When Doug Rigoni took a job as a banquet houseman the summer after he graduated high school, he didn’t expect to use the experience as a stepping stone toward a long career in the hospitality industry. Now president and CEO of Coast Hospitality, Rigoni has turned his focus to expanding the management company’s reach along the West Coast and in Hawaii.
Coast Hospitality began to take shape in the United States during the 1980s with the creation of WestCoast Hotels in Seattle. In 2003, that company became the U.S. franchisor of the Coast brand, joining its sister company of the same name in Canada. Coast’s three branches—management, franchise, and ownership—allow the company to pursue different opportunities. “Hospitality is the main umbrella,” Rigoni explains. “And we have really aimed to cover all facets of the hospitality business.”
Rigoni’s involvement with Coast Hospitality started in August of 1992 as food and beverage director of the River Place Hotel in Portland, Ore. “While I was working there, Coast picked up the management contract for that hotel,” he recalls. Over the next 23 years, Rigoni climbed the Coast ladder, gaining experience in the company’s various branches before becoming CEO in 2015.
Coast Hospitality’s focus on the West Coast and Hawaii was born from the company’s Seattle home, which, coupled with Rigoni’s insider knowledge of the area, has allowed for significant growth. Most recently, Coast has focused specifically on expanding in Hawaii. They hired a new director of development who resides in Hawaii to assist in this process. Rigoni described Coast’s aspirations for the islands as “expanding from within,” because the inspiration behind these moves was a property already in Coast’s portfolio—the Waimea Plantation, a nontraditional hotel comprised of 61 cottages on the island of Kauai, at the foot of the Waimea Canyon. Coast began managing the property in July of 2014, before taking it over completely in 2015.
According to Rigoni, the cottages represent an emerging market in Hawaii, one that caters to a more discerning type of traveler. “Travelers are becoming more savvy and are seeking more authentic experiences. Especially in Hawaii, they might not necessarily be looking for that all-inclusive, stay-at-the-resort vacation. They want to interact with locals and really connect with the history of where they are staying,” Rigoni says. And the cottages are steeped in history—they used to house plantation workers back in the 1800s.
The property is surrounded by black sand walking beaches, where local fisherman can be seen casting their nets and bringing in local fish. At night, beach bonfires dot the shoreline. “Staying in one of the cottages can be very special for guests striving to have an authentic Hawaiian experience,” Rigoni says.
Seeing the great success of the Waimea Plantation Cottages years has inspired Coast to model future Hawaiian prospects on the property. “It’s one thing to provide a great experience, but a hotel also has to make money. There has to be a return on the investment and that’s what we’ve been able to do at Waimea,” Rigoni says.
Beyond Coast’s future projects in Hawaii, Rigoni is also eager for the company to continue expanding along the West Coast of the continental United States. “We have so many leads, there are people who need our services, everything from developers to hotel owners to a management company. And these services need to be focused on asset quality and profitability,” Rigoni comments. The area itself also presents a number of strong opportunities, if you know where to look. “We like being a regional hotel company, and we like the West Coast. We know it backward and forward and it’s a great place to be developing hospitality projects,” he adds.
