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Kiana Beimes is the General Manager of the OUTRIGGER Waikiki Paradise Hotel in Honolulu, a boutique property known for authentic Hawaiian hospitality. Under her leadership, the hotel rose from #58 to as high as #3 on Tripadvisor and completed a ten-month renovation while maintaining guest satisfaction and keeping her entire 60-person team employed. Kiana was named the 2026 Hawaiʻi Women in Lodging & Tourism Woman of the Year, recognizing her leadership, community engagement, and impact on Hawaiʻi’s visitor industry.
How does a hotel climb from #58 to #3 on Tripadvisor while it's torn up by construction? For Kiana Beimes, General Manager of the OUTRIGGER Waikiki Paradise Hotel, the answer is service over structure: the team's service outweighs anything the building throws at a guest. Kin Sio and Keri Brown sit down with Kiana on The Lights On Podcast to unpack how she did it.
Kiana took over a 443-room property as a first-time GM and inherited a 10-month renovation with no buffer floors and no option to close. She kept all 60 team members employed, held rates and occupancy through the summer, and trained her hosts to treat every complaint as a chance to build loyalty. When a wedding group was stuck waiting on half-working elevators, she left a cultural ceremony, ran back to the hotel, and personally walked guests up through the back-of-house service corridors with cold drinks in hand.
The results show up in the reviews. The hotel moved from #58 to #3 on Tripadvisor, and guests now name individual hosts as the reason they'll return. Kiana breaks down the “problem solving, not problem reporting” culture she built, why she tells her team they have two goals (make revenue and earn good reviews), and the low-cost touches, handwritten welcome cards, shell leis, and lobby lei-making, that create memories without a big budget.
It's a practical playbook for any operator working with a fixed building and a real budget: service is the lever you can always pull, and it's often the one that moves rate and reviews the most.
This episode is sponsored by Lights On.
Lights On helps hotels grow revenue more consistently by managing pricing, distribution, and digital marketing together.
We help hotels identify new revenue opportunities, so they don’t leave money on the table. We also manage the full revenue and marketing operation, enabling the on-the-ground team to focus on the guest experience.
If your hotel needs stronger revenue growth, visit lightson.co to learn more.
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Kin Sio: Welcome back to the Lights On podcast.
I'm Kin Sio, CEO of Lights On, and we have Keri Brown, VP of Commercial Strategy at Lights On. Both of us are going to be the hosts today.
On this podcast, we share stories across hospitality about building and growing hotel businesses.
[0:22]
This episode is sponsored by Lights On. Lights On helps hotels grow revenue more consistently by managing pricing, distribution, and digital marketing together. We help hotels identify new revenue opportunities so they don't leave money on the table.
We also run the full revenue and marketing operation so the team on the ground can stay focused on the best guest experience. If your hotel needs more revenue growth, visit lightson.co to learn more.
Before introducing today's guest, I want to give a big thank you to Brent Shiratori, who connected us to our guest today.
Our guest is Kiana Beimes, General Manager of the Outrigger Waikiki Paradise Hotel and the 2026 Hawaii Women in Lodging and Tourism Woman of the Year.
Kiana started as an intern at the famous Outrigger Reef Resort and worked her way through front desk, guest services, and hotel manager roles. But what sets her apart is how she operates.
She's the kind of operations leader who gets everyone in a canoe paddling in the same direction across operations, revenue, marketing, all of it. She led the 10-month renovation that turned the OHANA Waikiki East into one of Waikiki's top-ranked properties, the Paradise Hotel, today. And she did it without losing the team or the guest experience along the way.
Super excited to hear the whole story. Kiana, welcome to the show.
Kiana Beimes: Thank you, and thank you so much for that introduction, Kin. I appreciate it. Happy to be here.
Kin Sio: Yeah, super excited to... Before we get into the nitty-gritty part of things, we always like to start with how everyone got into hospitality in the first place. So, Kiana, what was that like?
You literally grew up in Waikiki surrounded by hotels, right? So when did you realize that hospitality was going to be your career?
Kiana Beimes: I didn't realize it was going to be my career, but I knew it was going to be part of my life since I was very young. Since, as you mentioned, I grew up in and around Waikiki my entire life.
[3:30]
And so I was just always near the hotels. My mom worked in concessions in hotels. My grandmother worked at one of the millions of ABC stores in Waikiki.
And so because they worked there and I lived in Waikiki and I went to school in Waikiki, I knew friends and friends' parents and friends' aunties and uncles and grandparents, and those became aunties and uncles of mine.
I would naturally somehow just end up in the swimming pools of these hotels, just hanging out with different people that I knew that worked there. Back in those days, it was much more of a safe environment and I think much more casual. So, you know, disclaimer there.
But I would hang out at the Hyatt Regency swimming pool and I would actually play pool, shoot pool at the game room at the Outrigger Reef when I was a young child. So I was always around it and I loved the feeling that it gave me.
But it wasn't actually until I went to KCC, Kapi'olani Community College, that I then realized, wow, I can actually make it a career. And so once I learned that, then I just ran with it pretty much. And I ran straight to Outrigger.
Kin Sio: Wow. So before you started your career at Outrigger, right, so you actually received a scholarship named after Outrigger's co-founder. Was there a connection that got you eventually to Outrigger?
Kiana Beimes: Actually, no. But I feel like it was a sign. I applied for the Estelle Kelly Scholarship while I was at KCC. And, you know, when I received it, it was presented to me by Dr. Chuck Kelly, who is the grandson of the founder.
And so I have pictures of myself with him at the banquet receiving my scholarship officially from him. And this was before I was even searching for the internship. I was only, you know, I think a year before graduating. So I wasn't exactly looking for that part yet.
But looking back, I can't help but see that it was all just, you know, in the stars for me to be here. And then, yeah, the following year is when I started scouting for internships.
Kin Sio: That's how you landed at Outrigger and stayed there for the whole time through the transition. And, you know, for the listeners who don't know, so Outrigger was a locally owned, you know, one of the biggest locally owned hospitality groups that was later on acquired by KSL, you know, a private equity firm. So you kind of lived through that transition in your career. So you definitely like see everything.
Kiana Beimes: Right. Yeah.
Kin Sio: Yeah. So you started there as an intern, right? Are there anything kind of thinking back those times, anything that you learned back in those early years that you're still using those kind of learnings as a GM today?
[5:45]
Kiana Beimes: Oh, definitely. I think that it opened my eyes to the nonstop operating hours of a hotel and that, you know, there is no closing time. And it's open every day, every year because we have guests to take care of.
So I think that it was something that everybody knows. But until you're really thrown into the mix of the actual operation itself, you don't realize the amount of work that goes into the off hours, the overnight hours.
You know, and so when I was an intern, I really enjoyed it because I just acted the part. I felt like I was wearing a uniform. So I already felt like I was part of the company and I was able to greet the guests and take the bags and help them to the room. And I rotated all around that hotel.
So when I went to housekeeping, I was making the rooms, making the beds, cleaning the bathrooms, doing all the trash, making sure that it was just perfect to turn over.
And even that experience was very eye opening because I did not realize just how intense... I mean, you clean your house, you clean your room. But cleaning a hotel room is like no other, especially when it's a sports group with a bunch of teenage boys. And you see all kinds of things in there.
And so I immediately had a great sense of respect for the housekeeping department just because of all of the physical labor that they have to put into that room times, you know, 15 rooms.
