Floiran Riedel in his office.

Florian Riedel has a new job. A job he has thought about and wanted for quite awhile. Florian always wanted to be in the hospitality industry. Born and raised in Munich, Germany, he studied hotel management in the Black Forest, graduating in 1996 and going to work for the Four Seasons in London. He was a busboy, but not for long.

Florian quickly moved up the ladder in the Four Seasons structure. After five years in London he went to San Diego, working at Aviara. Then on to Berlin. Florian took time off after working in Berlin to try putting his passion and love into his own business; he and his wife, Wendy, opened a small restaurant in Montalcino, Tuscany, called Poggio. For a year and a half Florian was the chef while Wendy handled the front of the house, but when Four Seasons contacted him and asked if he would return to the company, Florian didn’t have to think long: the fact that he’d only had four (that’s right—four!) days off in the 18 months he’d been running Poggio made the decision simple.

Leaving Italy he took a management job in Exuma, where he stayed for four years before moving back to Aviara, where this time he was in charge of the resort’s time-share residences.

It was then that he met Dean Hyry, who quickly became Florian’s mentor. Dean was heading up the residence program of Four Seasons worldwide. Born and raised in Hilo, Dean kept telling Florian about how wonderful the Big Island was and that the Hualalai residential resort was unique and highly complex.   It was then that Florian started thinking about coming to Hualalai. In fact, more than four years ago Dean told Florian a merger might occur between the residential program at Hualalai and the Hotel program. Florian kept that in mind and when the Director of Operations at the Four Seasons Hualalai position became available, Florian jumped at the chance to move to the Big Island.   But before he arrived he had already been involved in opening or overseeing the Four Seasons Residences in Beijing, San Francisco, Seattle, Nevis and, of course, Aviara.

Thus, four years ago Florian became the Director of Operations for the hotel, and when the decision made by Patrick Fitzgerald and Robert Whitfield to merge both entities started to become a reality, Florian was thrilled to move into the position to make that happen.

Just a week or two ago he moved his office from the hotel to the Administration building, where he is now fully invested in running our resort program and club.

When asked what he saw his role as for the Hualalai Resort Florian said that he understands that those of us who have bought into Hualalai feel a deep connection to the community, to the place, and to the lifestyle, and he sees his role as protecting those connections and making Hualalai “as good as it can be”.

The resort and the hotel are still finalizing the merger. The official date of the merger will be January 1, 2015, when most of the resort employees become Four Seasons Employees. Management has spent years getting to this point, first combining back-of-the-house services and now bringing the front of the house staff under the Four Seasons wing. Florian said that the employees would remain with the departments and venues where they usually work, so we probably will not be seeing much change with the individuals we deal with on a daily basis. He also added that you may spot an employee filling out their hours at the hotel and/or at catered events, especially when it is slow on the residential side.

Florian said that the culinary team of the resort will include the Hualalai Resort Outlets, so now Ke ‘Olu, The Canoe Club, The Resident’s Beach House and the Grill will be under the Executive Chef, Massimo Falsini.

I asked Florian what we could expect to see in the immediate future. He has already met with the Members Advisory Board a number of times and has also been in a number of meetings with staff and has begun trying in earnest to meet as many members as possible. He has attended a number of the Manager’s Receptions on Monday night (aka the Monday Night Mooch). “Right now I’m trying to get as much feedback as I can from everybody, members and staff. I’ve been through the member’s survey and I’ve started to prioritize some changes to meet the needs of the members.” He said that we would see some minor changes beginning right away; e.g., to support better communication he will be sending out emails every month to members explaining some of the issues he and the resort are working on, changes that are being contemplated, etc. Further, Patrick Fitzgerald will issue a quarterly report of the “State of the Resort”. Florian also said that he wants to set up some time during Festive just to meet members; maybe a coffee with Florian at Ke ‘Olu or the Canoe Club—time to chat and get to know him as he gets to know you. He will let you know where and when.

Florian explained that his approach to operations is to take a small number of projects, work hard on them until they succeed, and then go on to other projects. “I’m not the kind of person that will try to do a dozen things only to discover I’ve spread myself too thin.” His first priority is Ke ‘Olu. Florian feels that the experience at Ke ‘Olu has to improve. “I very much appreciate everything our current employees do there now and I love the place.” With the Culinary Team and Training Team he feels Ke ‘Olu can be become a very popular outlet. He wants to improve the service at the pool, and provide more attentive and personalized service through out the facility, including the golf experience. “Our members can look forward to new menu items and a number of other changes in the first quarter of the year. “I want Ke ‘Olu to be the place where members want to go and have fun,” Florian said. “I’ll be reaching out to members to help me make this happen.”

Florian and his wife, Wendy, live in Waimea with their pooch, Pucci. He loves to cook and they both enjoy outdoor activities, especially hiking and doing triathlons. Florian likes to golf, but he claims he isn’t good at it. (Happy Hundreds material?) He does get out on the course with Wendy, but only because she insists, confident she will beat him every time.

Florian wants everyone to know that he will be reaching out to hear your concerns and suggestions over the next month or so. Do not be shy, he’s ready and rarin’ to go.