Veteran hospitality executive Shigeki Yamane has been promoted to president of Prince Resorts Hawaii.

Yamane, previously vice president of planning at PRH for the past eight years, worked with former presidents Donn J. Takahashi and Kisan Jo. As vice president he was instrumental in the multimillion-dollar renovations of the Prince Waikiki and The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort.

He graduated in Tokyo from Waseda University, majoring in law, and also completed the Tokyo Hotel Management School program. In addition to management positions with Prince Hotels in Japan, including The Prince Park Tower Tokyo and Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa, he held hotel management positions in Canada and Singapore.

He also led a delegation in charge of receptions at a Tokyo state guesthouse hosting foreign government dignitaries for three years and was invited to act as an adviser for Tokyo 2020 Olympics Bid Committee in 2013.

Yamane said his decision- making will be based on the fundamentals of hospitality. He said the success of PRH over the past few years is due to the staff.

“It’s about our talented people,” he said. “And we’re going to continue to invest in leadership and training and providing a benefit package that makes sense to people today.”

PRH was the only hotel chain in Hawaii that continued its medical and dental benefits for its 1,600 employees during the hotels’ pandemic closures, and continues that today for banquet and meeting staff whose positions are still not fully recovered. Planned wage increases were also honored despite prolonged pandemic recovery.

Prince Resorts Hawaii, a subsidiary of Seibu Holdings Inc., operates three hotels and golf courses. They are the Prince Waikiki and Hawaii Prince Golf Club on Oahu and The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort and Hapuna Golf Course, and Mauna Kea Beach Hotel and Golf Course at the Mauna Kea Resort on the Kohala Coast on Hawaii island.