Employees/non-guests hosting parties at WKORV/WKORVN?

On a related note, when I was at WPORV one of the staff mentioned she wasn't allowed to bring her children to the resort, though she wanted to let them use the pools. If this is any indication, I'm inclined to give WKORV the benefit of the doubt, until we hear otherwise.

We just left WKORN yesterday and noticed lots of people with different pool towels, a huge assortment of colors and sizes, and we thought it odd because most people really tend to use the striped Westin ones. There was an inordinate number of people using different towels than Westin's.

It also looked like there were some people just walking to the Westin down the sidewalk from the south with their coolers in hand. I had no idea what to make of it, but it started on Friday after lunch and continued through our check-out time of 10:00 yesterday. So we saw three days of what I believe were locals using the property's amenities. But they were polite, not noisy, and seemed to be having a great time.

Here is the reply I got from Gregg - maybe someone who was told these were employee parties should contact him directly. Or maybe Westin5Star can explain what he saw, face-to-face, and get an explanation.

Aloha Denise,

I’m not sure what you are referring to as large employee hosted parties. Our policy here at the property, and with Starwood as a company, is and has always been that employees are not allowed to stay at the property they work in. There are always unique exceptions, but those are approved through my office, and I have never approved large groups of any kind.

Too my knowledge, what you have described has not occurred at either KOR or KORN.

Hope that helps to clarify. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Best Regards,

Gregg

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WKORV General Manager said:

. . . Our policy here at the property, and with Starwood as a company, is and has always been that employees are not allowed to stay at the property they work in. [...] Too my knowledge, what you have described has not occurred at either KOR or KORN. . . .


Gregg

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Wouldn't the better response from him at this point have been . . . . "Thanks for your input. I'll investigate it and get back to you"? Instead of "to my knowledge . . . .." It's not like you were taking his deposition or anything.

I'm guessing that good ol' Gregg keeps pretty darned regular hours that the employees can anticipate. I would suggest to him that he mix his schedule up a little and even do a random pop-in now and then, preferably by entering the property through different paths. At a minimum he should consider not wearing that cow bell his employees gave him last bosses' day.

Moreover, who says its WKORV or WKORV-N employees booking the rooms and partying there? Wouldn't Westin and Sheraton hotel employees from the Starwood resorts up the beach be entitled to the same room discount there?

Also, the whole "employees can party" thing came from the same WKORV-N employee that kept telling me the hot water in our villa would be back on in "20 minutes" even though it remained out for the last 24 hours of our visit there. So there was definitely a communication failure going on somewhere with her.

-nodge

I really don't know what to think - it's hard to believe a GM could be that out of touch with what is going on under his nose! I hope Westin5Star can get to the bottom of it!

Nodge - I don't suppose you remember the "party" employee's name?

DeniseM said:

I really don't know what to think - it's hard to believe a GM could be that out of touch with what is going on under his nose!

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Um. Isn't this the same GM that allowed this?

I'll look for my check-out paperwork. Maybe the name of the employee who told me about the "employee parties" is on it.

-nodge

I am not suggesting that the people overtaking the BBQs and tables were employees. In fact, none of them looked familiar and we visit often. Yes, I am talking about the BBQs at WKORV and not at the park next door. I had said that there was alot (maybe 50) locals. After reconsidering and looking at things yesterday, I am now guessing there was more than 50 and closer to 100 people. The reason that I called them locals is because they live on the island. The reason that I know this is that I talked to them. In particular, a white (not native of Hawaii) woman thanked me for visiting. After stepping in sticky stuff, not being ablet to sit at a dirty table, seeing the trash overflowing, and the BBQ broken that day- it took everything within me not to say something to her. I also notice many of their PARTY using the pools. I do have Greg's direct line and I will be calling him to discuss this.

On a side note, yesterday was amazingly quite here. The BBQs and tables were open and clean almost all day. The floors were not sticky. The trash was not overflowing. The resort had a much more relaxing feel as there wasn't so many people here. It was very nice not to have the place overrun with locals. I also noticed security very visible throughout the day which I hadn't noticed on Saturday or Sunday. If I have anything new on this I will post it.

