Business

Four questions with Sri Lankan Hotelier Sanjiv Hulugalle of Mauna Lani, Hawaii

Published

6 years ago

2021/01/3

We publish an interview with Sanjiv Hulugalle, the General Manager and Vice President of Mauna Lani, Auberge Resorts Collection in Hawaii on opening his Hotel last November and the protocol that had to be adopted to meet the issues. The strategy adopted is of relevance for Sri Lanka when we are presently mapping a policy to open the country for tourism.

by Christina O’Connor Pacific Business News

When Mauna Lani, Auberge Resorts Collection reopened in January of 2020 following a $200 million redesign, Vice President and General Manager Sanjiv Hulugalle had been looking forward to welcoming guests to the revamped property.

Instead, the Hawaii Island resort was closed for most of the year, having shuttered in March due to Covid-19. Following a months-long closure, Mauna Lani reopened in November 2020.

We recently checked in with Hulugalle to chat about the reopening, current operations and his outlook for the future.

How have things been going since reopening?

We opened in early November, and we opened pretty much everything – the guest rooms including all our amenities and all of our operations, obviously with a much lower number of employees. We originally had about 600 employees, we have less than 300 employees back to work now.

We’re finding that we are doing anywhere from 30-40% occupancy on any given day. Even with the number of reservations we have, it’s better to be open than closed, because our burn rate was so much higher having it closed, from a cash-flow perspective. It has a much more positive effect on the team and the employees’ morale as well.

We actually opened [on-property restaurant] Canoe House in July, and that has been a huge success. We are doing half-capacity of what we normally did, but even with that, we now have a waiting list of about two months to get into that restaurant.

Have you noticed any new trends in what guests are looking for?

We’re seeing that people who want to travel, are not rate resistant. They want to make sure that we are following safety protocols, but they also want to make sure that we have all of our services open, including things like the Spa, the Fitness Center, Golf and Restaurants.

We are finding that our bungalows, which are like Residences, are in very high demand. Some have sold out for the holiday season. Families are looking to travel and want completely private experiences.

We have also launched a program to accommodate guests who want to continue to work and learn remotely while staying with us. We have spaces in the resort that we’ve created where guests can bring their computers and sit down to work. I saw a group of kids the other day at a long table that we set up at the south lanai of the resort, and all of them were on the computer doing [online] classes. We’re just trying to make it really fun and easy and engaging.

One of the things that we have found is that we are now providing more educational experiences to guests – doing things like our Turtle program [Malam a Honu], and teaching guests about the ecology of our surroundings around the ponds.

Tell me about some of the health and safety protocols you’ve implemented.

Our goal is to have a safe environment for all of our guests, employees and the community.

For all of our guests, when they check in, we make sure that they have a negative Covid test prior to their stay, and also all of our guests who come from the local surroundings, we do a temperature check on them at the entrance and we ask them specific [health] questions. We have taken a proactive approach to make it easy for guests to do their pre-travel testing by partnering with a company called Vault.

Guests have a lot of questions about how does it all work and what are the testing protocols. We have a pre-arrival team that is dedicated to taking care of guests’ questions on pre-arrival Covid -19 testing. We call every single guest before they come and make sure they have all of their documentation and all of that information.

We test our employees every three days – we’ll do a screening of 50 [employees] in different departments. The team member testing has given confidence to the employees, which obviously has given confidence to the guests as well.

I think the most important thing is sending reminders to guests of mask usage. All guests, when they are moving around the resort, have to wear a mask. It’s an important part of safeguarding our guests, our employees and the community, and we make sure that that happens.

We make sure that [lounge chairs and beach chairs] are socially distanced. We are also very careful in the back of house – or heart of house, as I call it – we have very strict protocols with regard to the handling of equipment and supplies coming in. At our restaurants, we continue to use gloves – for every new table we touch, we change our gloves. And we also have Sanitizer available everywhere.

How do you envision the future for the property as we move into 2021?

I think it’s going to be challenging, there is no question. It’s going to be a challenging market place, but I think there is so much pent-up demand that when we do get the vaccine in full effect and we have a lot more confidence in travel, I think things are going to come back strong. People will be a lot more conscientious about safety, but people want to travel and I think Hawaii is going to be a destination where people really want to come.

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Business

Super El Niño threatens to deepen Sri Lanka’s drought and economic woes

Published

10 hours ago

2026/09/4

Thilina Walpola

By Ifham Nizam

A potentially dangerous El Niño is gathering strength across the Pacific, with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warning that the climate event is expected to become very strong and continue into February 2027, raising the risks of drought, floods, extreme heat and major disruptions to rainfall patterns worldwide.

The warning has particular significance for Sri Lanka, where communities in several agricultural districts are already facing severe drought, depleted water sources and shrinking farm incomes.

The WMO said yesterday that forecasts from its Global Producing Centres show an “exceptionally high likelihood of nearly 100%” that El Niño will persist through February next year. The organisation said this is the first time one of its El Niño/La Niña updates has been so unequivocal, reflecting strong agreement among forecasting systems.

