 Aloha, and welcome to Business in Hawaii with Reg Baker. We're a show that broadcasts live every Thursday at 2 o'clock here in the Think Tech Studios and beautiful downtown Haluulu and the Pioneer Plaza. Today we are very lucky to have one of the premier tenants of the Pioneer Plaza, the Plaza Club, with us today, and they're going to be sharing their story and tell us a little bit about the Plaza Club or maybe a whole lot about the Plaza Club. I've got Kelly Shantani, who is the Director of Membership, and she brought a few of her associates with her, and we're going to have a good time learning everything that needs to be known about the Plaza Club. So Kelly, welcome to the show. Thank you for having us. Would you do me the honor and introduce yourself a little bit and your associates? So I'm Kelly. I'm the Director of Membership at the Plaza Club. I have all membership inquiries, you know, recruitment, all of that stuff. And with me I have Delcey Sanders right here, and then Yanis Lealoha, they're from our banquet and catering department. All right, very good. And Delcey, you've been with the Plaza Club for quite a while. I have been with the Plaza Club for the last 12 years. 12 years? Yes, and enjoying every minute of it. Very good. And liking and loving it and, you know, just helping people. And you've been, more recent, you're the newest member in the team here, right? Yes, I am. I've been with the Plaza Club for about five months now. Yes, and I'm really enjoying it a lot. I'm learning a lot. Very good. And they seem to like me. So that's a good thing. All right, well that's a good sign. That's a very good sign. Kelly, why don't you, why don't we start with you? Why don't you give us a little bit of a flavor of your background? I mean, are you a local girl? You born and raised here? Born and raised in Hawaii, yes. Born and raised, I'm actually from Pearl City. Very good. So the traffic. Oh, yeah. But I went to Roosevelt High School and then I graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Shidler College of Business. Very good. International Business and Marketing. Super. International. Yes, international. Well, this is the city for it. Yes, it is. All right, and you started with the Plaza Club right after graduation? Yes. So, lucky enough, I found the Plaza Club. I was actually the Executive Assistant to the GM. And then slowly I came into this, the role of the Director of Membership. Director of Membership. And you like it. I love it. You meet a lot of people. I do. I do, yes. That's right. You've been one of them, of course. Well, as a matter of fact, I should, full disclosure, I should mention that I am on the board of the Plaza Club and have been for the last couple of years, and so I get to know a lot of the people over there, and I've been a member for quite some time. I'm going to guess in total maybe 15 years or so. And so I know quite a bit about the Plaza Club, and I'm a big fan and supporter. So, you know, I'm going to do a testimonial that this is definitely an organization you need to take a look at, and I think after we find out more from our guests today, I think everybody's going to probably want to join. We hope so. All right. So, why don't we, you know, your background, you've been in Hawaii a long time? Yeah, well, yes, I'm originally from the Philippines, and when I came to the mainland to go to college, I went to Cornell Hotel School. Wow. And from there, I worked in several hotels, most of them with Starwood. Very good. And came to Hawaii and worked at the Shard and Waikiki. Ah, and then you joined the... And then I joined the Plaza Club in 2004. And I believe one of your former bosses is also at the Plaza Club? Yes. The former boss, Mr. Ha, it was the general manager when I was working there, and now he's with us, lucky us, at the Plaza Club. Very good. And Randy has been the general manager of the Plaza Club for, what, a couple years? About two, two and a half years. Two years ago? Right. Yeah. So I guess it's bringing a lot of good people with them. That's good. Well, actually, you were already there when you... She brought him. Yeah. You brought him home. All right. That's good. And what is your role at the Plaza Club? My role is the events coordinator. I'm actually the director of private events. I do mostly meetings, conferences, so business events at the Plaza Club, mostly for the business people. And there's a lot of them. Yes, definitely, yes. Yeah. I know that it seems like almost every morning there's something going on and... Which is good for us. It is. It's a very... The location is good. One thing that you learn most in most of the hotel school is location, location, location. This is a prime location. It's within walking distance from all the businesses around us. And it's very convenient for a lot of them. It is. And I can attest to that because I go to a lot of these events. And you're an assistant. You work in the events area too, right? Yes. I'm the private event sales manager, but I do the social side. Oh. Events and other private events, like birthday parties or anniversaries or those types of social events. Right. So those are maybe not the business side. They're the not-business side. It's more of the fun side. I didn't want to think that, but yes, you're right. The