And I learned from them just to really be consistent and that you always want to make sure that you're working smart and smarter than harder. So, for example, when you're cleaning the bathroom, you're wiping from top to the bottom instead of going up and down and making sure you use your legs wisely and making sure that you set your body up for success for long term and not just overworking it.
To Keri's point when she gave me advice, learning when to rest, making sure you take care of yourself and hydrate because those hours, even though it's an eight hour shift, it's a lot to do for that time for the housekeeping department.
And then for the front desk, that was very eye opening, too, because, you know, from someone's perspective who doesn't know what goes on at the front desk, a lot of folks think, oh, it's just checking in and checking out and saying aloha.
But there's so much that goes into it. And that was the position that I actually landed mid internship. And so I learned there's so much that goes on there and you're constantly making executive decisions, you're trying to problem solve. There's all kinds of issues that the guests are experiencing.
And so when I started there, I was a night auditor. And so you work overnight. I learned about the wonders of working overnight and all the characters that come out and how much work really goes into it.
So back in my day, when we were doing the night audit, it was not as simple as it is these days. These days, it's very automated. But back then I was really processing the ledgers and making sure that we were balanced.
And for every discrepancy, we had to go and find out where it was before we could turn the day over and manually running all the military reports and making sure that that ledger was reported to our military segment.
But it was great because I always had an issue every single night. So there was always a discrepancy to solve. There was always a guest that was needing extra support or assistance or maybe their funds weren't going through.
So there was always something to learn. And I feel like since we didn't have a manager that worked overnight, it caused me to learn faster. And so I really attribute a lot of my success from those early years of working on my own and having no one else to ask for help. So just figuring it out as I went.
And then when I would see the manager later in the morning, I would say, okay, I have these issues that happened and only this many are left over. So could you help me figure out how would you solve this? Because I don't know how to solve these three problems. But these 10 that I did are finished.
So I'd ask them to kind of walk me through what they would do so that I would learn. So that next the next time I'd work, when it would come to me, then I would figure it out.
Kin Sio: Did you have any mentors back then that you still kind of talk to now?
Kiana Beimes: Mentors back then when I was an intern?
Kin Sio: Yeah.
Kiana Beimes: That's a great question. I mean, not in the way that I had when I was actually going through management, but I had a lot of supporters. So, I mean, I learned to just really foster relationships with a lot of the leaders.
And actually one person that I really grew close to was Mayra Kuboyama. She's since retired. Yeah, what a legend. She is the former director and area director of housekeeping for the Outrigger Reef Waikiki Beach Resort.
And when I was interning for her, she really took me under her wing and she talks to you like you're her daughter, even if she's met you, and she will kind of tell you, so what do you want to do? So why are you here? Why are you here to learn? Because she really wants you to think for yourself.
And so she really taught me to be present and whatever I was doing to give it 100% because she is such a, not a perfectionist, but she really is all about giving quality work. She doesn't believe in cutting corners. And that's why she's such a great director of housekeeping while she was because she was so consistent and she did things the right way and she worked smart and she made sure that everything was accounted for.
All of her P&Ls were just clean and everything made sense and it all had a story. And so she actually recruited me when I was hired as a night auditor. She wanted me to be the supervisor for housekeeping and I felt a strong pull to the front desk because I just started and I said, you know, they just gave me a shot. I feel like I can't just leave them like two weeks in.
I just didn't really want to do that. I thought that maybe that would be, you know, kind of a slap in the face to the front office department. So I was really invested in the people that gave me opportunities, but, you know, I don't mean to be ungrateful in any way, but I actually didn't really have a mentor.
I just, I learned a lot from the experiences that I went through and I took note of everything I could and every time I failed, then it was a really great way to just not do that the next time that happened.
Keri Brown: I think that that trait of yours has really found its way into your leadership style because you, I mean, having worked with you for such a long period of time, it's such a wonderful, beautiful thing to be able to talk to somebody and not have to really go... Not just not have to go 10 rounds with different people. It's just so... you, hey, I need this and you figured it out.
And it was, it was really just so beneficial for us as a team. And so for that I'm incredibly grateful and I'm grateful that you stuck to the front desk because, you know, it's funny. I'm remembering...
Thank you, sister for saying that. But now that you're saying that I'm thinking like, I would have benefited from having more people to ask questions to. Do you remember the time we had to make a dive in movie flyer?
Keri Brown: Oh my gosh, we were doing dive in movies at the beach.
Kiana Beimes: And so basically what it was, we showed movies at the pool deck and our general manager asked me to make a flyer for the dive in movies for the guests. I'm scared. I know it's ridiculous. And I went on Word.
And I think something, and I printed it, and I gave it to him. It was terrible like it looks like something you make in first grade. And I'm like, I didn't know about Canva. And he said, "What the hell is that?"
You know what I should have done is I should have reached out to Brent Shiratori and I should have asked him to help me. But at that time I was just such a figure it out... you know, you just don't know, I just didn't know that I had so many people to help me.
And I think my entire journey I was just very self sufficient and I just figured it out. It was funny because Edwin and Keri both looked at me like, "What is this?" Now I look back, I'm like I have no idea why I believed I made that.
And now there's things called Canva and all these awesome devices that you can make these pretty flyers but I'm sorry you just made me think about how I didn't ask for help and sometimes I probably should have.
Kin Sio: Well, I think that the two principles from from the experience to call out one is like kind of being willing to be imperfect, but like bias for action right versus I think lots of challenges that that we are having say new people want to be the professionals and trying to like make something so perfect but you know that hinders progress right so I think Keri's point, this is one of your leadership style to just push for it and it's okay just to like fall flat on the face, as long as you don't do the same thing next time.
I think honestly this is the fastest way to make progress. And, and generally just your experience you know touching on all aspects of operations right, you know, something that Keri always talk about is you know, things happens in hospitality beyond spreadsheets right and you know, especially for us more on the revenue and the commercial side the marketing side of things you know we look at, you know, returns and things like that all data analytics and all that but you know, if people don't understand, there are always consequences that happen beyond spreadsheets that change a number. Right, this is kind of when everything could break when running a hotel, so kind of you know knowing that, you know, whether somebody is a GM, or just on the, you know, the corporate side, the revenue, the marketing side, I think just having that experience is going to really help like truly understand what's going on in hospitality.
Kiana Beimes: Definitely, because also there's like, you know, analysis paralysis so it's like if you just, if you're looking at it too closely for too long and you don't actually act on it, you really won't know if it's working or not and it'll just stay on the spreadsheet, like you said so.
I've always been a fan of trial and error and you know, adjusting as I need so it's, it's been good for me but looking back I just feel like I could benefit from maybe giving another look or another round or consultation from someone else but that's just kind of how I've always been I just go and we just figure it out as we go.
Kin Sio: Yeah. So, back then going through from, you know, starting from the bottom of the entry level right did you ever dreamed about being a GM? Is that kind of like your ambition or just like everything just kind of fall on, you know, naturally to get into where you are right now?
Kiana Beimes: The latter. So I never considered ever becoming a general manager and not for any particular reason it was just because I knew what I wanted to feel in my life and I wanted to feel proud, and I wanted to feel that I could help people and I wanted to know that I could make an impact.
And, you know, just, I knew that I wanted to be in this career industry. So I wanted to just make people smile, I wanted them to feel happy and I wanted to build relationships with them so that when they will come back you know I'd have these friends in faraway places.
And so that was something I always was very proud of was my ability to connect with the guests and that was actually from when I was a really small child.
