PRINCEVILLE — A month after Hanalei Bay Resort furloughed roughly 40 employees, the company says it is on its way to rectifying the cash shortage that led to Nov. 6 layoffs. According to General Manager Jim Braman, the resort’s management
PRINCEVILLE — A month after Hanalei Bay Resort furloughed roughly 40 employees, the company says it is on its way to rectifying the cash shortage that led to Nov. 6 layoffs.
According to General Manager Jim Braman, the resort’s management company, Quintus Resorts LLC, has obtained a loan to pay for services that it was unable to fund.
Braman said Tuesday that Quintus should be current with its bills and vendors within four to six weeks. He added that furloughed employees, with the exception of Bali Hai restaurant staff, will likely be brought back at that time.
Bali Hai was scheduled to close for renovations toward the end of the year, but the cash shortfall meant the doors were shut earlier than expected, Braman said. While upgrades to the restaurant are still planned, it will remain closed in the interim.
According to Braman, the furlough had more to do with Illinois-based Quintus than with Hanalei Bay Resort itself. Quintus manages the 134-unit resort in Princeville, and it owns and operates the Bali Hai as well as the Happy Talk lounge on-site as a separate business entity.
Braman said Quintus had been covering the costs of front desk and bell services, which historically were not in the resort’s budget. In May Quintus agreed to take out a loan to fund those costs through the end of the year and to include them in the resort’s budget for 2008 to avoid a repeat situation.
“We believed from that point it was taken care of,” Braman said.
It was not until the loan was denied on Nov. 1 that the issue resurfaced. Braman was notified the next day, and employees were furloughed on Nov. 6. Quintus cut from its payroll mostly restaurant and a few maintenance and communications staff.
Other departments of resort employees were not affected.
All furloughed employees were referred to Kaua‘i’s state unemployment insurance office, which Braman praised as having been very helpful.
Currently the resort is still fully functioning, with the exception of the restaurant.
• Blake Jones, business writer/assistant editor, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or bjones@kauaipubco.com.