party side of it. All right. There you go. Yes. Very good. And you've been doing this for about five, six months, and you're really enjoying it. Yes. And this is interesting. And make sure I understand. In order to have a wedding event or some sort of social event at the Plaza Club, do you have to be a member? No. We're open to the public. See? And that's a message that I wanted to make sure that we sent out, is that, you know, the Plaza Club, and if there are viewers that have not actually seen the Plaza Club or been there, they should take a view of it and take a look at and see what the view of the Plaza Club is like. I mean, it's beautiful city lights. Right. It's a great place to have some nice events. Well, a lot of people don't realize, too, is that we actually have two floors that you can host events. Right. That's right. And that, why don't you just explain what those two floors are like? Is it 20th and the 21st, right? Yes. The 20th floor has an open, well, many banquet rooms. One of them is the largest. It can be broken up into three rooms. Is that correct, Dulcy? Mm-hmm. And so we do a lot of our weddings in the Crown Cornette room. Right. And then they've got the private, I'll call them private rooms, but there are like the board room and some of the smaller rooms. Well, yes. And the Plaza Club has these facilities which are very flexible. It's like a blank canvas. And you can basically have a meeting for five people to 200 people. Wow. And in terms of flexibility, we have that. We can switch the rooms around. We can put walls. We can, you know, almost like magic. Pretty much customized in any way that they need to be customized. Right. And you've got, naturally, a kitchen right there in the club. So the catering is all done there? Catering is done. And we make it very convenient. So what we do is when we, for example, when we have an event, we sort of tailor it to a lot of our customers or members. And so we first ask them what the demographic is. Are they there for the meeting alone, or is it an instructional meeting, or is it more of a networking? And then we tailor that to the event that they're having. That includes the food, the drinks, and everything else. So it's almost like, you know, I mean, you've been doing this for so long, you know, you know, the formula and how to make it all work. And sometimes people who need to have these events maybe don't do them very often. So you're able to share that experience that you have with them. And that's what we do most of the time we do this. And we sort of give them, we walk through the whole thing with them, and we give them some guidelines, and we give them some pointers, and we give them, you know, we tell them this is going to work, this is not going to work, and this is what's best for you. That's great. And this, you know, like the fun side of it, I mean, the business side of it, do you have to be a member to have those events done as well? It would help. It would help. Most of the time, members are sponsoring the events, but, and some of them are pretty good about, you know, getting some sponsors. But if they really don't, if they really want to come to our club and, and don't have any access to any members, we would help them. Okay. So you might, you know, be able to work with them a little bit, maybe even find a member that'd be willing to kind of sponsor them in. Right. That's, that's a great facility. Now, you know, Kelly, tell us a little bit about the membership. You know, what would be your ideal prototype of a member? Or is there one? I'll use you as an example again. Well, we don't have really an ideal member, but we, the people that tend to like to come to the club and our members at the club tend to be in the downtown area. It's an walking distance, you know, it's convenient for their clients as well as for them. They can just walk right over. So we have a couple, we have a number of different categories. We actually cater to the military, so former, current military. We also have a young professional rate. And it's funny, we like to always say, once a young professional, always a young professional, which people tend to like. But basically you join into the young professional rate, you start early, and then you always get that rate for as long as you're a member with us. Oh, wow. What's the definition of a young professional? Under the age of 41. 41. Okay. Very good. And so in the military too, that is, that's a special rate too, isn't it? That is, yes. $120 a month. And then it includes spouse privileges. It includes our beautiful facility upstairs, which is the member floor. And that goes for all of our, all of our categories as well. So we have our complimentary coffee and tea all day. They can come bring their clients and, you know, enjoy a little breakfast. They can come in for our lunch, which is our most popular time. As you can tell, the misoyaki butterfish is everyone's favorite. Oh, that's mine. Yeah. We also have our chopped up salad bar, our weekly Friday buffet, lunch specials, a whole set of different things. Yeah. And, you know, I guess, do you have pictures on the website? Now what is the website for the Plaza Club? It's theplasaclub.com. Okay. Plasaclub.com. Are there pictures of the club on the website? Yes. So there's pictures