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THE GIFT
of HOʻOKIPA

HERITAGE

THE GIFT of HOʻOKIPA

Kona Village Resort, with the original tagline of Hawaii’s Favorite Hideaway, was an endeared getaway for many decades, with guests that would religiously frequent at least once or twice a year. The lo-fi, casual island simplicity of the resort was coupled with a rare familial tie between staff and guests established through profound warmth of local hoʻokipa (hospitality of complete giving).

Aunti Lei, a beloved former Kona Village associate and current cultural advisor, is an integral thread in the resort’s identity, weaving together past and present and ensuring the old ways – the timeless and uniquely Hawaiian perspectives – are preserved for future guests.

What is your name and what is your connection to Kona Village?

My name is Carol Leina'ala Keakealani Lightner, aka Aunti Lei. My connection to this place goes back for generations. I was an employee at the resort from 1972. I worked in the dining room, and then I was with the children’s program. But my literal connection to this place is ancestral.

This is the birthplace of my father in 1916, as well as his mother, Grandma Keola. Hawai’i was already a territory, and we're talking about the late 1800s when they were living here. This was a fishing village and they were literally living their culture. Their livelihood was based on the ocean.

What was the original Kona Village Resort like?

Hawai’i became a hub of tourism by the sixties, and this was a paradise where you flew in on a plane. The plane would be coming, as that was the only way into the resort, and everybody would say “Oh, here comes the arrival!” Aunty Eleanor would be waiting right there with a lei, a Mai Tai in hand and saying, “Aloha, welcome to Kona Village.” As guests would get off the plane, they knew they entered a special place. You could just feel the energy that was so unique in this place.

What is so special about Hawaiian hospitality?

Ho’okipa has been defined as hospitality, but hospitality and service, these are just words. When we talk about aloha, it's a feeling. And feelings are expressed by gestures, facial expressions, a hug; they feel the energy, they feel the connection between you. When you come home to where my father and my grandma were born, this is home for me. So I want you to take off your shoes and feel at home. How are you going to feel at home? You have to understand what this place is like.

You're going to learn that this is how you have to behave when you're going to go into the petroglyphs field, a sense of respect. This is how you feel when you go into the ocean, joy. You just feel the power of the water. You have that reverence, you have that respect. And all of this is part of hospitality. Ho’okipa is really a mindset on how to respond, how to interact, to be able to perceive someone; it's going to be a more heartfelt connection. And when you connect again, that hospitality, or ho’okipa, is defined. And Kona Village was that.

“YOU COULD
JUST FEEL THE
ENERGY THAT
WAS SO UNIQUE.”

—Aunti Lei

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The GIFT of
HOʻOKIPA

Bask in the warmth and wisdom of Aunti Lei, a lineal descendant and beloved former Kona Village associate who shares the unique perspective that sets Hawaiian hospitality apart.

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