Insights

WATG Celebrates 70 Years of Designing Destinations

By WATG
November 5, 2015

Global design firm WATG will celebrate its 70th anniversary with a special gala at the Royal Hawaiian on November 13th, 2015. The Royal Hawaiian was WATG’s first hospitality project by founding father Pete Wimberly, in 1945. Its inspiration kicked off seven decades of design that reshaped how we all think of hospitality and tourism across the Hawaiian Islands, the South Pacific, and beyond. No one—not even Pete—imagined that his little two-person firm would one day become one of the largest hospitality design firms in the world.

“It’s a testament to our founders’ vision that WATG is designing great destinations 70 years later” said Mike Seyle, president & CEO. After 70 years and over 360 built hotels later, WATG has expanded to have offices in multiple cities in the US, London, Singapore, Istanbul, and Dubai with a new office opened in Shanghai this year; and has expanded its services to include strategy, interior design, planning, landscape architecture and urban design.

“If Pete were here, he would say ‘keep it real, keep it local,’ and we try to live by that statement to this day,” according to Craig Takahata, managing director of WATG’s Honolulu office.

“We’re planning a gala event to not only celebrate our anniversary, but to also say ‘thank you’ to everyone for allowing us to serve you for the past 70 years,” said Robert Zheng, executive vice president WATG Honolulu. “It’s extremely humbling to honor our founders’ legacy, and we want to share this with everyone who contributed to our success.”

The celebration will host a gathering of WATG’s friends, family, clients, industry colleagues, and local business partners on the hotel’s ocean lawn. Executive Chef Colin Hazama, of the Royal Hawaiian, has created a wonderful menu for the evening. In addition, the attendees will be dazzled by one of Hawaii’s own brightest young entertainers – Taimane Gardner. All in all, the evening will be lively and enjoyable with plenty of opportunities for those attending to mingle and enjoy the venue.

About WATG

WATG is one of the world’s leading integrated design firms and ranked as 2nd in the world among hotel architectural firms. WATG’s interior design firm, Wimberly, was ranked 11th by Interior Design Magazine in their 2015 Hospitality Giants survey.

With over 70 years of design excellence, WATG and Wimberly, have become the world’s leading design consultants in the industry since starting in Hawaii in 1945. With offices in Irvine, Beverly Hills, Seattle, Chicago, New York, London, Miami, Istanbul, Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai and Honolulu, the multi-disciplinary design firm is best known for creating internationally acclaimed destinations in 160 countries across six continents. WATG offers integrated design solutions comprising strategy, planning, architecture, landscape, and interiors for urban, tourism and resort destinations. WATG’s projects are renowned not only for their design and sense of place but also for their bottom-line success.

About The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort

With years of gracious hospitality since 1927 as Waikiki’s most quintessential and recognizable resort, The Royal Hawaiian, a Luxury Collection Resort, still stands to this day as the golden standard by which all other Hawaiian resort properties are measured. This haven of refuge that captured the hearts of generations of Hawaii enthusiasts ushered in a remarkable era of luxury tourism to the Hawaiian Islands and has been recognized as a stalwart pillar of the industry for decades. The timeless traditions and countless memories that have been made at this resort is poignantly described as “Timeless Waikiki.” Today and into the future, this two fabled resort will continue to bring forth new traditions and further add to its legendary saga.
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