with whatever they need and ensuring they’re connected to the right department to make their stay comfortable and stress free. Whether a bride needs a last-minute adjustment to her wedding gown—this has happened many times—or a groom needs a spot removed from a suit, she sends the right person to their room to make their special day extraordinary.
Okamoto half-jokingly proclaims she’ll stay on “as long as I have two front teeth and can say ‘Hello, Four Seasons Hualālai,’” but she knows her working life will end as a new chapter begins. “I don’t want to retire. I really don’t want to. I love what I do, and I love the people I work with,” she says. “We’re there for each other. We laugh. It’s fun. There’s no place like the Four Seasons Resort Hualālai. There isn’t.”