The event, driven by exceptionally warm waters in the tropical Pacific, is expected to strengthen further in the coming months, reach very strong intensity and peak towards the end of this year. Its climate impacts, however, are expected to continue well into 2027.

According to Meteorological Organization

Sri Lanka is already experiencing the consequences.

A Reuters report published on Wednesday from drought-affected areas said rainfall deficits of between 85% and 100% have been recorded in important farming regions including Ampara and Monaragala.

Wells, tanks, rivers and lakes have dried up, while tens of thousands of people are depending on government water deliveries, with some remote communities reportedly waiting up to 23 days for supplies.

The drought is also rapidly becoming an economic problem for rural communities. Croplands have withered, livestock operations have been affected and farmers who have lost their harvests are being forced to seek daily-paid employment to survive.

The latest WMO outlook also warns that the consequences of El Niño will not necessarily be uniform. The severity and timing of impacts in individual countries depend on geography, season and other climate drivers, including conditions in the Indian and Atlantic oceans.

For Sri Lanka, the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) will therefore be crucial. The WMO expects a positive IOD to develop, with a September-November seasonal mean of about 0.9°C. This could modify the normal influence of El Niño on rainfall over the region.

That creates another potential risk for Sri Lanka: the country may have to prepare not only for continued drought but also for episodes of intense rainfall, flooding and landslides later in the year. Climate variability increasingly means that a prolonged water shortage can be followed by sudden and destructive rainfall rather than a gradual return to normal conditions.

For Sri Lanka, the warning should therefore be viewed as an economic and national-planning issue, not simply a meteorological forecast. Agriculture, drinking water, electricity generation, food imports, public expenditure and rural livelihoods could all be affected.

Business

ABC Trade & Investment – All-China Environment Federation partner to drive Sri Lanka’s green infrastructure and investment

Published

10 hours ago

2026/09/4

Thilina Walpola

ABC Trade & Investments (Pvt) Ltd, a leading homegrown conglomerate in Sri Lanka’s ICT distribution and diversified business landscape, has formally entered into a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the All-China Environment Federation (ACEF). The partnership establishes a collaborative framework aimed at accelerating new-energy development, water management, and environmental protection projects across Sri Lanka.

The agreement bridges advanced Chinese engineering capabilities, equipment, technical expertise, and investment resources with ABC Trade & Investments’ local operational strength, market insight, and project implementation skills. By pairing international technology with on-the-ground execution, the initiative is designed to address Sri Lanka’s long-term environmental and civil infrastructure priorities.

The MoU was signed by Amalrajah Jayaseelan, Director/CEO of ABC Trade & Investment (Pvt) Ltd, and Shi Xiang, Secretary-General of the Belt & Road Eco-Industry Cooperation Working Committee of ACEF. The signing took place during the China–Sri Lanka Environmental & Energy Exchange and Cooperation Meeting at the Nondescripts Cricket Club Grounds in Colombo, held under the theme “Empower Green Development, Jointly Build a New Pattern of China–Sri Lanka Environmental & Energy Industry.”

Business

Heavy buying interest slows down stock trading

Published

10 hours ago

2026/09/4

Thilina Walpola

By Hiran H. Senewiratne

The CSE yesterday was very active at the outset but later slowed down due to heavy buying interest noted for select stocks.Amid those developments both indices moved upwards. The S and P SL20 went up by 23.73 points. Turnover stood at Rs 2.44 billion with 10 crossings.

The crossings were: Renuka Foods 19 million shares crossed for Rs 502 million; its shares traded at Rs 25.30, Dipped Products 1.9 million shares crossed to the tune of Rs 117 million; its shares traded at Rs 60.50, JKH 3.9 million shares crossed for Rs 78 million; its shares sold at Rs 19.70, Dialog Axiata 1 million shares crossed to the tune of Rs 46.6 million; its shares traded at Rs 46.40, Tokyo Cement 500,000 shares crossed for Rs 39.5 million; its shares sold at Rs 79 and Watawela Plantations 800,000 shares crossed for Rs 34 million; its shares were Rs 42.50 each.

In the retail market companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were; Vallibel Finance Rs 281 million (3.3 million shares traded), Dipped Products Rs 114 million (1.9 million shares traded), Haycarb Rs 90 million (424,000 shares traded), Alumax Rs 42 million (2.6 million shares traded), HNB Rs 38.5 million (102,000 shares traded), Swisstec Rs 30 million (506,000 shares traded) and Sierra Cables Rs 34 million (880,000 shares traded). During the day 118 million share volumes changed hands in 17802 transactions.

It is said that mixed market reactions were noted during the day. Financial sector, especially Vallibel Finance, performed well, while the manufacturing sector, especially JKH and Hayleys , performed significantly.

Meanwhile, Co-operative Insurance Company announced the redemption of 1,100,000 cumulative redeemable preference shares issued in December 2020 to the Health Department Co-Operative Thrift & Credit Society.

The total redemption consideration of Rs 16.61 million, including a 9 percent per annum cumulative dividend, is set for settlement on August 31, 2026.

Yesterday the rupee was quoted at Rs 328.25/35 to the US dollar in the spot market, stronger from Rs 328.30/60 the previous day, while bond yields were somewhat steady, dealers said.