This article originally appeared in the January 6, 2012 edition of Examiner.com.
Steve Pike
The Grand Wailea resort on Maui is known for its charitable giving and guest amenities
The official Season of Giving has just been completed but at Grand Wailea resort the season never ends. The stunning 40-acre resort on Maui’s southwest shore is a prime example of how a business gives back to the community. It’s certainly not alone in its charitable giving on Maui, but no business is more committed and no business leader is more committed than Grand Wailea Managing Director Matt Bailey.
You could say that Bailey has flipped his wig over the resort’s community support effort, but actually he shaved his head. That’s what happened last year when the resort – perhaps the most beautiful on Maui – raised approximately $50,000 for the annual Industry Visitor Charity Walk. Through methods such as selling cupcakes, karate lessons and pledges, the $50,000 was the most the resort ever raised for the Walk. Bailey’s personal pledge? To shave his head if the resort surpassed its previous record of $32,000.
“It probably took away 20 minutes,” Bailey said.
The Walk, which will be held again this May, is just one of the ways Grand Wailea gives back to the community. Along with Pyramid Management, the resort recently opened a 4,000 square-foot community playground in South Maui.
“The ability to give back to the community where you do business is very important,” Bailey said. “We’re the largest private employer in Maui County, so we’re a very visible entity. That makes it even more incumbent on us to be generous in our community.”
And beyond the Wailea community. Bailey said Grand Wailea, which features 780 guestrooms and the great Wailea Canyon Activity Pool that has nine separate pools, seven waterslides, waterfalls, caves, white water rapids, grottos, whirlpool and sauna, receives between 30 and 50 charitable donation requests per week.
“They (requests) come from all over the country looking for room nights and other things,” Bailey said. “We probably donate on aggregate 1.5 million in like-kind foundations per year. That’s pretty typical. Certain hotels here on Maui tend to be attractive to certain charity organizations.”
To say nothing of the thousands of tourists that flock to Maui each year, many of whom stay at Grand Wailea. The resort is more than just another beach hotel, it’s a destination unto itself, featuring not only the Canyon Activity Pool (great to walk through at night) but the Spa Grande with 40 treatment rooms, a high-end shopping area, and seven restaurants, including “Humuhumunukunukuapua’a,” a floating seafood restaurant named after Hawaii’s official state fish. Known as Humu Humu, the restaurant is composed of a cluster of thatch-roof Polynesian huts. Its calling card is that guests can select their own lobster from its lagoon.
A grand experience indeed.