of all of our different rooms, the 21st floor, and even some from like weddings and social events, just so they can kind of get an idea of what everything looks like, how they can do their events, things like that. Well, I'm going to recommend to the audience that if they have a chance to go look at those pictures, get familiar with the club. And if they are, like myself, a veteran, if you've got that military background, $120 a month is a deal. I mean, you can't find anything like that anywhere. You know, speaking as a CPA, it's got great value. And also what's really great, too, is besides just the club itself, which is beautiful and a great facility, we also have what we call preferred partnerships and reciprocal benefits. So say you're traveling a lot to the U.S. or you're traveling internationally as well, we have a number of different clubs that we're affiliated with. So if you need a space while you're in California, for example, then you can go up there. We'll send a letter of introduction and let them know you're headed our way. And then they can use their facilities as well. Wow. And then once that's in place, they can just reach out and make a reservation. Yes. And they can dine there. They can use the facilities. Some athletic ones. Some have golf. Very good. Wow. Very good, too. Very good. And there's, is the directory of these reciprocal clubs on the website? Yes. So we do have a member side to our website as well. So when you join, we have a member login. Just go on there. It has all of the information, all the clubs listed. Right. So for people to travel, that's going to be another little icing on the cake. Right. Right. And then, you know, the world is changing a little bit. And I'm, I like to think of myself as part of that change. And people are moving into the virtual world, you know. And, you know, I did have offices and I did have an office downtown for many years. But I am now in that virtual world where I've got computers and I've got all my equipment and printers and files and everything in my home. And I'll work there most of the time. But then there are some times where I have to come into town and meet with clients. And that's what makes the Plaza Club so attractive to me is that I can come down, I can park in the building, I can have my meetings, I got my coffee, I've got that office, the business office, you know, the business center, you know, it makes it very convenient to come down and meet with clients. And I'm seeing that as a growing way of doing business. Yes. Are you seeing that as well? Yeah, we see that as well. A lot of our members come up like early in the morning, they come, spread all of their files out, they kind of, you know, do some work, get it done before, after meeting with people and then they're on their way. Yeah, that's very good. I've seen a number of those people too. And it's like that, pretty much during the day, there are people coming and going all the time, you know, they're using that coffee area, the business center, and they're all the way up until the Palhalla time, you know, which is also another nice little network. Which is always everyone's favorite time, I think. Well, and they've got live music occasionally or is that on Fridays? We have first Fridays is when we feature live music. So we have that, and then that was actually open to the public, which a lot of people don't know. But we have some appetizer specials, some drink specials, wines by the glass, et cetera. And parking's free after five, so why not just kind of stop on in after work? It's a perfect place. Very good. Well, you know, we're going to get a little bit more into the details here shortly, but we've got to take a break. You know, we're going to be gone for just one minute, but we'll be right back. We're going to be talking about the Plaza Club and what type of really super value that that offers to the business community in Hawaii. We'll be right back. Aloha, I'm Chantel Seville, host of the Savvy Chick Show on Think Tech, Hawaii. This show is for you. It's all about inspiring and empowering girls of the future to do what they love, get out there and be healthy, fit and confident. If you're up for that, 11 a.m. Every Wednesday, I'll see you there. Hey, you stand the energy man here. I know you're bored this summer. You're just sitting at home, figuring out what to do, go to the beach. Spend some time with Think Tech, Hawaii. Spend the time thinking about how you can contribute to Hawaii and make it a better place to live. And start watching some of the programs on Think Tech, including Stand the Energy Man. Well, you'll learn all about everything energy, especially hydrogen and transportation. So we'll see you every Friday at 12 o'clock noon, Stand the Energy Man here on Think Tech, Hawaii. Aloha. Aloha, everyone. I'm Maria Mera and I'm here to invite you to my bilingual show, Viva Hawaii, every other Monday at 3 p.m. We are here to show you news, issues and events, local and around the world. Join me. Welcome back. This is Reg Baker, business in Hawaii. I've got the Plaza Club here today. We've been talking about what kind of a great value the Plaza Club offers the community here in Hawaii. And one interesting point is that, to take advantage of some of the perks at the Plaza Club, you