Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / How Keo Hornbostel Turned an Accreditation Crisis Into a Stronger Safari West

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How Keo Hornbostel Turned an Accreditation Crisis Into a Stronger Safari West · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:12
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. As you listen today, let one
0:17
idea shape what you do next. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and
0:21
today's guest walked away from one of the most prestigious
0:25
hotel brands in the world to run a wildlife preserve where
0:29
giraffes wander past your tent at sunrise.
0:32
He had spent 30 years mastering the art of five star hospitality
0:37
across Puerto Rico and Maui, and by any measure, he had made it.
0:42
Then Safari West called, and everything changed.
0:46
What followed was not a smooth transition.
0:48
There were animals to learn, a conservation mission to absorb,
0:52
and eventually a very public challenge to the organization's
0:56
accreditation that forced him to lead transparently through real
1:00
uncertainty. He chose openness over spin and
1:04
the organization came out stronger.
1:06
His name is Kayo Kornbostel and he is the General Manager of
1:10
Safari West, a 400 acre wildlife preserve and resort in the heart
1:15
of Sonoma wine country. Under his leadership, Safari
1:19
West has grown to nearly 1000 animals, draws 70,000 visitors a
1:24
year, and has become one of the most unexpected travel
1:27
destinations in California. Kale also chairs the Sonoma
1:32
County Tourism Board and is a leading voice for accessible
1:35
travel across the region. His story is a reminder that the
1:39
most interesting second acts rarely look like anything you
1:43
planned for. But before we get into all that
1:46
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back benefits.com. All right, back to our guest
2:40
today, the Executive Director of Safari West, KO Harn Bostel.
2:44
Thanks for making the time to Share your story today.
2:47
Thanks for having me on, I look forward to it.
2:49
So, KO, you spent nearly 30 years inside the Hyatt System
2:54
Puerto Rico, Maui, running some of the brand's most celebrated
2:58
resort properties. What was it about that career
3:01
that kept you there so long? What did you love about it?
3:04
Well, number one, I, I like hospitality and #2 I like to
3:08
travel and in the Hyatt world, the hotel world promotions come
3:14
with moving and seeing different experiences, different
3:17
marketplaces, different, just different cultures.
3:21
You learn so much as you go along the way.
3:24
And, and I was just very fortunate to continue to say I
3:27
was very open. Move me when you I, you're
3:30
opening a new hotel, Send me, I'll go.
3:33
Which was great when I was singing a little bit more
3:35
complicated when I was married, But we, you know, I, I got to
3:39
have a lot of fun. I place I met my wife and Grant
3:42
Cayman at the Hyatt there. So just all sorts of cool
3:45
destinations from Chicago to Denver to Kentucky.
3:48
You mentioned Maui and Kauai and it, it, it's been a fun run.
3:52
It was a fun run. And I, I, I, it was tough to
3:56
leave, but it was a, it was a good run and I got to, got to
3:58
see and live in a lot of great places.
4:01
And so you said you met your wife at one of these locations.
4:04
Was she working there or was she a guest?
4:06
He was, she's actually from Ireland and we hired seasonal
4:10
employees from Ireland. They would, the high season in
4:13
Grand Canyon was the low season in Ireland.
4:16
And basically it was winter in Ireland and summer, you know,
4:20
anybody likes to go to the Caribbean during the middle of
4:22
the winter. So, so she came down as a
4:25
seasonal employee. We both ended up staying there
4:27
for three years and I asked her to marry me on the beach in
4:30
Grand Canyon. Oh, that's fun.
4:34
Any particular mentors for you during the time with Hyatt that
4:37
you want to call back to? Oh, there's a lot of them.
4:40
I, I, I don't, I don't want to name off because I'm afraid I
4:43
would miss somebody along the way.
4:46
I, I, I remember my very first interview was downtown Denver
4:49
and, and I was applying for a front desk clerk job.
4:52
And so the front office manager interviewed me a couple of
4:54
times. I think it was like my 4th or
4:56
5th interview, believe it or not, just to be a front desk
4:58
clerk. Wow and sits me down in what
5:02
rooms executive is the title that overseas all the rooms
5:05
areas and these two were arguing and I'm not talking at all.
5:10
And I finally looked at him and I said which one is going to get
5:13
me to management quicker? Because the rooms exec wanted me
5:16
to be a doorman and the front office guy wanted me to front
5:19
office guy and I ended up becoming a front office guy.
5:22
And I think the rooms exec wasn't really happy, but I ended
5:25
up having a career out of it. So there was an assertiveness to
5:30
you from a young age, right? You're like, hey, listen, what?
5:33
What's what's going to be best for my career here?
5:36
Yeah, when you looked at what front desk clerks made back in
5:39
those days, it, it's a far cry from what minimum wage is today.
