Every Guest Is Special: Providing VIP Treatment at the Polynesian Cultural Center

Special Visits Are a Common Occurrence at the PCC

More than 40 million people have visited the Polynesian Cultural Center since it opened in 1963. The long list of guests includes kings, queens, national leaders, presidents, famous actors, governors, and Latter-day Saint general authorities.

In recent years, the king and queen of Tonga spent two days at the Center, and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also visited with his family. He’s very open and personable, and always willing to shake hands with everybody, said PCC Guest Services Manager Jimmy Mapu.

All Visitors Are Special Guests

Mapu, a Hawaiʻi-born Samoan from Lāʻie who served as a missionary in Tokyo, Japan, delights Japanese visitors with his fluent language skills. He now works closely with Bobby Akoi, ensuring that not only VIP visits run smoothly but that every Polynesian Cultural Center guest enjoys a special and memorable experience.

Mapu explained, All visitors are our special guests, not just the ones on our tours or those we meet personally. Everyone who comes should be treated as special.

He shared that one student guide once told him she treats every guest like her own family: I ask myself, how would I want my family to be treated if they came here? Then I make sure to care for them that way.

I’m proud of our guide team and what they do, but I always remind them that no matter how high the guest satisfaction scores are, or how many compliments they receive, they are just the face of the total experience. The gratitude they feel is really for the entire Polynesian Cultural Center.

Giving It Our All

Mapu said that many guests may not realize the extra effort PCC employees put in behind the scenes. He recalled one instance where a Japanese visitor accidentally dropped her smartphone into the deepest part of the lagoon. Her canoe guide returned after the tour, searched through the muddy bottom with his bare feet, found the phone, and even used his own small tools and a hair dryer to repair and return it to her.

In another case, after a traffic accident on nearby Kamehameha Highway knocked out power, the Center continued operating on generators. Mapu recalled assisting guests that evening during the show:

I saw an older man walking slowly with his head down. When he reached me, he briefly looked up, showed his ticket, then looked back down. Before I could stop him, he placed his hand on my shoulder, smiled faintly, and said, ‘You people are something else.’

Mapu said he braced himself, unsure what the man meant, but then the guest continued, All day, as I walked around this place, every single person I’ve met has been smiling. There’s just something about you people. You’ve made this old man happy.

The Spirit of Aloha

Mapu added, I think this place has such a wonderful spirit of aloha that people feel it and are touched by it. Akoi agreed, saying, The Polynesian Cultural Center has the ability to make all our guests feel the aloha spirit. They often say they feel something special here. They also like how people from different cultures and countries all come together in peace and harmony.

Story and images by Mike Foley