Douglas Chang is the general manager of the Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences, Kapalua Bay, on Maui.

Q. You've been in the visitor industry for a long time. How do you characterize what's going on now?

A. I have seen a few of the cycles that have come and gone. This is probably the most uncertain of those cycles as to what is at the other end of this, and how long this particular cycle will last. I don't think we've seen anything as impactful and as severe as what we have seen with airlines going out of business, with what's happened with cruise ships and the hotels, and the different markets we've seen and read about over and over again. For the most part, through the previous downturns that we had in the early '90s, then again after Sept. 11, I don't think we saw the kind of fallout that we have seen recently. With the impacts that the global oil market and the credit crisis are having, there are just so many factors that are impacting us that are absolutely beyond our control. There is a level of apprehension that I don't remember seeing or feeling during these previous downturns.

Q. In times like these, are luxury properties like yours affected more than the bargain or mid-level properties?

A. That's hard to tell, and I don't think we've figured out the answer to that particular question. You read the trade publications, which are much more on the national level. Through these downturns, the luxury segment has been not as severely hit as some of the other segments. The general belief is that that segment of the population is probably a little bit more immune to the economic downturns and upturns than the general population is going to experience. But I can't say that that is true in this particular time, even though the customer that would travel into our luxury properties probably can afford to do so. The uncertainties are having them rethink all of their choices and their purchases.

Q. What are the Club and Residences?

A. It is a new property, a new venture that is in the final stages of development and construction. It will be at the site of the former Kapalua Bay Hotel. It is Ritz-Carlton's first entry into the luxury vacation ownership market. We have two different products that we will be offering. The first is the Ritz-Carlton Club, which is a fractional project, giving each of our members a 21-day use period throughout the year. The second product is our wholly-owned residences, to which people can enjoy the finest services and amenities that the Ritz-Carlton has come to stand for.

Q. How are the sales going?

A. As you can imagine, with everything that we are reading in the news, the sales have certainly been impacted by what is happening to the economy and to travel around us. We still continue to aggressively market it, and sales are happening, but certainly not at the pace that we had originally anticipated or that we'd like to see them at right now.

Q. You started as a lei greeter. Was it your intention to stay in the industry?

A. I was doing that as a way to make money. I was in high school at that time and moved on to the University of Hawai'i and kind of continued in hospitality, both through the tourist side of it and then I got into the restaurant business and quickly moved through there. It was my intention to get a degree in international business and really do work internationally between Hawai'i and Japan, but hospitality has been good to me.

Q. What kept you in the industry?

A. I enjoyed it, most of all, and many of my mentors along the way would comment that I had a natural talent and a natural ability. I understood the business well from an economic and a delivery standpoint. I enjoyed the guest interaction and the challenge of taking each and every guest and taking their experience beyond expectations. A defining moment for me when I said, "Yes, this is an industry that I'm going to commit to," is when I started to understand and really focus on the relationship between hospitality and our host culture. I became fascinated by some of the challenges that we basically took for granted. In the growth spurts of tourism back in the '60s and the '70s, we were moving along at warp speed. We made many decisions that we would live to regret decades later as it related to the culture. As a Native Hawaiian and having been educated at Kamehameha Schools, it became a passion of mine to take an industry that was truly benefiting from the culture and say, "How do we right this? How do we make this good for everybody?"

Q. What are some of the programs that you've implemented that reflect this philosophy?

A. I try very much to eliminate the word "program" from this discussion because for so long it has been a program, and the programs don't stick. It's a relentless commitment to things that are correct, such as the language. How are we going to use the language in this industry, and when are we going to use the language? Also, ensuring that if we make a conscious decision to do something cultural, that we do it correctly and we do it in a way that is sustainable, whether it be music, whether it be technology to support it, whether it be the people we hire, or training programs that we put in place. It just can't become a "flavor of the month," when during good times we pay a lot of emphasis and attention, but when things aren't so good it's one of those programs that get cut out of the budget. That's been my effort, which is to allow culture to come into the organization to be able to offer safe places for dialogue. Many things about our host culture are phenomenal, but there are also some things out there that may be difficult discussions with the industry. For years, we struggled as an industry with sovereignty and didn't want anything to do with that segment of the culture. But we need to be a part of that solution, and being able to bring people to the table to dialogue and look for opportunities that are going to work for both has been important, and really what I have been focusing on.