We Don’t Call It Customer Service

We don’t call it customer service because your people are not servants. From a Hawaiian perspective, they are hosts. It makes a world of difference.

Hawai‘i is renowned for its hospitality and unconditional extension of trust and friendship to all people. One of our most cherished values is ho’okipa or hospitality. We practice ho’okipa in our homes, workplaces, and social gatherings.

In Hawai‘i, when we think of customer service excellence, we think about ho’okipa and the concept of Host First. Our primary responsibility as a host is to represent our community, our workplace, our family, our ancestors and who we are as the host. When we host well, we are expressing ourselves with dignity and pride because we recognize and accept the profound responsibility we have as a host—it becomes a very personal responsibility.

As a host, we don’t have to remember a customer service script or rules about how close a guest has to be before we talk to them. We remember how we were taught by our grandparents and aunties and uncles and teachers. We feel compassion, empathy, warm-heartedness and aloha. When we feel that way and come from our hearts, we know the right thing to say at the right time.

To learn more about a Hawaiian perspective on customer service, call us at 808-282-2743 or contact us.