Like there's times when I would go after school to ABC store, and in one instance I was visiting my grandmother at ABC store, and this group of tourists, they actually came up to me, and I was only seven years old.
And they asked me how do you get to... well they were showing me this like map and they asked me how to get to Ala Moana Shopping Center but they didn't speak English.
And I said, "Oh," you know, it was my first time ever getting presented with that and I just said, "You want me to take you?" and I said, "Come with me. I'll show you" and I walked them from ABC store that was closer to Hy's Steakhouse, and I led them all the way to the shopping center and it's funny because I don't think I ever saw them again but just knowing that I helped them get to where they wanted to go, and they couldn't speak to me but we were just... it was so rewarding and I felt so good about that and that is what really fills my cup.
So when it came to my long term career trajectory I just, I just knew how I wanted to be involved, which was to be with the people. And how that looked I really had never thought of before I just, I just genuinely enjoyed the front desk because it was a lot of guest facing opportunity, not so much during the overnight, that was what one thing that surprised me when they told me, "Oh well we have a position for you. Great. It's going to be graveyard" and I'm like, "Oh."
It was a little bit less but I knew I wanted to work in the daytime and I knew I wanted to talk to the guests more and I wanted to have more face time with them and it was such a great experience so I don't regret any of that leading up to where I've gone but you know my first mentor I ever had truly was Ceci Hamao, and she's the general manager at the Outrigger Waikiki Beachcomber hotel.
And she and I have truly grown up together in this company actually so when I was working at Outrigger Reef, she joined the company as our front office manager, so she was leading that department.
And she recruited me as an agent to apply for a management position, guest services management position. And it never even occurred to me to even think that I could do it. And so she came to me and she said "I want you to consider applying."
And I told her, "Well, I'm not so sure about that but I'll think about it," and you know she said "Okay I'll give you a week." And then right when that week was up, she came to me again she said "Have you thought about it?" and I said, "Yes, I have and I don't think I can do it." And she said "Why?" And I said "Well I just don't think I can because I've never done that before." And she's like, "Well you have to try. You just have to give it a shot, and if you don't like it then you can make a change," and I did.
And to my surprise I love that even more than being an agent. I was able to help more people on a bigger scale and not just the guests but I was able to help staff, which was even more of a prouder moment because watching them learn how to navigate through the challenges and even the financial aspect of, you know, being able to balance or how do I take care of this guest because, you know, we're applying a credit on behalf of the hotel and they wouldn't understand how to do certain things so coaching them and seeing them realize that they were making progress was always a great feeling.
And then eventually those, you know, steps led me to other leadership positions in the front desk and that led me to where I'm at today.
Kin Sio: So let's talk about that. So time, fast forward to you now became the GM right. When you were handed the property, and it's a big property it's like you know 443 rooms, you know, plus and minus there right, and you were handed that, not only that and you were also told, "Now you're going to be going through the renovations, and you have to keep the property running." What went through your mind when that happened, and once you took over what was the first decision you have to make?
[22:00]
Kiana Beimes: Yes, and we had no buffer floors. Sorry I have to add that in there. No, it's a big deal. My favorite part actually was no buffer floors.
You know my first decision that I had to make, I mean I'm really lucky because I had a lot of support so I had Keri as you know a huge part of this renovation she was the one that helped me with pretty much just our positioning and making sure that whatever happened to the hotel and however we were going to market ourselves always made sense from a consumer standpoint and so you know we use certain rooms like a certain words like "reimagined" instead of renovation and you know "transformed" instead of construction.
I learned so much from Keri because it was just all about how the consumer is you know digesting everything that's going on and so you know formerly known as OHANA Waikiki East for a little while we wanted to make sure we were still, we were still, you know, I guess, able to be found by the guests, you know when they're searching for us because a lot of them had already booked us for OHANA Waikiki East. There's a construction site going on, how do we, how do we navigate that?
I would say, just a lot of logistics on how we were going to execute. What did you know the room stripping schedule look like? What did the return schedule look like? Who on my team was going to be part of that? And you know we had to figure out how to budget for the number of hours for each room that our team, pretty much stripped and returned.
And then you know, multiply that times the floors and yeah it was a lot of trial and error once again because we had to figure out how do we stay profitable, how do we make sure that our labor doesn't just really go... just like how many people do we really need to tackle one room and so we just had to do it one round make sure that we were tweaking and making sure that we were working smart and not hard.
And eventually came up with a formula that worked for each room and then we just had a schedule.
And then on top of that the guests are always a big, you know, consideration piece too because we had to make sure that as the hotel was getting boarded up and navigation routes were becoming you know inaccessible.
And then we had this whole thing where the guests had to walk around the hotel to access us, and it was through the man-made corridors and they had to walk outside into the elements. So sometimes rain was a factor you know wind could be a factor because we're right by where the trade winds would blow from Manoa Valley and Palolo Valley.
And sometimes that would be an issue because you know we have guests arriving at all hours of the night and I don't have certain attendance that are available to assist so it as much as I'd like to say I made the decisions it was more so... it's making adjustments on our normal operations we tried not to change it too much so that the guests and the staff could still get some sense of normalcy.
Keri Brown: I think, and Kiana, I think you're underplaying it a lot because I think unless you've actually been through this type of renovation, it's a full scale renovation, you're still open. You can't even begin to imagine the amount of chaos and the amount of juggling that's required on behalf of the leadership team and Kiana was coming into this as a new GM, and, you know, learning everything as she was going and to watch her handle that was really truly a beautiful thing to experience because there was no, there was no issue that was too big. And there was no issue that was too small for her she, there was never an issue of, "Oh I'm the GM, that's too small for me to handle somebody else go do it." Kiana would literally be like up to her elbows in like water and dirt and stuff, because that's how she is that's how she is as a leader and I think, you know, you'll never brag about yourself like this, sister and I know that, but to really watch her go through that and between the guest experience, the consumer experience that we had to put out there, but the team experience too because you're managing a team through a really difficult, difficult time in a hotel's like, you know, lifetime, and to watch her do that and balance that really beautifully was...
It was a wonder to watch, and I loved it. I was watching every second of it.
Kiana Beimes: Thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate that a lot.
Kin Sio: Just, you know, and to give the listeners a sense of magnitude right, how big was the staff team you're managing during that time?
Kiana Beimes: Our team all together was about 60 people. And, you know, we never furloughed anybody we managed our hours, there were some times where some of our staff would go and work at other hotels if you know their floors were out of service, we had them take vacation we just tried to get everybody to take their vacation.
So we were really managing it to make sure that again we give them a sense of normalcy, nobody had a negative impact to their, you know, their quality of life and their ability to make ends meet. But, yeah, it was a good amount of... I always have something to handle.
Kin Sio: And I think one thing I really want to point out the human aspect of it right actually something that Keri mentioned, because we were doing some social media content, and I think one thing he talks about from Keri's side of things on the revenue perspective right people always think about yes they try to maximize profit by having, you know, ideally, a higher room rate, you know, theoretically you can make as much profit with lower occupancy.
That's kind of what an asset manager or an owner would think right, but now on the other side, knowing that the hotel operation is a livelihood for some of the staff too right now if you're really cutting that down the hours and all that.
Now what are the staff team going to be doing when they don't have all the hours that they need to support their families? So I think kind of that, it just reminded me of that aspect where, you know, hospitality is not just a game of like number optimization but I can cut back to that human staff guest aspect right you know this is more what makes hospitality truly a very special industry because you are blending in all of these different aspects to make it work.