don't necessarily have to be a member. There's ways that they can accommodate you if you want to have a social event at the Plaza Club. And they also have First Fridays, which is open to the public, which is always a well-attended event every First Friday. Now, while we were on break, we had a special delivery and we have one of their signature desserts here that was brought down from upstairs. And maybe Kelly, can you tell us a little bit about this? So, this is our checkerboard cake. So, basically, it's Alpija Gelato, checkerboard into a nice pattern with our chocolate cake covered in chocolate ganache. And then on the side, we have some creme anglaise to Asian vanilla creme anglaise. And I don't know if everybody can see it, but take a look at the decorations that they have put on this. It's just, it's really amazing. And this is an example of the type of quality. They've got some top-notch chefs, and I think maybe more than just one. They've got several good chefs up there that do a super job. And they have a lot of really good signature dishes, and this is one of their desserts. So, they do a great job up there. So, I assume you've all had a chance to have a little piece of this? We might have had one. Yes, yes. So, this will be all mine. Yes, yes. Okay. All right. Tell me a little bit more about the menu. Whoever is the most comfortable talking about it. Well, we have a very diverse menu, and most of it is a combination of fusion of so many, I guess, experiences and so many locations from different parts of the world. Our chefs, most of them are very, most of them or all of them are very innovative, and they make fusion cuisines like pork and double mixed with something else. I mean, it's just different. Well, and I've had the butter fish that we just talked about, and I know that the Calvary is like fall off and all into it, it's very tender, very well done. Absolutely. And for most of our meetings, we do usually have a buffet lunch, which we find is a very efficient way of feeding people and then them going back to the rooms and having their meetings. And we have them every day, and we always have two hot entrees, a salad and desserts and side dishes, and another signature item, which is the bread pudding, which is considered to be one of the best in town. And with that sauce, you can't go wrong. Yeah, they can, I guess. And it's served hot, so you can dish them out from the chafing dish, and you have it hot and creamy, and you can have it while you're having, while you're attending your meeting. Right, and the meetings, it can be a small, how many would be the minimum that you can have for one of these meetings? Five people. So five people, up to, you said 200, but that's usually an extraordinary number, but you can have anywhere from five to 15 people, and you know, 50, pretty easily. Pretty easily, yes. Very good. Do they have options as far as the menu is concerned? I mean, do they have to go through the buffet or can they order a la carte? We have, well, usually for lunch meetings, where people are usually more into having a meeting and being with their clientele, the most efficient way for us to do it is to have the buffet, but if they want something else, we can also do plated lunches, or we even have a deli buffet. So they have choices, yes. Very good, and that's what's so nice is that there's all these options available. Yes. Very good. Kelly, tell me a little bit more. There's other social events that are taking place that the members can, or even some public people can get involved in. Tell us a little bit about that. So some of our big ones, we of course do all the major ones, like we do Mother's Day, our Mother's Day brunch, we also do an Easter brunch, and then we also do Thanksgiving, which is kind of right around the corner sort of. So that's a big one. We also just, we just did last month a charity event actually for the White Parkinson's Association. We did a trips, we call it trips for charity. So it was kind of like a fun casino night. And then coming up, we have some wine dinners as well. So we're working with Southern Wines and Spirits. Now, there's a committee. Yes. Now, being on the board, I get to hear about the committee reports. And whenever the wine committee has their report, they always share with us all the different wines that they get to sample. And then they pick the best ones that the club is going to kind of have in inventory. Right, right. And that's a committee that seems to have a whole lot of fun. They do. They always have a good time. So we actually have a couple of committees. So we have, I mean, is the wine committee, which you mentioned, and we also have a young professional committee as well. So they kind of help with putting on some of the events at the club. Ian and Kalani are so much fun to work with. They do their bahanas and things like that. Very good. Yeah, they seem to have a lot of energy. Oh yeah. Yeah. I used to have that kind of energy. No, but it's a great group of people. And I guess, without disclosing anything that's proprietary, roughly how many members are in the Plaza Club, do you? We have just about 800 members or so. 800 members. So that's a pretty good group of people. It is a pretty good group. And a lot of them come from all types of backgrounds and