Wendi Herring back as Kanoa Resort GM

After some time off, Wendi Herring—a former Pacific Islands Club executive—returns to the “people business” she loves, as Kanoa Resort’s new general manager.

Returning to Saipan, she said, “feels like coming home.”

Wendi Herring

Her first day as GM was Monday this week, but she is already eager to “see what’s changed” and “relearn the landscape,” after leaving the islands in 2004.

Herring replaces former GM Mark Ratliff, who has moved off island.

She looks forward to getting involved once more with the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Marianas Visitors Authority, and Saipan Chamber of Commerce.

“It is exciting getting to learn again—coming back to learn new things in the industry that I love,” she told Saipan Tribune in an interview.

What’s one of her first points of business as Kanoa Resort’s new GM? “Learn everybody’s name,” she replied.

It is hard to know where to start as a new GM, she said, but she looks forward to “listen, learn, and lead” in the coming weeks, working on some “back-of-the-house” projects, among other things.

Kanoa, she said, is also looking to renovate their main rooms soon in the future.

With its 220 rooms, Kanoa is unique, according to Herring, because it is “so easy to get around—it’s right next to the beach, it’s small, personalized,” she said.

This, she added, gives them an opportunity to really impact their quests. “I think Kanoa is such a great property and such a great location. I feel really fortunate and blessed to have the opportunity.”

Herring first arrived on island in 1989, and has since immersed herself in the hotel and hospitality industry, working also in Thailand and Guam.

Before this, she worked a sales job in San Francisco. But the job, she said, was not for her. She felt burnt out and felt like she needed some adventure. She wanted to see the world.

Luckily, a friend introduced her to a clubmate position at PIC Saipan. Herring, already an avid volleyball and softball player, took the opportunity.

“When I first got to the island I didn’t know how beautiful the island was… The first day, with jet lag, I remember sitting on the beach and thinking, ‘I can’t believe this. I’m here.’”

She wasn’t a clubmate for long, though. Herring, while a lover of sports, wanted to do more and had her eye on a management training program in her first few months on island.

After a year and a half, she joined the program, which she said had her three months in Food and Beverage, another several months in Rooms, and several weeks in Engineering, for example, where a friend and higher-up was unfortunately set on keeping her as “sort of a secretary” sitting at her desk.

But she wouldn’t have it. “I had to convince him to let me out, rake, paint,” she said.

She succeeded, calling her experience in the program an immersive and “amazing opportunity.

“You’re coming in as a new hire basically—housekeeping in public areas, working side by side with people that do it everyday. I just really enjoyed the people, how hard they worked, how much they cared.”

Then there was also working with supervisors, mangers, and observing how they led and what their responsibilities were, she said.

“It gave me such a broad scope of experience. You either love it or hate, and luckily, I loved it.”

“It provided me such appreciation of the role that everybody plays toward delivering a good guest experience. If all the pieces don’t fit properly then you get challenges. But you also learn how to address those challenges,” she said.

From clubmate, to assistant director, to executive director, and now a general manager, Herring says the essential traits of being a leader in the hospitality and hotel business is flexibility, diplomacy, and multitasking.

“Each day can present the unexpected,” she said—you have to be hard worker and not be afraid to work long hours.

But a sense of humor and fun—especially in this business—is crucial as well, she added.

“Learn to laugh and not take yourself too seriously,” she said, with a laugh herself.

For her, “the people business” is all about the team, accomplishing and working together as a team.

“When the guest leaves and you smile and say, ‘I hope you come back’—and they do—that’s the most rewarding thing,” she said.