Kiana Beimes: Yes, absolutely. And you know we, we didn't take that approach we tried to fill the hotel constantly. We even raised the rate in the middle of the summer for just a little bit for impact to just fill up those rooms to make sure that we got every, every occupancy number that we could get.
So, and to your point you know it really did benefit my team because then we didn't slow down on hours in any way, and that's another thing that we really tried to equip our team with from the beginning was, you know, we adopted this like service over structure mindset with all of my hosts working and so basically what that means to us is that you know our service is going to outweigh any issue that the building throws at us... the construction, they're going to complain about the dust, they'll complain about the noise, they'll complain about we know these things but I wanted the team to understand that they had an influence over the final impression.
[28:45]
When the guest has left and you know they get that survey saying "How would you rate us?" and I, I knew they were going to say something about, you know, their experience with the hotel side but I wanted them to say, "Oh my gosh but Keri Brown... let me tell you I would absolutely come back just for her service and she's the reason why I will be returning" and a lot of those reviews actually... Wow. And that, to me, was a huge win, even if it was, you know, I don't know, like a three star but they were raving about the team.
That was the goal to make sure that we kept them happy and kept them, you know, feeling confident that they could keep going on and championing this entire renovation, because we wanted to make sure that by the time we were done, the product matched the service.
And that's what we were able to do because my team is just very resilient. And they've been through all kinds of crisis moments and yeah they just, they went through so much that by the time we were done it was just like, it was a true paradise, and you know it still is to this day, but I'm really grateful to work for Outrigger because they consider the livelihoods of our team and even through COVID, my gosh, we didn't even lay off a single hourly host, you know, we were on furlough, but we were all brought back, and you know the hourly hosts are really what, you know, we're all about so big, big focus on them.
Kin Sio: So inevitably during that period of renovation, right, this, you know, guests you're going to be posting negative reviews about the situations, right, you know, it's inevitable. So during the period, what was the most negative review that you've ever received? Honestly, it doesn't have to be like just that renovation type, just you know maybe like the whole time, you know, while you're managing the property right so most negative review that you've ever received and what did you do about it?
[31:00]
Kiana Beimes: Well, I mean in the whole, during the renovation... Well, you know, I would assume that's kind of when things would happen but if you actually have stories about something worse that happened outside the renovation window I mean we can talk about that too.
We have stories for sure, but I mean, the, the one that comes to mind is there was a family, like a big group of rooms traveling together for a wedding, and it was a destination wedding and they were all from Australia.
And they happen to be staying when we were working on our elevators, the landings that are on the lobby level and the street level and the first floor is like just basically all of the public area elevator landing so because we were renovating those areas we had to actually like close off some of them we have three guest elevators that are available on the main lobby. And so, for example, we had one route to one elevator and it was only one elevator, but we still filled up that hotel.
And then it was maybe two elevators that were remaining and just based off of what you know the contractors needed from us we needed to follow you know what they required and so it was a huge challenge because during the summertime like maybe August around there we were very high in occupancy and they were traveling during that time, and they couldn't get... they had to wait so long to take the elevator and, you know, and then of course, there were times when the elevator would just go down for whatever reason you know something would, I don't know that too much weight it would just cause it to go off so there would be no elevator and so I remember one time we were at, I was actually at a... I was at the Aloha Festival Court Ho'okupu offering at the Waikiki Beach Walk, and I was about to offer my offering to the king and the queen and I got this really long email from one of the guests and it was ranting just threatening me that we're going to go online this is unacceptable. "My whole family has been traveling for this and you know nobody said anything." So it got really bad to the point where, by the time I finished the email, I said, "I need to go there right now."
So I left the court, I ran back to the hotel, and the elevators were not working and then by the time Otis came to fix the elevators, the line was so long it was out to the street so I just jumped into action you know I told my team "Okay we're going to get a cooler just fill it with a bunch of drinks so you're just going to be handing out some cold beverages to those who are waiting. And what we're going to do is we're going to ask anybody and we're going to invite them to follow us we're going to take them to the service elevator," which of course means you have to go around the building down the basement through the housekeeping, but it was a way to get them up to their rooms, and so I did that and my team followed and so we were just escorting guests apologizing for the inconvenience and trying to take them through this like maze of a construction site, and it was at times embarrassing because some things are not looking the way that they should for a guest experience.
And you know we took them up to the room and I remember there was one guest that I was assisting, and she said "You know this is unacceptable we're traveling for a wedding, and we have all these rooms" and I said, "Oh, I believe you just emailed me I said, are you Mrs..." And she says, "Oh no."
"Okay. Okay, well, thank you so much for staying with with us I'm so sorry about this inconvenience you know we are looking into the situation and we're going to rectify it immediately I apologize for the long wait."
And so got her upstairs and as soon as she got upstairs I got an email back saying, "One of your staff just assisted me to the back of house elevators. So I just wanted to let you know we've been taken care of" and I thought that was me.
It was a lot more theatrical in the moment just because there were about, you know, 15 rooms that were times four and waiting for this elevator and then that was that one wedding group that threatened that they were all going to post negative reviews, they were all going to threaten with, you know, request for a refund and...
That was like a normal day, so you multiply that times, every single day after and, you know, you just have bulletproof vest on at that point and so what I really tried to go in with every time was just, "I'm just here to help" you know, I mean, whenever the guest would say something, you know, a little bit threatening, I would just say "Absolutely, you're 100% right we should let's make this right, I agree with you."
And they'd just be like, looking at me saying, and I said "No, you shouldn't have to pay we're going to take that off. Absolutely." And so, you know, you're in no position to really argue with them you're only making it worse so I mean, for every guest that you end up compensating you know you're going to get like a really happy guest or five other guests that they're going to tell you know like the service was great, the hotel was under construction.
And so another thing that we really tried to do was we tried to redeem ourselves. So, when these things happen rather than just throw money at everybody because, in my opinion, it's just more insensitive way to resolve issues, I really care about redeeming ourselves and I want them to have the experience that they paid for. So we'll invite them back on us and say, "You know, I really want you to have what you anticipated and you know I apologize that this was not that."
"So, we want to make this right I want you to be one of our first guests that comes to stay at the brand newly renovated Outrigger Waikiki Paradise Hotel. And when you're ready, please reach out to me you know I'm happy to set that up for you and we will ensure it's a flawless return." And we've had a lot of guests that have done that, and I'm grateful that we've won them over for the most part you know we've had a lot of great reviews.
The second time around, and it's been good because I believe that the, you know, the relationship is there. They trust us and it's not just a, you know, "Let me just write you a check and goodbye." I really want them to know that when you know they stayed with us we wanted to make it right and that's what we're all about is just doing the right thing, making sure that you know they understand that that's our hearts, pretty much so.
Kin Sio: Yeah, crisis management and I think this is the unreasonable hospitality to a level that I haven't heard any people mentioned yet so you know, this is like talking about you actually taking actions to really take care of the guests and make sure experience I think you know many hotels and many leaders you know we always talk about that right, but I think what you just showed and demonstrated really like what it was like in action in a shitty situation.
Kiana Beimes: I think there were some other issues like we had, like, for example, water shutdowns that did not go as planned and so people didn't have water for longer than anticipated you know certain shut off valves didn't work but the thing with those is that we just handled it as it as it came through but I mean, it was really the ones that chose to go that, you know, upset route like "I'm going to threaten you with 25 to 50 reviews and what are you going to do about it" it's, it's really yeah it is the action that you take and so that was important to me that whatever we said whatever we did it was all going to be pure and that they felt that we really cared it's not just an automated response you know you're really going to get a person when you talk to them and so that's why a lot of those guests spoke with me.
