Honolulu Star-Bulletin from Honolulu, Hawaii • 13

SECTION Saturday, Oct. 10, 1964 13 green thumb efforts is enough. For many, the several yearly opportunities to unveil their orchid efforts such as the Honolulu Orchid Society's annual show starting October 16 and compete for prizes, is the climax of satisfaction as an orchid "fancier." In addition, for nearly half of the society members, orchids mean dollars. Harry M. Otake, of Puaae Road, Kaneohe, is an example of hobbyist turned Horatio Alger.

Fifteen years ago, Otake raised orchids and entered shows as a hobby. That interest grew into a $100,000 a year business which included a vanda plantation of more than four acres in Kaneohe which supplies up to 1,000 leis a day to local florist and thousands of blossoms to hotelr and restaurants to grace exotic drinks, desserts and dinners. The vanda business of some $40,000 a year, recently bought by Henry Oshiro, is one of the four largest such plantations in the State. The others are on the Big Island. Adjoining the fields of vandas hidden amid Kaneohe are Otake's remaining orchid greenhouses in which he raises the classic cattle-yas for corsages and the stalks of dendrobiums and butterfly phalaenopsis.

for bouquets and weddings. It's not the flowers, themselves, that make up the large part of annual business for Otake and Oahu's other major commercial growers. Nurseries here send plants and seedlings all over the world, doing such a gross business that plants are one of the top 10 export products from the State, according to U.S. Department of Commerce figures. Summing up orchid raising on a total financial scale is almost impossible, however, because of the many raisers at the opposite end of the commercial scale from Otake.

They are the "backyard growers," as nurserymen By Mary Adamski What is leopard spotted, grows seven feet tall and is found in groups of at least 10? What is flat, odorless and looks like a thumbnail sized butterfly? What is as big as your hand, loudly purple but quietly scented? The answer is: an orchid. And the possible riddle list goes on and on. There are 30,000 varieties of orchids plus the continuously growing list of hybrids, the results of intermarriages between types. But the varieties of orchid growers make a list almost as long: A retired businessman whose great and time consuming pride is creating beautiful or weird new hybrids to enter in shows. A young housewife with barely enough time to pay minimum attention to her half dozen hardy potted orchids.

A hobbyist turned florist with a $100,000 a year orchid business. 1,500 ORCHID GROWERS There are more than 1,500 organized orchid growers on Oahu, the members of nine orchid societies, including the 50C-member Honolulu Orchid Society and the 350 member Pacific Orchid Society. They are the growers who are interested enough to meet regularly to compare methods, share expert opinions and publications but are often as secretive about their own current hybridization projects as are automobile designers about their latest creations. For most of them, the satisfaction of their own call them, who sell their orchids haphazardly and occasionally for only a few dollars a year. Their numbers are large enough to put the total estimate of flower and plant sales in the State over the $2 million mark and enough to make it equal last year's coffee market.

Hawaii is, in the words of a local expert and grower J. Milton Warne, the "world center of orchid breeding." Worldwide demands for plants and flowers would seem to bear that out. The orchid business increases every year. You can buy them in a bouquet in St. Louis.

They give them away at supermarket openings in Michigan. They come floating on the top of exotic drinks in California. They still rank as a corsage favorite from Maine to Oregon. But that doesn't mean orchids will ever become common. MIMSCULE TO FLAMBOYANT To illustrate that, Ted Green, assistant director of the Foster Garden, points proudly at the newly developed orchid garden where the variety ranges from miniscule to flamboyant.

Some of the rarest orchids in collection which is displayed in outdoor natural settings are the oldest. Some, Green explained, are hybrids created in England, whose originals were destroyed in World War II. New 1 are also proof against ever seeing the orchid become "common." New "models" or hybrids fi rl The best of show and best cattieya titles at last year's Honolulu Orchid Society Show went to the brassolaeliocattleya raised by Harry Tagawa. last show. And that leads to another reason why orchids will not become common.

How could anything with a name like brassolaeliocattleya be common? Tagawa's brassolaeliocattleya, combination of brassa-vola and laelia and cattieya orchids, won the Star-Bulletin's best cattieya and the Hawaiian Orchid Societies best of show award at the are developed, not by professional florists who stick with the salable standards, but by the experiments and efforts of backyard bontan-ists like Harry Tagawa, of 1508 Pualele Place. Vandas, the lei orchid, grow by the acre at the Otake nurseries in Kaneohe. a halo Hilton Low in Occupancy, but High in Quality tf irtTHt 'nrmmii rimmi' 1 i soft sell that the Kahala Hilton has had to pour and is still pouring into every prospective market. Just what it takes to get a big, new hotel in Hawaii to rise and remain above water financially is a fascinating, complex study. This is particulary so with the Kahala Hilton, which, by its very elegance with prices to match closes the door on mass volume business that other hotels count on to remain profitable.

