Waikoloa Bay Club
owners want out

About 170 employees could be
out of work by year's end

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By Dave Segal
dsegal@starbulletin.com

The owner of The Bay Club at Waikoloa Beach Resort has told its 171 employees they will be laid off as of Dec. 31 due to a pending sale of the Big Island time-share property.

The Bay Club has more than 160 units and about 8,000 owners. It was converted from a condominium complex to a time-share development in 1995.

The Bay Club Ownership Resort Inc. said in a filing with the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations that it had given the state-mandated 60 days plant-closure notice to its 98 employees. Those workers are mostly involved in sales and marketing.

In addition, Nikken Corp., the parent company of The Bay Club Ownership Resort Inc., said it was laying off five employees while another of its subsidiaries, Quality Resort Management Inc., was laying off 68 workers who mostly comprise grounds and maintenance workers, housekeeping and the front desk.

"We're currently in negotiations with somebody to take over The Bay Club," said Richard H. Lachmann, a secretary and director of the corporations and their general counsel. "Although we haven't finished negotiations, we expect to reach a final agreement (within the next week)."

Lachmann, who wouldn't identify the prospective buyer or the expected price, said he expected most of the affected workers to be rehired. He said no severance packages were offered.

"I would think the new owner intends to hire many of them, if not all of them," he said. "That, of course, would be up to the new operator. They would need to have people accustomed to The Bay Club, and who would be more accustomed than the current employees? As of Jan. 1, assuming things work out, the new entity will take over the operation. So there will be a seamless, smooth transition."

Lachmann, who estimates more than 90 percent of the units are sold, said prices range from about $10,000 for a one-bedroom unit every other year to in excess of $25,000 for a villa unit every year.

Nikken is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Azel Corp., a publicly traded company in Tokyo with more than $500 million in annual sales.