You know, I was there with the front desk and my friend that's went through a whole lot because they didn't have a really really small, temporary front desk, and it was just cramped and it was summer and, you know, sure they could wait in line to talk to them but, you know, I would easily just go out and talk to them myself that way we just take care of the guests faster because that's ultimately the goal, take care of them.
Keri Brown: Yeah, I think the, the trick with Kiana's team, and the way she handles from a leadership perspective is most people just handle it right, you, you know, quiet the guest concerns, but Kiana really went the extra mile to flip those concerns into true loyalty, like you have these people coming back time and time again and that stems from a not a not great place all the time right they're frustrated.
Kiana Beimes: Yes.
Keri Brown: And to see how this team really handles things with genuine care and turns that into loyalty is something that is core to hospitality, because not everybody's gonna have a great time, but the way you handle it is, is makes all the difference in the world.
Kiana Beimes: Right. And I tell my team every single day that, you know, we have 443 rooms, and you know, sometimes we're going to have 1000 guests, you know at a time like it just depends on what's going on in the hotel, but we're going to have double the amount of guests that we have a room so if you come to work and you think that every single day is going to be just complaint free issue free, that's on you, because you're not setting yourself up for success.
And so I try to empower them and I set them up for realizing that you know we should anticipate the challenges we anticipate the issues that come through because that's why we're here we're here to help we're here to solution seek.
And you know we're going to resolve it, and that's why you've been selected you know not everybody can do this job but that's why we want you because you can. And when they start understanding that that's the real superpower that they have.
[41:00]
Excuse me. Then that's when the pride kicks in and then they realize "I am resilient and I've done this so many times before" but it's really all about mindset because even with my housekeeping, they hate to complain to me, let me tell you, they hate it because I will always come back at them and say "Okay so what are we gonna do about it?" "Oh my, my tub is chipping" "Okay, great. So we, what are we going to do? You're going to tell me now and I'm going to go and try and fix it right then." Yeah. "Okay." And we've already fixed the tub the next day so it's like for everything that they complain or they have an issue with or something's not working. I challenge them, I just say "Okay so what do you think we should do?"
And it flips their mindset to always be you know, like I said solution seeking and not just problem reporting, because that is just, you know, that's kind of I think the hamster wheel some people get stuck on is, you know, issue issue issue issue issue, and then it's like, that's all that's all they're getting that's all they're saying, so there's never any connection between the two between leader and host. It's just like one is a receiver of problems the other one is just feeding them problems.
So, it's been great because my team has adopted that, you know, ownership of anything they report, they'll come to me and this is going all the way to the housekeepers and my bell attendant so you know, we have adopted this and cultivated this problem solving, you know, I guess, culture here.
Kin Sio: This is, this is a career advice that goes beyond hospitality and you know I think that's truly one key element is that separates successful people from those who are still struggling right just you know, always there's a reason to complain for certain things but and you know for, I was in 99% of time, everyone has the authority and it's within this scope to to be able to solve that. So this is just instead of waiting for a savior to rescue them all.
So I think it's really that mentality that really sets you up and, and I think what was challenging part and you tackle that is not just for, you know, this is not just a characteristic for you as a person but now propagating that to your team, training the team to have the same problem solving mentality. This is something that is so like is much easier said than done. And I think just from what you share, you make that happen.
Kiana Beimes: But it's funny because I actually because I'm ignorant, and a lot of barriers, like I've only been to the front desk so I genuinely was asking them "What do you think we should do?" and learning from them and it's funny because they'd be looking at me like, "You tell me what to do." I don't know. What do you think we should do?
I know, I was just being curious. Of course I've always been very curious so I meant it wholeheartedly and not trying to you know, throw it back at them in a disrespectful way.
But I meant it like "Okay so what happens when you do this and what happens when you try to fix it? Have they tried to fix it before?" So, asking these questions has actually led me to answers faster. And it's been great because I involve them but I honestly have to, because they're the ones that are the experts you know I haven't done those things and you know and I wish I did.
My advice to everybody is to stay dynamic and take all the chances to try every department, you know, don't do what I did, which was just one track, you know, I would have if I had more time to do all the other things I would have but when I asked them these questions, they also know it's because I want to learn from them, but it's great now because now they understand that "Kiana really doesn't know so we're gonna show her what we know. She's gonna help us with what she knows and then together we find this, you know, solution."
Kin Sio: I just learned something from you as a leader too so thank you very much Kiana for sharing that.
Kiana Beimes: It worked for me.
Kin Sio: Yeah. Well, I just want to continue the conversation about guest experience and reviews right so I think from what you just you know showcase the way that you handle those negative, you know, feedback and turning that into opportunities for the property right.
I think something truly amazing that you did was I mean let's talk about TripAdvisor for a moment. I think for the longest time through the renovation or you know when the property was still kind of the old brand, you know, OHANA, right. It was, you know, it was a mediocre reviewer I think it was probably ranked you know 50 plus something right you know across all the city to right now.
[45:00]
You guys are constantly in the top three, you know, top three, period. So what, you know, again, obviously we had lots of stories already but you know what specifically kind of drove that change in such a short period of time because I, we're talking about what just in a year or two, right, to to have that dramatic change.
I haven't seen anything that could I can really move up the rank that fast. So what's the secret sauce?
Kiana Beimes: Thank you for, you know, bringing that up. And thank you for asking.
[46:00]
But yeah, we were number 58, and we have been number three and number four for like the past two months just going back and forth. And what really drove it so quickly, in my opinion is just the team.
I mean, you know, it's really, they have such big hearts and they have, you know, such care in those hearts and so like I said, they have always had this very special ability to connect with the guests. A lot of these guests that stay at this hotel have been return guests for 30 to 40 years, and it's every year that they come for many, many weeks sometimes over a month, and you know it's amazing to watch my team just pick up with them where they left off, left off the last time that they spoke with them, and it's quite beautiful.
So, I really do believe that the spirit of Aloha has always been in the hearts of our hosts and it's wonderful that now the product matches that service. And I just think it's the best of both worlds.
But it's very, you know, on the flip side, if you have a beautiful product, a beautiful product and you don't have the service to match then that can be detrimental. And you can move in the opposite direction so it really, I have to say that they're the foundation and being able to continuously rise and amazingly enough, you know, we started the renovation at number 35.
When they finished it they were number 25 so they consistently moved up or steadily moved up 10 spots despite the renovation, and this renovation was intense because, you know, it was really no buffer floors and just everything was done all at once, the public spaces, the public areas, the guest rooms, the corridors, all of it, even the pool deck and the fitness center.
And so, I just really am proud of them because we have this service over structured mindset so it's very common that almost every single review you see, you see a guest, a guest mentioning a host, and their name will be on it and they'll shout them out specifically and say that they're the reason why they're giving them five stars and they will come back just for that person, and you know a lot of them get handwritten notes and it's cute because sometimes they'll even, you know, have like a letter to each other as their stay continues, they'll write to each other, the housekeeper and the guests, so they form that relationship.
But, but again it's really just empowering them and understanding that, you know, maybe they are not the CEO of this hotel but to the guest's perspective, they're just as powerful. And so, really instilling that sense of accountability, ownership, and pride in the team, so that whatever happens they take the actions that they believe their CEO would take, and they're not waiting because every moment that you make them wait is a moment wasted, and it can actually do even worse.