Here is a step-by-step account of what the Kahala Hilton has had to do to promote itself onto pay dirt as related by Hastings: The big ssll for the Kahala Hilton began before the earth was turned for the $11 million hotel. First, letters went out to leading resort operators throughout the country for promotion suggestions. They outlined the "must haves" as: 1 A product worthy of selling. 2 Support of competent travel agents obtained and maintained through continuing exposure. 3 Word-of-mouth advertising, stemming primarily from satisfied customers.

4 Direct mail promotion, utilizing "good lists" as the core. SALES BALLOON' With this as a guide, the Kahala Hilton launched its first sales balloon in the spring of 1963, about a year before the hotel opened. Thousands of advance brochures were sent to travel agents, with particular emphasis on the West Coast, in the first mailing. That was followed by two more advance mailings each pitched on a fresh angle. Then, at the American Society of a 1 Agents annual meeting last fall in Mexico City, Hastings and other Hawaii Hilton officials waged an aggressive publicity campaign.

By Tomi Knaefler The Kahala Hilton, Hawaii's newest and most elegant hotel, which has had the lowest occupancy rate among major hotels in the State this year, expects to begin hitting pay dirt this winter. The hotel's low occupancy figure comes as no surprise. As any seasoned hotel operator will tell you, it takes a heck of a lot of time and a heck of a lot of selling to get a new hotel rolling-even one linked with a name like Hilton. As one hotel operator facetiously put it: "Take heaven, for instance. The Christians are still having a rough time selling it." Least surprised at the Kahala Hilton's low-batting average is Edwin K.

Hastings, vice-president of Hilton Hotels International in the Pacific. Hastings puts a "realistic estimate" of one full year for the Kahala to score an "acceptable occupancy around 75 to 80 per cent on an annual basis. One of Hasting's aides said the occupancy percentage was in the 80's in February and March, in the 40 and 50's in the spring, ranged from 50 to 65 in the summer, dipped to 40 in September and is up to 60 to 70 this month, with good bookings already scheduled for Christmas. The hotel formally opened in January. The break-even point for hotels vary.

Normally, it's around 65-to-70 per cent. For the Hongkong Hilton, it's 30 per cent because of low labor costs. Harvest time for the Kahala Hilton is time-tabled for this winter. Hastings said in a interview: "We expect to begin reaping the benefits of months and months of hard work this winter. The word's getting around." By word, he was referring to the hard and the Heiress Barbara Hutton Kirk Simultaneously, the hotel let loose a number of slick ads in class magazines, such as "Town and Country." For one of the ads, the Kahala Hilton teamed up with Mat-son Navigation Company for a tempting luxury from-start-to-finish invitation.

Ad brochures were mailed to leading social clubs throughout the West Coast. As a follow-up, local sales representatives were sent to the Mainland to make door-to-door calls on major travel agents and to conduct a series of seminars for agents and carriers. The seminars, a proven gimmick, consists of showing a film about the hotel, a quick pitch concluded with free breakfast, lunch or cocktails. These perspn-to-person calls and seminars are still continuing and will go on for some time to come. A steady parade of executives, sales and otherwise, from here are hitting the trail each month.

BASED ON COAST Hastings points out that the "exposure is good. This type of thing shows the agents that we care from top to bottom. It personalizes selling." Along with this one-two punch, the Kahala Hilton has two local sales representatives permanently based in Los Angeles, which is the hotel's major market at the present time. The two are George Tibbets and George Matsuda. All the while, Hilton's entire necklace of hotels and sales force is selling the Kahala.

But, because there are 62 hotels in the entire system now, the sell for one single hotel is naturally diluted. For the direct mail phase, the hotel obtained blue label listings, such as the "Town and Country list" and "Life list." The hotel also sends out its house organ, "Kahala Ki'i," chock-full of happy Ex-Princess Suga of Japan Actor James guest faces, to ex-guests every third month. While there is no accurate way to gauge the extent of word-of-mouth advertising, Hastings is confident it's catching on. HIGH SATISFACTION One reason is because in a recent visitor satisfaction survey of all Hilton hotels, the Kahala ranked first with a 99.4 per cent rating. And then there are the stream of glowing letters from the I-was-there's.

"They're just overwhelming," exclaims Hastings. One glowing account, penned by the famous adventurer Lowell Thomas, has been used to great promotional advantage. With Thomas's permission, the hotel sent the letter with an accompanying flyer to thousands of prospective visitors. The letter said in part: "Having just come in from my 29 th trip around the globe I feel I should salute you for what you have done for the world traveler. "The newest of your establishments where I have stayed is the most stunning of all, the Kahala Hilton, in Hawaii, just around the bend from Diamond Head and Waikiki.