Westin5Star - Nodge noticed the same thing when he was there, and at check-out an employee told him that the extra people were guests of employees. That's where that came from.

I really can't believe this is going on! :annoyed: Hope you can get a straight answer! A face to face visit with Gregg might be more informative, if you are up to it.

I viewed two such parties during my stay at WKORV-N in January. Both were attended primarily by native Hawaiians.

One party of about 20-30 guests was held in the grill area adjacent to room 69 in building 7 (on this map). The partiers kept coming and going out of the ground floor unit 02 or 03 in building 8. This is the one where the security guard helped carry the cooler.

Another party was on a different day and night in the grill area adjacent to the pirate ship pool (near unit 01 in building 5 on this map). This group of about 10 was far more menacing than the first. Our boys are too big to swim in the pirate ship pool, but one evening they decided they just wanted to walk around it and check it out. As we all approached the side of the pool closest to the grills, two large gentlemen from the party, and that appeared to be of Samoan descent, came over and stood with their arms crossed between us and the partiers at the grills. We took the hint and kept on moving.

-nodge

Sooo . . . .as long as I'm pointing out landmarks on the map from my January visit to WKORV-N, the port-o-potties were by unit 09 in building 8, Clint's truck was by unit 70 in building 7, and the totally nude/naked couple, which I haven't said anything about yet, were usually on the beach in front of those new condos next to SVO's abandoned construction mess up the way. I digress, but it seems to me that if you are going to go totally nude/naked at a non-clothing optional public beach you should at least have the body to support it. Geesh. -n

Wow, this doesn't sound right at all.

Sounds like something I'd expect at Lagunamar, not WKORV!

I was finally able to connect with the manger regarding this situation. I'm sorry that it took so long but we have been enjoying our vacation so I fit this conversation in when it was convinient.

The resort was obviously already aware of the problem and have been taking steps to work on it. I explained that I felt the best and most appropriate solution is to check for room information (room keys) from guests. Obviously this would only need to be done for large parties and those with big tubs / ice chests, etc. The resort also already had signs ordered that will be posted as well as information about the problem in the room letters. I'm not sure the signs or letters will really do any good though.

The manager was aware of the problem and is very concerned. I believe that the staff and security will be trained / retrained to look out for this problem and take care of it in the future. Based on my conversation about the steps being taken, I doubt we will see any such problems in the near future. If we do, I definitely feel like WKORV will quickly address and take care of the problem.

I don't know what to think about this. It sounds like staff and security are PART of the problem!

I have to wonder how this problem could even have gotten to this point? If the GM is aware of it, why wasn't it nipped in the bud? Either he has chosen to look the other way, or his staff is out of control.

Will you still be there next weekend?

sjuhawk_jd said:

Westin Hotel side will never allow this since guests can take their business elsewhere, can leave negative reviews on tripadvisor to negatively impact business, etc. The timeshare side is an entire different business model and captive market!

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The Sheraton in Keahou on the Big Island had a bunch of locals use their pool when I stayed there. One of them told me their cousin who worked there could get them wrist bands when it was slow. I kinda got the sense it was pretty common out there.

esk444 said:

The Sheraton in Keahou on the Big Island had a bunch of locals use their pool when I stayed there. One of them told me their cousin who worked there could get them wrist bands when it was slow. I kinda got the sense it was pretty common out there.

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Yeah - but that is a hotel and management can decide how they want to use the property.

WKORV is owned by owners, not Starwood, and it's not appropriate for management to allow unauthorized visitors to use facilities, damage property, create extra clean up and maintenance, and prevent owners from having full use of the property THAT WE OWN & PAY FOR!

Starwood - I HOPE you are reading this thread!

If anyone has the email address for any of the board members, please forward them a link to this thread!

DeniseM said:

WKORV is owned by owners, not Starwood, and it's not appropriate for management to allow unauthorized visitors to use facilities, damage property, create extra clean up and maintenance, and prevent owners from having full use of the property THAT WE OWN & PAY FOR!

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Agreed!

I have 7 units booked for an extended family holiday in just over 2 months, and I was the one to choose the destination, make all arrangements, etc. and promoted it as a high-end vacation (probably a once-in-a-lifetime for the grandparents).