So, what I love to tell my team all the time is that I want them to take every matter so seriously and document it right so whatever the guest is complaining about just start asking them questions, you know, where did this occur, when did it happen, and when did you notice it, and you know, when did you put the reservation... okay, even if they don't know what to do with that information, the fact that they're already doing that is sending, you know, a message to the guest that they care, and they're doing something about it, and they're going to help them so they trust the staff already, and I've taught my team that, you know, it's actually helpful because sometimes you don't know what to say when the guest is very angry.
So if you're actually physically doing something it's going to, you know, communicate that you're going to help them. And so I tell them that you know we're going to work on the next steps together but even if they don't know what to do, the fact that they did it and then they take it to the manager and the manager helps it, it helps tremendously and that's what they did a lot of time during the renovation.
We did empower them to compensate the guests, you know, within means so if it was like an entire stay then that was when we kind of kicked in and said "Okay we're going to invite them back, you know, on us" but if it was a very severe situation the guest was impacted, then you know, if they needed to comp a night and you know just take care of them, that was more important than anything else because we would tell them, you know, "If you take care of a guest, then that's not going to be a bad thing for the hotel and the big picture, you know, we're always going to make money, we're always going to make revenue but we need to make sure that we take care of the guests. If we don't take care of the guests, then that's when we're not going to have the revenue" and so I always tell them this too is that they have two goals as a hotel operator, you know, to make revenue and to get those good reviews and if we cannot make revenue then we still need to get those good reviews and then sometimes, you know, you're going to get both and sometimes you're going to get a lot of revenue, you'll get that upsell and you know, you'll have a great win that way but you might not get the review but we have to always have at least one of those but if we get zero then that's when we fail and so it helps them to understand that we're in the business of people and you know, they just, they understand the, you know, the art of what they do and so they know that it's a fine line and it's a balancing act because there's no black and white way to operate and take care of the guests. It depends on what the guests need and that's how we mirror them but I have a really, really, really special team and their emotional intelligence is like no other and you know, we're actually one of the smaller hotels in the Outrigger collection. You know, a lot of the other hotels are closer to 500 rooms and you know, we're less than 450 but you know, they, they are very proud, they take it as if they are the biggest hotel, they have so much pride and I'm just really proud that they, you know, they do what they do and basically how they take care of the guests has translated into the results so.
Keri Brown: Thank you. Yes. So as a GM, and I know like you heard us say this ad nauseam, but as a GM, do you really think that a higher TripAdvisor score and better guest reviews lead to better and more revenue?
A higher TripAdvisor score. Yeah, so better guest review scores, do those naturally correlate to more revenue?
Kiana Beimes: I well, I think OWK is a great example, right? So like they, they are revenue monsters, right? They dominate and they have always been kind of around like number 12 and number 10. So I feel like that's been like where they've lived.
And I feel like once they finish their renovation, then, you know, they're going to get to a higher spot and I do feel like that will actually help generate more revenue. I definitely feel like the guests are paying a lot of attention to TripAdvisor. They also tell us to, you know, when they book that that's how they decided on us.
So, in my opinion, I do feel like, yes, that is a big deciding factor to how much the guests are going to pay attention to us. I realized too, it's also, you know, loyalty is a big thing too and you know points and so I'm aware of that.
But when it comes to like the first timers or the guests who want to experience culture and they want to go to like a more boutique style or something that's totally unique, I think TripAdvisor is a huge deciding factor for those guests. Yeah.
Keri Brown: Yeah.
Kin Sio: Perfect.
I think something you mentioned early on the philosophy of service over structure, right, I think that, you know, especially hotels as a piece of real estate, you know, they're always like so many constraints about, you know, not everyone has like a five star Ritz Carlton or Four Seasons or anything like that, right.
So when you have a fixed form factor, really like the only, you know, one of the few levers that you can pull is really providing that unreasonable service that, you know, beyond people's expectation.
So I think, back to Keri's question, I do think, you know, this is absolutely one thing an operator can do to really influence and to give guests a reason to, you know, pay more for that premium service, right. Otherwise, like, you know, I think there are operators who are always getting fixated with the, "Oh, you know, we are just a two star, three star, midscale hotel, like, you know, we're not in the best location and things like that. You know, there's nothing we can do about it." But I think what you just share the whole time, right, it's not true. I think there are things, there are ways to make, you know, influence and convince people like there's a reason why you stay there for something that you're not necessarily going to get anywhere else.
And they're willing to pay for it too. And that's, you know, to your point, especially the newer travelers. So this new generation that's just really wanting to be involved in, you know, the culture of the place that they're visiting and really understand it and get a sense of, you know, an authentic experience is definitely something that I feel we're seeing a lot more of. But I do think that the, I do feel that the reviews have an influence over the rate, like you said, like, so you can charge a higher rate. And that's why at Outrigger Reef, like, they haven't even renovated yet, but they dominate, they do so well.
So it's like amazing because it's like, they have always had around top 10, you know, up and down, up and down, but the reviews are pretty strong, and the product is not. So it's like, I feel like that's exactly why those guests are willing to pay a decent ADR for that property. And it's all because of reviews.
Kin Sio: Can I ask one question, one more question about TripAdvisor that may not have anything to do with the guests? How did you get to celebrate when you hit number three? I think for me, the way that you celebrate with your team when they hit milestones is something that really makes your team truly above and beyond. So how did you celebrate?
Kiana Beimes: I love that. Well, we took all of them to see 'Auana, Cirque du Soleil's show at the Beachcomber Hotel. And it was so fun because I texted the cast members to pull them up on stage for the part where they pull part of the audience up and they have them do the interactive piece.
And I sent them so funny, I sent them pictures, I sent them names, and when they went to the crowd and were looking for, I sent them the seat numbers. When they went to the crowd and they went to pull them up on stage, my team must have been really shy because they were just going backwards.
And Sal, the trickster, he said, "Leonora! Kiana said, Kiana said!" And you can hear it on the microphone. I have some pretty funny pictures actually of them doing all the hula fable, the air guitar and the air drums.
And it was so much fun, but we got to go as a family is what we call each other. And we did it all together and we got to invite a plus one. So they got to invite their other halves or their children or their grandchildren and then we all just got to enjoy the show together. So they love to celebrate.
Number one is going to be really difficult. I don't know what they're going to want to do... dinner cruise, fireworks show.
You're going to have to rent a yacht, my friend. I know I'm going to have to talk to all the safety people to make sure that I can do all this because they love to go big. That's one thing too. They're just very motivated by their sense of pride and the ways that they can celebrate, especially if there's ice cream. They just love ice cream. So that's one thing. They love ice cream. So that's like their biggest motivation in life. Wow.
Kin Sio: I'm just going to be jealous. Keri, you got to think about milestone celebration too.
Keri Brown: Yeah, I know. Tell me about it. I need to take a play from Kiana's book for sure.
Kin Sio: Yeah, so Kiana, thinking about that, right. Obviously, many operators and others, they can always say that, "Oh, because Outrigger is much bigger corporation, bigger properties, bigger whatever. That's why Kiana and Outrigger can do all of the above."
So for an operator, let's say we have many who have maybe 30 rooms, 50 rooms. They don't have corporate support. It's only really the owner operators running the show. What are the things that these kind of operators can really take what you just said and really replicate and influence and have similar results at a much smaller scale?
