[INSIDE HAWAII INC.]
Daniel J. Daughtry, director of conference and food and beverage services at the Turtle Bay Resort, said the resort is concentrating on delivering high-end products
Turtle Bay exec focuses
on bringing in groupsYour title is unusual -- what's the job?
Daniel J. Daughtry
>> New position: Director of conference and food and beverage services at the Turtle Bay Resort, which is managed by Texas-based Benchmark Hospitality International>> Daughtry was previously director of food and beverage for the Pacific Islands Club Resort in Saipan, responsible for 130 staff, four restaurants and three lounges. He has also served as restaurant manager for the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai in Kona and in the food and beverage department of the Hyatt Regency Maui. He was born near Chicago and raised in Washington state.
The position is a rather unique position. It's effectively two positions rolled into one. It's a director of catering and conference services rolled into food and beverage. Benchmark is really keyed in and geared on group business and activity. Right now there's a far greater preponderance of independent and wholesale business and group business.
The hotel is trying to change its market mix. It's also repositioning its products and services.
The main focus that everybody coming on board here has is to position the property to deliver a high-end product to its customer base, and I think as business changes and you see a larger percentage of group business here, I think the position would need to be broken down to separate directors. But at this time there's not a need. We're busy attracting the business and serving what we have and at the same time we're working on refining our product and services.
What are you refining?
It can be something as simple as using and getting a nice high-end menu cover for our restaurants. It can be as complex as adjusting the staff levels.
That's been the big one that's been tackled this past year. We've added 100 employees over the course of a year and a half, propertywide.
It had a lot to do with a couple things. Business volumes were already climbing. We needed more of our outlets operating.
Secondly, the quality of service that we expect from ourselves necessitates a certain number of employees to make sure we're not missing anything and guest expectations are exceeded. The framework is certainly here and it's certainly pushing it up a little bit, making sure that the basics are met.
How is the overall market for meetings doing in an era of reduced business travel after 9/11?
I think it's safe to say that it's not fully recovered from that incident. But certainly people are out there traveling, people are booking meetings. We want a bigger chunk of that pie.
As things continue, we can only envision that those conditions will improve even further. We are Benchmark. This is their first property in Hawaii. This property has not necessarily done as much group business as Benchmark has envisioned for the long term and it's going to be a neat experience for this place.
The owners and Benchmark have really done a magnificent job of refurbishing this place and building in some marketable features, wireless technology, some very nice function rooms. We have the versatility now to service a broad base of group business.
How full are the conference rooms, on a daily basis?
I would say from a meeting room standpoint they are more full than they were the previous year and the next year they're planning to be more full than this year.
We're headed in the right direction. We are by far not where we want to be, but growth is being realized each year.
On the food and beverage side, are today's visitors spending well? What are the latest spending trends?
A couple of things are happening here. The owners have expectations for their investment.
With the renovation, we have to start showing benefits. Each year since the renovation we've shown growth in average check and beverage revenue, both in the sheer number of people that are coming and what they are spending it on.
We continue to attract a customer base that enjoys what we have to offer, which is the exclusivity and privacy and shared beauty of the area, but they are also in an affluent position where they are comfortable with the pricing structure we have here.
The clientele seem comfortable spending their money here, and we are at the point where we are offering value. It's not like everyone is throwing money at us, but they are comfortable with our pricing strategy and we continue to grow.
What types of meetings are commonly attracted to the Turtle Bay, as opposed to the urban setting of Waikiki?
It kind of comes down to what they're interested in. Our location is one of our greatest points and it's one of our greatest disadvantages.
If people want to shop, this is probably not the place. We offer an outer island experience on Oahu. We have a very large parcel of land and to take a look at it, it's relatively untouched. The beach is very natural looking and not covered with man made strips of concrete.
Sitting out here on the North Shore, you wouldn't know you're on the same island as Waikiki and that's really the appeal of this place. It also poses challenges, and that's attracting those who want a night life.
We have outstanding restaurants and there's a few places to dine in town, but it's not what you would find on other side. You have the clearest beaches, water.
The people that are coming here at this point are finding this is a little bit of a hidden jewel and we're proud of that fact and we're interesting in growing and getting the word out.
What are some major recent meetings?
We just had the Hawaii Hotel and Lodging Association. We do have some special events that are coming our way. We just had the July 3 Jazz Festival, which was a lot of fun, with nearly 2,000 people here, which was great.
That's something we plan to continue.
We plan to have Hawaiian Tropics here again and the Sam Choy Poke Festival, coming up this year, moving here from the Big Island. There's a lot of neat things and we continue to look for other opportunities to show what the North Shore is about.
