Turtle Bay
event dispute
ensnares guests

Protests mount after the resort
passes on an organizer's costs

For Alison Gyves the eighth annual Aloha Marlin Golf Tournament at the Turtle Bay Resort & Spa proved just what she had been looking for: four days of golf, sun, surf and celebrities on Oahu's North Shore.

Now, Gyves wishes she had never heard of Turtle Bay.

An assistant district attorney with the Orange County District Attorney's Office in California, Gyves says Turtle Bay improperly billed her credit card more than $600 weeks after the event was over and after she had paid her resort bill. The event's producer, Aloha Productions, believes that 15 to 20 other people also were charged the same amount.

Turtle Bay's stated reason: Aloha Productions failed to pay the balance of what it owed Turtle Bay for costs related to the event. Instead of settling the dispute with Aloha Productions, Turtle Bay charged the guests an additional $602.66 each to help recoup the roughly $46,000 the resort says it is owed.

Gyves, who called the charge "appalling" and illegal, said it is the equivalent of charging wedding guests for the bride and groom's unpaid reception bill.

"I keep trying to say to them, 'We weren't parties to the contract. We were just guests at the hotel,'" said Gyves, who prosecutes Southern California gangs for a living. "It's just not legal; you can't hold third parties liable for a contract."

In a letter to Gyves, Turtle Bay's credit manager, Grace Kamae, states that the registration form Gyves and other guests signed contains language attesting that guests could be held "personally liable in the event that the indicated person, company or association fails to pay for the full amount of the charges."

Gyves said such language is not enforceable. Regardless, she said, Turtle Bay should have taken up the matter with Aloha Productions, not the guests.

"If they had a beef with Aloha Productions, (Turtle Bay's) remedy is to go after them and sue them," she said.

Turtle Bay General Manager Abid Butt declined to comment on the dispute, saying it is "under legal advisement." The resort is run by Benchmark Hospitality International of the Woodlands, Texas.

As described by Aloha Productions' owner, John Herkenrath, the dispute between the producer and resort seems to be a routine contract disagreement. Herkenrath says he owes $31,000, while Turtle Bay says he owes $45,715.

In previous years, Herkenrath said, he had held the event at Marriott's Waikoloa Beach Resort on the Big Island. But this year, he said, Turtle Bay lured him to Oahu for the event, which gives guests the chance to play golf with current and retired NFL players and celebrities. This year's tournament, which was held April 21-25, featured actor Cheech Marin, retired Oakland Raiders legend Daryle Lamonica and Rupert Boneham, an audience favorite from CBS's reality television show "Survivor."

Guests paid Aloha Productions $5,000 per couple for air fare, accommodations and the chance to golf with the celebrities and hang out with them afterward at parties at the resort put on by Aloha Productions, which is based in Campbell, Calif. The producer paid Turtle Bay for the hotel rooms, food and beverages, golfing fees and other incidentals, Herkenrath said.

Herkenrath paid Turtle Bay $60,000 before the event, with the agreement that he would pay the resort the balance due when the event started. However, Herkenrath said, the two sides could not agree on the balance owed.

Herkenrath said he has repeatedly offered to pay the resort $31,000. But he said Turtle Bay has turned down or ignored the offer. At one point, he said, hotel executives suggested he pay $31,000 and that they would "continue to discuss the difference." At his lawyer's advice, Herkenrath turned down that offer.

Copies of e-mail messages between Herkenrath and Turtle Bay show the two sides going back and forth during May.

By June the resort turned to the guests' credit cards. In a letter dated June 3 to Gyves, the Orange County prosecutor, Turtle Bay explained that it charged her MasterCard $602.66 because Herkenrath "refuses to pay the outstanding charges" of $45,715.

Gyves said she disputed the charge with her credit card company, but a friend was charged on his debit card and is now out the money.

Herkenrath immediately started receiving calls from angry guests who had received similar letters and charges, he said. He estimates he has gotten calls or e-mails from 15 to 20 people who have been charged.

Four days after the letter to Gyves went out, and after he started receiving calls, Herkenrath received what he calls a "smirky" e-mail message from Turtle Bay's controller, Malgosia Bardzik-Cox, who "as a goodwill gesture" informed him that the resort had started getting calls from the tournament's attendees and that he should expect to get calls as well. The letter closed with Bardzik-Cox offering her assistance in helping him resolve the disputed balance.

Herkenrath said the resort is trying to intimidate him into paying more than he owes by angering his guests.

If that is the case, Gyves said, then Turtle Bay's strategy has backfired.

Steve Levins, executive director of the state Office of Consumer Protection, says it is investigating the matter based on Gyves' tip. Gyves said she also has written the Honolulu Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division asking them to open an investigation. Contacted late yesterday, a police spokeswoman could not immediately say whether the department has done so.

For her part, Gyves said, she is angry not with Herkenrath, but with Turtle Bay.

"I've never seen anything like it," she said. "And in my line of work, I've seen it all."