Outrigger Hotels and Resorts has a new top leader whose focus includes making more Hawaii acquisitions, continuing redevelopment of existing properties including the Outrigger Reef, and expanding the brand into new markets like Mexico and the mainland.

The company announced last week that KSL Resorts co‐founder and CEO Scott Dalecio will take over daily oversight of Outrigger. KSL Resorts in November announced that it planned to buy the family business started about seven decades ago by Roy and Estelle Kelley. The transaction included all 37 hotels, condominiums and vacation resort properties operated, owned and managed by Outrigger.

David Carey, who is married to the former Kathy Kelley, granddaughter of Outrigger’s founders, will step down as president and CEO to serve on the company’s advisory board. Carey will focus on development, community relations and strategic growth.

Carey’s departure from direct management means that the Kelley family is no longer running the organization. Other Kelley family members affiliated with the company, including Bitsy Kelley, Charles Kelley, Richard Kelley and Jean Rolles, left the company following the sale. Additional personnel changes since the sale include the promotion of Outrigger veteran John Neeley to vice president of information technology and David Nadeau as chief financial officer.

“There will be some more realignment at the corporate office, but for the properties it will be business as usual,” Dalecio told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Monday.

Dalecio, who has worked in the hospitality industry for more than 30 years, said KSL plans to build on Outrigger’s strengths and take the company to its next phase of growth. The company, which once owned the Grand Wailea on Maui and currently provides management services for California-based Hotel del Coronado, has significant hospitality experience.

While the family-owned Outrigger Enterprises has deep Waikiki roots, over the last two decades it had emerged as one of the largest privately held hotel firms in the Pacific. The company hit the sweet spot with Oahu and neighbor island expansions in the 1970s and ’80s and was ahead of the U.S. hotel brand expansion into Asia in the 1990s.

“The portfolio is poised for reinvestment,” Dalecio said. “We’ll continue with the entitlement process for the Outrigger Reef, which we think is a significant part of the company’s strategy. In the near term we also see the need to reinvest in Waikiki, and we expect to spread $100 million across several properties.”

Dalecio said KSL’s near-term Waikiki investments might include room and lobby renovations and technology upgrades, which allow hosts to better capitalize on shorter booking windows.

Carey said KSL’s capital will allow Outrigger to grow beyond where the Kelley family could have taken it.

“The primary motivation for the Kelleys to sell was that they didn’t have the level of capital necessary to compete at the level that the company deserved to compete in the world,” he said. “Having a broader reach will ensure that everyone is better served.”

Carey said much of Outrigger’s direction before KSL was determined by the need to diversify outside of Hawaii, where 75 to 85 percent of the family’s resources were located. KSL’s larger portfolio allows the company to expand its Hawaii presence while continuing to look for new markets, he said.

Dalecio said Outrigger’s strategy as a premier beachfront hotelier will remain a core strength, but KSL will consider other marketing strategies and even expanding into North America and Mexico.

Keith Vieira, principal at KV & Associates, Hospitality Consulting, said it remains to be seen whether KSL will make successful inroads into another country like Mexico, but there’s no doubt that it’ll be successful in Waikiki, where it’ll continue the gentrification of Kuhio Avenue.

“Improving Outrigger’s holdings in Waikiki will get leisure press across the country. It’s going to feel like another rebirth,” Vieira said.

Joseph Toy, president and CEO of Hospitality Advisors LLC, said he expects KSL’s efforts will enhance the Outrigger brand in Hawaii and beyond.

“Their planned Waikiki reinvestment already shows that they are fully committed to Hawaii. But I think they’ll do well outside of Hawaii, too. They are seasoned capital players,” Toy said.