Kiana Beimes: A smaller scale? Well, I think that if you just take care of your employees, then they'll usually take care of the guests. You know, I mean, it's not always perfect every time. But for the most part, if you have happy employees, they yield happy guests, which yield happy owners.
And but it's really important that you are managing those relationships and making sure that if there's any type of red flag, like they are not happy and maybe they're not saying something that you catch it early on.
And I have fun with that. You know, you don't need to be a massive property or a massive company to take care of your team. You can just be a team of three. And as long as you're finding ways to make them smile and just pour a little bit more into their cup each day, it's going to especially in the morning or whatever, whenever their morning is making sure that they are set up with that extra boost of confidence or happiness, you know, just being to have a little fun or a little ice cream, whatever speaks to their heart and just making sure that you feel like you're doing well.
And if you find a lot of happy moments to feed them, then I think or I know that that usually makes them feel like they matter and valued and appreciated. Because it's not just about business. You know, we are in the business of people. Like our business itself is people.
And I feel like hospitality is the hardest thing to sell because you're selling memories that don't exist yet. So, you know, how do you make sure... how do you invest in those memory building hosts, you know, your staff is creating those memories, hopefully that they're going to be good memories, because it could be the opposite. So, you know, it's really like an extra layer of insurance, I would say is just really taking care proactively of your team and making sure that they have all the tools they need. They have all the resources and they, you know, if they were to get headhunted by another company, they would not leave because they already are so happy with everything that's going on in their company, and what they do for them.
And then, you know, other things that you can do for the guests is just, you know, for what we do is really provide them the authentic cultural experience. So even just bringing the lei making to them in the lobby and kukui nut kupuna and hula lessons, ukulele lessons, just allowing them to have an authentic part of their experience at the hotel, I think is a great way to just, you know, leave a lasting impression on them and their families. And it's great too, because then you don't necessarily need to leave the hotel, it can just be something that you host in the lobby, maybe once a week or twice a week. And maybe twice a week, so you catch majority of your guests that stay.
But yeah, I think just making sure that you don't forget the emotional piece, you know, remembering that it is humans taking care of humans and humans are not robots. So if you just remember that and you find ways to, you know, touch their hearts, the host and the guests, then that is like the perfect formula, I think. You know, and then you get those good reviews, and then you get those good revenues.
Kin Sio: So to turn that into a more concrete example, right, so let's say tomorrow, you were walking to a brand new hotel that you're going to manage, right? Well, brand new, since you know, it's just like a new property you have to manage.
Step one, the first month, what will be the lowest cost, highest impact change that you think you could make without doing a renovation?
Kiana Beimes: For the guests, or just for the hotel?
Kin Sio: Anything, yeah.
Kiana Beimes: I think it would just be, you know, that added arrival experience, just making them feel very welcomed and giving them a sense of VIP. So shell leis are really inexpensive, and they last forever. And you can easily get maybe 500 for just less than, like maybe $100 or less.
I mean, they're quite inexpensive. And it's like, something small, but it's still a lei. So it's still a cultural piece that you can offer every single guest.
If it's a brand new hotel, maybe, you know, you just make it even more fancy by making it fresh flower leis, or maybe you make it the fancy shell lei for every first hundred guests that can say, "Wow, you know, I'm the first hundred guests, or I'm one of the first guests."
So what we did for the first guests of the renovation is I hand wrote a card for every guest that stayed in the room for the first time. And we just had one or sorry, two little cookies. And we had the cookies with a card from me that said, you know, "Welcome home, congratulations, you are the first guest to stay in this room. And we're so happy that you're here." And so I think it's those small, low cost, right? But it's a big impact, because then they can also take pictures of that. Hopefully they post it and it just, you know, it's just a lot of fun.
Shares, it goes viral to other, you know, other people wanting to get their chance to stay in the hotel for the first time, if it's a new hotel. But yeah, low cost, big impact. I think it's just finding those little moments to just add a little like, "Wow, you know, I feel so special" to the guest experience.
Kin Sio: It's funny, especially the handwritten card, like, it's surprising that I don't see that often enough that you know, sometimes, you know, when I was staying at the you know, the five star deluxe resort towers like Andaz and you know, Ritz Carlton, whatever, right, you know, it felt like, "Okay, I came in, I expected that," you know, I will always ask getting those handwritten card from GM, but it's such a low cost investment that gives you asymmetrically, like, lots of emotional value that people don't realize. And I just now realize, you know, why would you know, hotels not doing that more often?
Kiana Beimes: Yeah, and I mean, it really adds personalization, you know, you feel the personalization, because I mean, someone wrote it for you and wrote your name and wrote the reason why you're there. And, you know, I try to do that as often as I can. So if there's a special occasion going on, then I will handwrite that card. But it's also just making that moment that they're experiencing last a little bit longer, and they can take it home with them.
But yeah, these things are just not very costly. And I think that hopefully, for the most part, it makes them feel a little bit more special.
Kin Sio: Wow. Kiana, last question for you. So now that with all the amazing story that you share, you've now went through the renovations, you know, you had an amazing team that is so empowering doing all this stuff that we just talked about, you know, you won the big award for the year.
Now, like almost like you're now getting the pinnacle of your career thus far. What's your next challenge ahead? Like what, like at the Paradise Hotel, what is the next challenge that you are facing and solving right now?
Kiana Beimes: Getting to number one.
Keri Brown: That's my girl.
Kin Sio: That's my girl.
Kiana Beimes: Well, that's always been the goal. That's always been the goal. But, you know, that's a great question. Because we should always be thinking about what's next. And what we're trying to... what I'm trying to do with the team's support is I'm really trying to, you know, incorporate more authentic Hawaiian culture into the hotel and in the guest experience.
So right now, I'm working on the permitting process with the city and county of Honolulu to try and truly revitalize the park that's right across the street from us. It's dedicated to Princess Ka'iulani, who was the last princess to the Hawaiian monarchy. And she once lived on the land that our hotel sits on today.
And so she's our, you know, our biggest OG influencer, inspiration. And, you know, everything we do is in honor of her. And in fact, you know, even the lei that's behind me is pikake lei. And it's, you know, it's intentionally selected because it's her favorite flower. And so we have it as our property pattern. And Brent was a huge part of this project that is so special to my heart. And, you know, he's the one that helped me design this and he was with me through the entire sense of place project. I miss him so much. I know I can always call him but it's like, you know, working with him was such a dream. And I'm so grateful that he was with us during this project that, you know, I was blessed to champion. And he believed in the power of the princess, and that he believed that the people would love it because she was known as the people's princess.
So there is this really small park that is dedicated to her and there's a statue of her with her peacock. And unfortunately, when it was, you know, erected in 1999, it has since kind of gone downhill with, you know, just the upkeep and just, you know, it's look and feel just is not what it used to be.
It was very vibrant in the beginning and she was always adorned with lei and she was always quite polished. Now today, it's very overlooked. And you know, it's got weeds everywhere, the grass is hardly growing anywhere, the flowers are no longer there. And so we really wanted to... I really dream to revamp that park and make it a gathering place for the guests to enjoy, we can teach them about the culture, we can teach them about the land.
I want to someday host the cultural activities in the park. And, you know, even offer like music and, you know, create a real activation in the park regularly, so that we can invite the guests to learn more about the history of this land and why it's so important and why we have this peacock pattern, you know, here and that way we can really hopefully connect with the guests more.
