Outrigger is chain In 1967, a reporter who had been working in Hawaii only a few months saw Roy Kelley hauling guests' suitcases into the elevator at the Reef Hotel in Waikiki, a property he developed and owned.
that links the Kelleys
The clan has thrived
in isles' tourism industryHOME IN HOTELS
Russ Lynch / rlynch@starbulletin.com
Kelley was asked if he was doing that because union employees at the hotel had walked off the job.
No, snorted Kelley, this was something he always did, because the hotel industry is a hands-on, boots-and-all business.
Kelley was already 61 and owned seven hotels by then, but he had his own desk in the lobby of the Reef and was quick to jump in and help out in any aspect of the business.
That was typical of the man who founded a hotel empire that now has nearly 70 hotels and resort condominiums with more than 15,000 rooms open or under development in Hawaii, Australia, Fiji, Guam and the Marshall Islands.
Now under an umbrella company called Outrigger Enterprises Inc., the Kelley family business has investments in real estate and other businesses as well as the hotels.
It has also embarked on its most ambitious project, a $300 million redevelopment of its properties in the Lewers Street area of Waikiki.
But it is still a family company, the family Roy Kelley and his wife, Estelle, built while they were building hotels.
Kelley, who came to Hawaii in 1929 and went to work for architect C.W. Dickey, designed and built his own first hotel, the 50-room Islander Hotel in Waikiki.
In 1951 he built the Edgewater. The Reef followed in 1955, and the Reef Towers in 1959.
Roy and Estelle had three children: Richard, Jean and Patricia. Richard went to the mainland for a medical education, became a pathologist and returned to the islands in 1962 to finish his training and to work at the Queen's Medical Center and Kapiolani maternity hospital. He was also an assistant professor of pathology at the University of Hawaii.
He stepped aside from the profession to join the family business full time in 1970, became president and chief executive in 1971 and is now chairman of the board of Outrigger Enterprises.
But he still goes by the nickname "Doc" to family and friends.
Jean went to Cornell hotel school, intending to come back and work in the family business.
She met and married Chuck Rolles and spent 25 years helping him develop a restaurant, only recently returning to Outrigger as vice president of community relations.
Patricia learned the business and ran a tour desk in one of the hotels, but now lives on the mainland and does not work for the company.
Roy Kelley died in 1997 at the age of 91, while Estelle died the next year, also at 91.
Still, the ohana continues with the third generation. Richard and his first wife, Jane, had five children. The oldest girl, Kathryn, married the company's lawyer, David Carey, who was so closely involved in the family's business that it made sense for him to come in full time.
In 1988 he became president and chief operating officer, and in 1994 he was named president and CEO.
Chuck Kelley, son of Richard and also a doctor, joined the business this year and is involved in daily management.
Another daughter of Richard and Jane, Elizabeth "Bitsy" Kelley, is director of brand and business development for the company's Ohana hotels, a chain of 15 properties that mostly were the Kelleys' lower-budget hotels in Waikiki.
After Richard's wife Jane died, he remarried, and his second wife, Linda, was involved in the company business for a while, starting a risk management office.
Like other families in the local hotel business, the Kelley clan says it is an emotional involvement, often 24 hours a day, but comes with a responsibility not to let business disagreements or worries interfere with family matters.
"On the one hand there's an emotional commitment to the business," Carey says. "That's fine when things are going well, but when there are disagreements for whatever reason, whether it's a personal problem, it can get awkward."
The family brought in a consultant who came up with the best advice: to separate "the family business" from the "business of the family."
In other words, Carey said, don't let a business concern slop over into a family gathering like Christmas.
"I have my family hat on, or I have my business hat on," he said.