"The Pacific Ocean covers more of this planet than any one natural feature. And over this vast area, the Kahala stands out as the most elegant of all. "Everytime I make a long journey from now on, I hope to include another visit to the Kahala." Hastings doesn't hide the fact that the hotel has given free lodging better known as "comps" to some well-known personalities because their staying there is useful in building up the Kahala image. "Comps" also have been extended to the hotel's major travel agency sources. While the bulk of the hotel's promotion has been Financier David Rockefeller aimed at the class tourist market, Hastings emphasizes the need for local support is "crucial." It is hoped that Islanders will take pride in the Kahala Hilton and support it by making referrals and by patronizing the hotel's facilities.

Local support of businesses, such as hotels and restaurants, could spell the difference between success and failure. This is because tourism is not in high gear year-round. Rather, it zips up and down. The peak months are July and August (summer travelers), Aloha Week in October, Christmas and February through May (winter travelers wanting to escape the brutal cold of their normal environment), Most hotels try to get conventions and other group movements for the "starvation" gaps. But, because the Kahala Hilton's prices don't encourage the coupon traveler, it looks to the local community for help, particularly during the lean months.

PRICE RANGE Kahala's prices range from a minimum of $24 a day for doubles and $22 for singles, to $150 a day for the four-room Presidential Suite. To encourage local trading, the hotel went to great lengths to bring in personalities who have long been Hawaii favorites. For instance, the hotel brought back orchestra leader Pierson Thai, Frank L. Swadley, popular hotel manager and John the Beachboy. Cleo Evans was added as the hotel's social director.

In addition to selling the idea of a new hotel, the Kahala Hilton also had the job of selling the name "Kahala." As Hastings puts it: "To the average Mainlander, Kahala means nothing at all. It could be a disease pr Actor Henry Fonda Rhonda The Kahala Hilton Hotel on a 24-hour basis at the Village, the atmosphere at the Kahala is much more studied. "Casual formality" is the call in the inside dining rooms with barefeet informality limited to the Hala Terrace and the recreation areas. Matching the hotel's demand for some formality, as noted it does more than its share in providing quality performance. QUALITY From its inception, quality has been insisted upon from building and furnishings; food and drink; maintenance and service.

Hastings said that even during the hardship period of the first year, "the standard of service hasn't been lowered one little bit. "There has been no compromise," he said. "This takes a lot of doing. But we're looking at this on the long-term pull." Hastings points out that, along with the heavy initial investment, the hotel's day-to-day cost of operation is high because there are various, specialty jobs and the workers are unionized. He said that means that the hotel, along with other unionized operations, has to compete with non-union establishments.

He said the Kahala's labor ratio is 300 rooms to 200-plus employes and that about 160 workers are on the job daily. A big advantage the Kahala has over other independ-, ent operations is its Hilton network affiliation. As a member of the system, the Kahala has the sales referral service of all the connecting Hilton links throughout the world. It also enjoys the Hilton's personnel pool. The significance of that is that if the Kahala loses its chef, for instance, it would not be catastrophic because a quick call to the San Francisco office would bring a ready replacement.

The system's large technical staff also is available to the hotels. Included are architects, engineers, decorators, lighting experts, sales specialists and food and beverage authorities. Being part of the system also enables a tremendous saving through national buying contracts. The system contracts with mills to buy number of towels or with manufacturers for number of plates or with liquor distillers for cases of whiskey. As Hastings wrung out the last fact and the last figure, he topped the interview with this touch of optimism: "We're getting good reports from all over.

"Because so much of our business concerns individual or family bookings, we can't expect to get immediate results. "Agents will book tours or conventions months and months or even years in advance. But not for individual family bookings. "And most important, people don't say: "Great, we'll go there tomorrow or next week "It's more: 'Great, we'll go there next year or next summer or next winter. "And that winter is something to eat for all they know." It took a lot of doing to sell the identification tag to definitely specify the Kahala Hilton as an idyllic spot five miles, or a 12-minute drive away, from the bright lights of Waikiki.

The hotel offers free shuttle service hourly to Waikiki and then back. Hastings reports that surveys indicate the majority of guests like the location of the Kahala because it offers all the advantages of Neighbor Island living right in Honolulu. He said surveys also show that the hotel is best suited for honey mooners, other married couples and families. Hilton's other Honolulu hotel, the Hawaiian Village, is more to the liking of the young fun-searchers, who want to be in the heart of pub crawling and clubs. For children, the Kahala has special programs during the summer and the yule holidays.

While informality prevails TV Star Steve Allen These Famous People Have Been Guests at the Kahala Hilton Actor Douglas Adventurer Lowell Thomas, Sr. Garner Actress Fleming.