Last thing I want is anything disrupting that vacation, or preventing us from using the facilities that I paid for and promoted to the rest of my family...

DeniseM said:

It sounds like staff and security are PART of the problem!

I have to wonder how this problem could even have gotten to this point? If the GM is aware of it, why wasn't it nipped in the bud? Either he has chosen to look the other way, or his staff is out of control.

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DeniseM said:

WKORV is owned by owners, not Starwood, and it's not appropriate for management to allow unauthorized visitors to use facilities, damage property, create extra clean up and maintenance, and prevent owners from having full use of the property THAT WE OWN & PAY FOR!

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I couldn't agree with Denise more. This sounds like egregiously bad management and/or Starwood acting like they own they property.

BTW, many high end resorts take measures to ensure that paying guests don't get the feeling that the property is a private club for the employees and their friends and family. For example, the Fairmont Orchid here on the Big Island doesn't allow off duty employees on the property at all even as paying customers.

I was out at the main WKORV pool yesterday about 4:30pm. I noticed a large group that I hadn't seen here all week. There was about 12-15 people in what looked like 2-3 families. Being the investigative reporter that I am I took my boys and started swimming over near them. Sure enough, after listening to their conversation I found out that they live on the island. I also noticed that they all brought yellow and white striped towels with them; none of them got the wristbands to go down the slides though. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt so it is possible that they all rented a suite here for the night and that none of the kids wanted to use the slide. It just seemed odd that these families brought their kids to rent a room yesterday after they got out of school. I'm starting to think that the only way to police this would be to have all guest wear wristbands.

I hope you reported it....

Here is my take on this. Last Sat. & Sunday at the WKORV-N pool were a bunch of locals with their coolers...The high school girls were wearing the Lahainanluna H.S. t-shirts so you know they go to school down the street. I was waiting in line behind them to get towels from the shack. You all know now about the "towel Card" process where you have to give a "towel card" to get a towel and then when you return your dirty towel you're given a clean towel or a towel card. These people just asked for towles, without giving a towel card...so what does that tell you...the workers knew who they were and were ok with it...Once they get Westin towels secruity is not going to question them...

Has anyone contacted the GM and followed-up since the last few posts?

Westin5Star, since you're on-site and have already talked to the GM, it might make most sense for you to contact him again. Anyone who's not actually there would just be reporting on what they heard from someone else, and might not have the same impact.

This is obviously a serious on-going issue, and it sounds like ALL staff need a good talking-to, sooner than later, not just security staff, etc told to look out for the problem -- management needs to make it clear to everyone who works there that this is not an acceptable use of OUR property...

Perhaps someone can contact Beatrice Case. Didn't she get voted by an overwhelming majority of votes? Let's see is she can live up to the hype...

I would think that if it was reported while the large group was there, the manager could easily evaluate the situation.

Last January when DH & I were there, we were in the chairs overlooking the ocean. I was reading and DH was snorkeling (he had been out less than 20 minutes). When he returned, his towel was gone from his chair (next to my chair). I WAS SITTING THERE READING THE ENTIRE TIME. I NEVER SAW ANYONE APPROACH. NOBODY ASKED "IS SOMEONE USING THIS?". No "sorry" letter, no nothing. They must have approached the chair from behind. We went to the towel cabana and told them his towel had been taken and we needed another one. They said "That happens sometimes" and gave us another towel.

My point is that anyone can just take your towel and use it. Once they have it, they can exchange it for another towel or a towel card. The cabana attendants and security guards don't challenge them.

The towel cabana guys did not tell us "Sorry, I cannot give you a towel without a card". We are grateful for that, but people stealing towels and no discipline to the towel card policy are two signs that we have a management/security problem.

This whole "Local Use" issue isn't just at the resort in question. Living on Kauai I see and hear about it at many of the resorts. There seems to be this "Don't upset the locals" attitude throughout the islands. Additionally most managers and supervisors of employees don't do either (manage or supervise) and just go with the flow.

I agree with other posters that the practice is wrong when it impacts owners and authorized exchange guests.