After catching up on the latest news and some shout outs to listeners, the podcast focuses on Part 2 on location from the Fairmont Orchid Resort in Kohala on Hawaii Island, hosts Aloha Bruce and Lanai Tabura welcome General Manager Charles Head (and commend him for a stylish Tori Richards aloha print facemask). He is on to discuss the promising reopening of the resort and the return of guests and employees.
Regarding the theme of Rediscovering Hawaii, Charles recalls his first experience in Hawaii and being struck by the strong sense of Aloha back in 2002 and finding it still many years later when he began with the Fairmont Orchid.
Mr. Head talks about the importance of providing cultural education to visitors and says that is what resonates most. Having worked at destination properties all over the world, he says that you can’t find the same sense of welcoming and ‘ohana anywhere else.
The conversation turns to the Fairmont Orchid’s unique Native Hawaiian Cultural Program and to the 30th anniversary of the resort’s opening. Lanai lets it slip that the resort is a favorite of international reggae superstar Ziggy Marley.
Charles says that part of the 30th Anniversary commemoration are special offers to welcome kama’aina Hawaii resident) guests. He mentions a new champagne and champagne cocktail bar that has just opened at the resort, and innovative new spa facilities and services called the “Spa Without Walls”.
The Fairmont Orchid is a 30-acre property, and Mr. Head describes the wide variety of ocean activities available at the Fairmont Orchid, and the fact that the Executive Chef is an avid surfer who turns up in the early hours of the morning for a surf check before the workday begins.