Hawaii Tourism Authority reorganizes as politicians contemplate its destiny

Mahalo for helping Honolulu Star Advertiser. Have fun with this free story!

The Hawaii Tourism Authority cut two high-profile positions as part of a reorganization that emphasizes destination management at a time when politics is about to decide the fate of the ailing agency.

Kalani Kaanaana was promoted to Chief Brand Officer on July 1. Kaanaana, who joined HTA in 2016, was previously the director of Hawaiian Cultural Affairs and Natural Resources and is a highly respected member of the Hawaiian community.

At the same time, HTA cut the jobs for the experienced hotel specialist Pattie Herman and the long-time television presenter Marisa Yamane. Herman served as HTA Vice President Marketing and Product Development since December 2019. Yamane, who left KHON2 to join HTA in May 2019, was director of communications and public relations. Both women were recruited by former HTA President and CEO Chris Tatum, a 40-year veteran of the hospitality industry who retired in late August.

HTA President and CEO John De Fries, who joined HTA in September, is the first native Hawaiian to lead the agency.

De Fries explained the changes in an email to the Honolulu Star Advertiser: “As HTA becomes a more effective destination management organization, prioritizing our community and focusing on regenerative tourism, we are reorganizing our structure and operations, so that we can more effectively meet the needs and goals set out in our strategic plan 2020-25. “

The reorganization of the HTA comes with the growing dissatisfaction among both residents and visitors, which leads to legislative criticism of the agency. It also comes that Hawaii lawmakers will meet today to consider veto overrides – including House Bill 862, a measure related to HTA.

HB 862, which Governor David Ige said he could veto, would make functional changes to the Hawaii Tourism Authority and remove the distribution of the temporary lodging tax to the agency as well as individual counties.

The move, which was passed in an 11-hour gut-and-replace action this legislature, was aimed at eliminating the county’s $ 103 million annual share of temporary lodging tax or hotel tax revenue. Instead of sending the money to the counties, the state would keep it. However, the counties would be empowered to enforce their own TAT increases by 3 percentage points.

The changes described in HB 862 would also take away the dedicated tax funding for temporary housing that the HTA has had since its inception. The bill replaced HTA’s normal annual TAT payout of $ 79 million with $ 60 million in funding from this year’s American Rescue Plan Act. The bill would remove HTA’s procurement exemption, a move that HTA would have required government approval for all future contracts and purchases.

Ige said he was concerned that the “funding and functional changes” in HB 862 “would seriously affect the shift from HTA to destination management”.

By adding HB 862 to their possible repeal list on Friday, lawmakers signaled that they expect to have enough votes for a repeal that requires a two-thirds majority in the House and Senate.

Still, reorganizing the HTA could increase uncertainty by shaking supporters on both sides.

The reorganization could appease some legislators who wanted more destination management from HTA. However, it could unsettle other lawmakers, especially some senators, who proposed wording in law earlier this year’s session that would have re-focused HTA on marketing and branding.

Some see the reorganization as a continuation of the twist towards destination management that emerged from the turmoil of 2018, when lawmakers proposed a bill to cut HTA’s marketing budget by $ 30 million and use the funds to offset the impact of tourism wanted.

However, some see the current changes as a knee-jerk reaction and are skeptical that HTA will ensure that targeted marketing to more affluent visitors remains a part of destination management.

Celebrities in the Hawaiian visitor industry are still working to get Ige the support he needs to have the measure lifted. You only need a majority of one chamber – either 18 MPs or nine senators – to approve them.

However, some of them are now torn.

A majority agrees that the state should not authorize counties to raise TAT taxes at a time when tourism is recovering. However, some are suspicious of HTA’s abrupt decision to eliminate its marketing and communications specialists during a pandemic when educating residents and visitors is vital to the recovery of tourism.

Keith Vieira, director of KV & Associates, Hospitality Consulting and an original HTA board member, said HTA should have been much more open about its intentions with the visitor industry.

“It’s scary that everyone went through everything to keep HTA up, which was the right thing, and now they’re going to stamp it out,” said Vieira. “Why do we care for it?”

Waikiki Improvement Association president Rick Egged was more comfortable with the changes.

“I’ve always firmly believed that managing our destination is just as important as the marketing component,” said Egged. “We have to focus on doing the marketing that makes sense for us as a destination. I think it’s an accent change, not an elimination. “

The changes, approved during a long executive session, were not made public by the HTA, which came under fire from some lawmakers during the last term for a perceived lack of transparency and accountability.

At the head of the reorganization of HTA is Anna Elento-Sneed of the law firm ES&A Inc., which has received a sole contract from HTA for 80,000 US dollars.

De Fries emailed the Star Advertiser that “the 21027 contract was due to the complex nature of the change management strategy set out in Hawaii Tourism Authority Resolution No. 2021-2-1 as approved by the HTA- Board approved, described, awarded alone. the short time to get this job done and because the contractor is uniquely qualified for the required tasks due to Anna Elento-Sneed’s previous work on the first major reorganization of HTA in 2009. “

De Fries said the contract will run for seven months, during which specialists “will help develop training and coaching programs for employees to acquire and maintain the skills HTA needs to run a more effective destination management organization and achieve our overall goal of Malama ”. Kuu Home (taking care of my beloved home) through regenerative tourism. “

During a June 11 retreat by the HTA board and staff in connection with the reorganization, Elento-Sneed said of the state legislature, “You sent a giant missile over your bow that has a timer.”

HTA expects to replace Yamane’s previous job with a position called the Public Affairs Officer, which the organization said would take on a more strategic communications role, with an emphasis on government relations, media communications, problem management, corporate and social responsibility, and information dissemination.

HTA has announced that it will begin recruiting the Public Affairs Officer soon. De Fries said, however, that the job of chief brand officer was not advertised as it was directly inspired by Kaanaana’s “commitment to the regenerative tourism model”.

“His knowledge of government systems of government and his experience of working with our global marketing team are important skills that he will use to support the components proposed in HTA’s change management plan,” said De Fries. “As a Hawaiian cultural practitioner and native speaker, his awareness and respect for our natural environment shapes HTA’s approach to destination management and administration. Kalani is a rare talent who has earned the respect of his peers and a variety of community leaders across our state. “

De Fries said HTA is also moving employees to new cross-functional teams who will work with Kaanaana on brand management and regenerative tourism.

“These and other changes that we hope will implement will allow HTA to do the destination management work that Hawaiians rely on.”

De Fries said HTA had 25 authorized entities as of July 1, up from 32 before the fiscal year began. De Fries said this year’s legislature had moved seven posts from HTA to the research division of the Ministry of Economy, Economic Development and Tourism.

De Fries said that HTA is expected to have 18 positions by the end of July, provided the seven positions remain vacant.

De Fries said the annual salaries of the 25 approved positions prior to the reorganization were $ 2,271,972. Annual salaries after the reorganization total US $ 2,152,620.

“This represents a total saving of $ 119,352, in part due to voluntary cuts in salaries of three senior executives to support the reorganization plan totaling approximately $ 36,500,” he said.