experience and there's attorneys, there's other business people, there's even retired individuals. There's a lot of different groups over there, which makes for interesting networking opportunities. Yes, yeah. I mean, the people, I mean, I'm probably just to meet all of these guys and kind of talk and pick their brain for some info and stuff. But yeah, we have a wide range of members from all over, well-traveled people, business people right in downtown Honolulu. We also have some non-resident members as well from the US mainland, even Hong Kong, Japan all over. So it's a nice mix of people. Well, and it would be a nice fit for some of the neighbor island individuals too, because if they've got businesses in Honolulu or on Oahu and they need to come into town, once or twice a month to take care of business, this provides a comfortable meeting place for them to do that. Right, right, exactly. Yeah, do you have a lot of that? We're trying to build that right now actually, trying to reach out a little bit more. We actually will be releasing a special rate for the outer islands. So we're kind of working on different networks for that, but that's exciting. That's coming soon. Very good. Well, maybe when you get ready to launch that and make that announcement, let me know. Maybe we can have you on the show. Bring another piece of cake in. Yeah, well, we'll have to have a different kind. Oh, you can have the granny apple pie. Oh, that was another one of my favorites. That's another signature one. Next time. Yeah, that's right. Well, this will motivate me to keep having you guys come back. Matter of fact, next time you need to bring some of the big shots with you because they seem to be a little camera shy. I agree, I agree, very good. So what do you, and I'll ask each one of you, what do you see as the most exciting or valuable part of the Plaza Club? I think the most valuable part of the Plaza Club is just being around people that these are presidents of companies. They're like self-made people, lawyers, well-accomplished people, and it's just kind of, it's just a nice place for all kinds of minds to kind of meld and kind of go off each other, make friends, and network, and it's just a nice place. And because of my role in helping and advising different companies, one of the messages that I try to send to people is that you can't have all the answers yourself. You have to surround yourself with good people who have good experience that are willing to share and help. And developing that call it advisory board or whatever you want to call it, but having that little whee of people around you that you can tap into and ask some questions is invaluable. And this sounds like the perfect place to do that. It is, yes, absolutely. Now, what do you see so great about the Plaza Club? In addition to what she's saying, we're the fun people, so we'd like to hear. That's the full side of the table, huh? That's serious. Well, when she's doing things for the members and having some events, we're the ones that are planning and making the fun part of it. And one of the events that was coming up pretty soon is the Affair of the Vine, where we have so many wine vendors come in and they exhibit their wines and they have a tasting and we have people coming in, we provide the food and people mull around, they network, they taste the wine and it gets to be a really fun evening. Wow. Yes. And that's coming up soon? It's coming up in October, next month, right? Yes. October 20th, I think. Coming pretty quick then. Now, and we're gonna go one more over, but before we get there, all of these events and everything, there's a calendar or something, isn't there on the website? Yes, all of the info is on the calendar. I usually, I update it daily. So it has all of our mixed paper phase. It has upcoming events to the public and everything. So all the events that we're talking about the first Friday, now it's hard to remember when first Fridays are, but all the other events that would be on the calendar and so somebody could go to that website, which is the... The PlazaClub.com, yes, it's all on there. And see the calendar, very good. And last but not least, what do you think? And you've got five months, you know, you're still here. I know, so... There's a lot of great things about The Plaza Club, but I think the, we have a great team. And the people that work here are fantastic. I've worked a lot of places and teamwork and caring for each other makes it a lot of fun to work here. And you can never undervalue that. You know, having a great team that's working together to put together, whether it be an event or a menu or a social activity. I mean, having that aloha all there working together makes a big difference, you know, very good. Well, it was certainly a pleasure to have you all here. Thank you, thank you. We didn't get any call in numbers or anything, but I believe there were some people that said they were going to be watching. Oh, yes. So if anybody from The Plaza Club is watching, aloha. And we appreciate you being here. This is a business in Hawaii with Reg Baker. We air every Thursday at two o'clock from two to two 30 at Think Tech Studios Hawaii. You can catch us live on ThinkTechHawaii.com. Hope to see you next week. Until then, aloha. No, thank you. Thank you.