And they can share that story with whomever they you know, come across and maybe that'll inspire the next guest to come and be part of the story. But that's the next thing, you know, we have the beautiful product. And I want to make sure that it's still got a lot of meaning behind it, because it's beautiful, for sure. But we want to make sure we stay connected to our roots, which is, you know, the history of 'Ainahau, which is the name of the land that we're on today.
And so I've learned that it takes a lot of patience, and it takes quite a bit of state funded agencies. And there are some agencies I didn't even know existed. So I'm taking my time, I'm asking all the questions I... Department of Urban Forestry, sounds like Harry Potter to me.
But I learned that you need to go through all these channels. And the good thing is that now it's led me to certain people that are in, you know, the legislature that are behind me, and I even have some of some of Governor Green's folks even helping me to potentially apply for funding from the green fee to restore that park. And so, you know, it makes sense to malama that park because you know that the tourists are here, we want them to come here, we want them to stay, we want them to be here.
And so I'm learning that, you know, I'm not intimidated. And unfortunately, the way that the park looks now, it's quite intimidating. And that's my goal is to transform it to eventually turn it into this paradise garden that we can be proud of, and we can be continued to be inspired by.
All great things are taking time. And I'm learning that right now. But it doesn't mean that you know, I'm going to give up anytime soon. I just, it motivates me even more to, you know, just keep steady. And my team is very much invested too, because each year that October 16 rolls around, which is Princess Ka'iulani's birthday, we have a massive birthday party for her and we honor her with lei, we do pule at her statue.
And every year that we're there, we all kind of look around and say "We can do better than this." And so it's, you know, it's that emotional piece that plays on our hearts that we are, you know, wanting to feel proud of. And so I think that it just motivates us to get to that point someday.
So we're a little bit closer with each day that passes. And hopefully, you know, by the time October 16 rolls around, we'll have made even more progress. But that's my commitment to Princess Ka'iulani and the land and my team.
Kin Sio: Wow, yeah, it shows beyond just the property, I think talking about, you know, mindful for the stewardship of local communities, just in the people around just be mindful of that. I think that's also something that we actually had in another episode talking to some operators in Montana, Eric Shackleton and Eliza Kuhn start talking about kind of similar concepts. So listeners, feel free to listen to that episode as well. And about Brent Shiratori, we actually talking with Brent, we talk a lot about Brent Shiratori. We talk a lot about the whole branding story of the paradise. So lots of what Kiana was talking, another bonus content for listeners who actually listen to that one to talk about, you know, just listening more about that branding story. Again, also an amazing thing just that connects with what we're just talking about today.
Bonus question for you, Kiana, who's your biggest... you talk about mentorship, but like, who's your biggest champion or champions in your career? And the best advice that you still take it wholeheartedly right now?
Kiana Beimes: Oh, well, that's a hard choice, but I mean, you know, the biggest champions of my career. I definitely think actually, Keri Brown is a big one, because she's always really been there for me. Even when I didn't know I needed her. She's such like I said, she's such a big cheerleader, and she's always available, no matter how busy she is.
And I learned a great deal from Keri just because she taught me something early on in my leadership career. She told me, you know, "Always make time for rest, because it won't always be available."
And that's something I found to be true. Because I've learned, you know, that if I'm not 100% ready to lead the team, then you know, I can't do a good job. So I need to feel 100%, I need to feel my best. That way I'm operating at my best and I'm leading my best. So it's helped me to be a better leader for my team.
And also, you know, Keri's always been like a sister to me, and we've been through so many different types of crisis. And, you know, everything from natural disasters to fires to floods to pandemics to just everything and she's always very resilient and she, even if I was very panicked, she would never be.
And so I feel like I've learned a great deal from her on how to stay steady and solution seek. She's a perfect example of how to solution seek and stay calm and navigate the path forward and towards the light, because a lot of other folks can only see the darkness and, you know, they will lead themselves down a path of destruction. So she's always looking for the way out, how do we fix this? And so I ask myself those questions.
And then another really, really, I have to mention brother is my mentor Edwin Torres, and he's now the general manager at Outrigger Kauai Beach Resort & Spa.
And when I worked for him, I worked with Keri, and his last position that I worked with him. He was our complex general manager where he oversaw the OHANA East at the time and then the Outrigger Waikiki Beachcomber Hotel.
And his advice to me was so simple, but it was so powerful and it's another saying that I tell myself that has served as a principle in, you know, just how I operate and it's just to always do the right thing.
And it's so simple, but it holds great power because it's always helped me to navigate through the challenges and he would tell me "There's no black and white way of how to do anything of how to solve anything but you know just do the right thing. As long as you do the right thing, it will guide you and you know it'll help you to find your way to that light" that you know Keri is so good at finding all the time.
And I remember sometimes I'd ask him, right, but how do I fix this? What's the right thing to do? And I'm like, "Well I don't know but the lady, the guest outside she needs help." He's like "Well then help her."
Like, "But what should I do?" He's like, "You'll know, just help her." And I'm glad he did that to me though because if he would have just told me what to do I don't think I would have learned the skills to be able to help them sufficiently. I probably just would have done what he told me so now I don't have him. I mean I have him, you know, an island away. But now it's helped me to lead the renovation and just any type of emergency situation that we're faced with.
I always do the right thing. And I really try to inspire my team to always stay people focused. You know, all of the technical details figure themselves out and you know as long as we're operating from an ethical standpoint and moral compass, then that is what we'll always be proud of.
I can never fault them for taking care of somebody and making sure that they're okay. If it's going to cost me then that's something that we're going to handle and maybe we can learn from it. Maybe we can learn about how to be more cost effective. Maybe we can learn how to be a little more resourceful. Maybe we didn't have to do whatever route they took. But I would always tell them that I never want to have to talk to you about giving not enough. I want to have to talk to you about giving too much.
But if we're not doing enough and we're not taking care of the people, that's not good. But if you're giving away the house because you're taking care of everybody then that's something I'm willing to talk to you about and we can learn from.
So, helped me to take care of people when I don't know how to do the details. So I'm really grateful to him for that. And then lastly is just Ceci. Ceci is Cecilia Hamao and she's again the GM at the Outrigger Waikiki Beachcomber. Huge shout out to her because if she did not ever recruit me and corner me in the office, then I would never become a manager.
She's so sweet, but she's powerful and she's strong. And she told me to try and I will never forget that. She just said it so simply, "You have to try. If you don't try, how will you know?"
And that was now almost 10 years ago. I believe it'll be 10 years next year that I've started management. And if it wasn't for her, my career trajectory would have been so different.
And I'm just very grateful to her. Her and I have stayed very close and our careers have kind of mirrored each other. Our pathways are almost identical. And I'm grateful that I still have her as my sister across the way just at another hotel. But yeah, it's a huge shout out to her for believing in me when I didn't.
Kin Sio: Thank you so much, Kiana. We've been talking to Kiana Beimes, General Manager at Outrigger Waikiki Paradise Hotel. Kiana, where can people learn more about you?
Kiana Beimes: Well, they can learn more about me by stopping by the hotel. No, just kidding. I'm always here. Well, I have a LinkedIn and it is Kiana Beimes. Just as my name is spelled and same for my Instagram handle. It's just Kiana Beimes, my first and last name.
So I would love to stay connected with you. And I look forward to listening to all your future podcasts, including Brent's.
Kin Sio: Yep. All right. Kiana, thank you so much for joining us today.
Kiana Beimes: Thank you for having me. It's been so wonderful to connect with you and see you again, Sister Keri. Love you.
Keri Brown: Love you.
Kin Sio: Signing out.
Kiana Beimes: Thank you.
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