5:43
So it was, it was how do you make more money in life?
5:46
How do you become a leader? You know, I went to a military
5:49
school, so I it was all about becoming a leader and I ended up
5:52
becoming a battalion commander when I was in military school.
5:54
So my objectives for my whole life is always how do I get to
5:57
the top and be successful? How did you go from military to
6:02
hospitality? I well, I went to a military
6:06
high school. I wasn't the best behaved child
6:09
in high school and so my parents thought military school would be
6:13
a good change for me and it 100% was.
6:16
And then I ended up going to college to start a pre Med
6:19
degree, ended up with a biology degree and a minor in math.
6:23
And that was the days when Hmos were coming out.
6:26
And Hmos are good and they're bad.
6:28
And I got scared away from the medical field at that time and
6:32
needed a job and I walked into a hotel and never looked back.
6:36
All right, OK, so how did the opportunity to join Safari West
6:41
come about? So the public relations manager
6:45
that we have here, Aphrodite, wonderful lady.
6:48
She and I sat on a couple of different boards when I was
6:51
working at the Hyatt here and the Langs were getting up there
6:56
in age and needed somebody to run take over operations for
6:58
them. And she threw my name in the hat
7:00
and I interviewed with Peter and Nancy and they ended up hiring
7:05
me. And here we are almost 11 years
7:07
later. OK, but why make this change?
7:10
I mean, yes, it's kind of still hospitality.
7:13
You're still entertaining people, you know, creating these
7:17
experiences for them, but you don't have a background in
7:20
animals and wildlife. So a couple of key points in
7:25
there. One, one of the reasons why I
7:28
was, I was literally on my way to work at the height in Calgary
7:32
and it would have been my son's fourth move and he was only 5.
7:38
And my wife and I were like, we need to slow down a little bit.
7:41
And so we said let's see if we can stay here and make a career
7:45
out of it. And so that was how the
7:49
transition happened. From that perspective, the
7:51
transition to running Safari West versus a a mega resort like
7:55
the ones in Maui and Kauai and Puerto Rico isn't all that
7:58
different. Yes, we have 1000 animals, but
8:03
managing people and managing things is you don't have to know
8:08
everything. I use the example of I'm not a
8:10
veterinarian, but we have two veterinarians on staff.
8:14
If I can manage them to manage what they do best and keep them
8:18
going in the right direction, then the animals are taken care
8:21
of. And then we've got all the
8:22
animal caretakers that some of them are just people who love
8:26
animals and started working here and they become animal keepers,
8:31
you know, and then there's other, other areas of the, of
8:33
the place that are similar to resorts.
8:35
We have front desk people, we have housekeeping, we have
8:37
restaurants, we have culinary teams.
8:40
You, you have maintenance workers, you have landscapers.
8:43
All those same things exist both at Safari West and in the
8:47
resorts. So it wasn't that tough of a
8:49
transition. There's still a lot of birds
8:51
names that I don't know, but we've got like 98 different
8:55
species. I know a lot of them now, but
8:58
like on day one I didn't know very many.
8:59
Maybe giraffe and rhino and zebra were about it so.
9:03
So there's a lot more similarities between the work
9:05
you were doing before and the work at Safari West and their
9:09
skills of being able to manage the staff and manage the people,
9:12
give them the tools and resources they need to be
9:15
successful. We're all very similar to that.
9:17
100% that's exactly true. I and, and I'm a firm believer
9:21
in my management style is 1 very, very much let give people
9:25
the opportunity and let them run with it.
9:28
And if they make a mistake and fall down, which employees do,
9:31
that's going to happen. You just help them think of a
9:33
different way to do the whatever task they were doing and guide
9:37
them. And it that's not, that's, that
9:40
happens in a lot of businesses, not just, not just hospitality
9:44
business. It happens all across the, you
9:46
know, everybody, we're human. So we people make mistakes.
9:49
You just have to lift people up and guide them in a new
9:52
direction so that they'd become successful.
9:54
So there were a lot more similarities than what I was
9:56
thinking, but what was one unique aspect that was something
10:00
you had to learn coming in? I think the regulations was a
10:05
big portion of it. To run a hotel you need maybe a
10:10
half dozen permits, you know, a health department for the
10:12
restaurant or whatever. We have 3535 different permits
10:17
to run far West, three of which are federally regulated.
10:21
All the rest are at the state or local level.
10:25
I had no idea. I used to think that USDA was
10:29
oversaw food be when I started here, they oversee so much more
10:34
than just food. And they are they are having a
10:38
USDA license is the key reason we can be open.
10:41
But it's a, it's a, it's a process and it's, it's
10:45
complicated And you, you, you have to learn the regulations of
10:48
what you know that goes into animal welfare and how you run
10:52
the, the enrichments that you do for the animals.
10:55
It it, it, it's pretty complicated.
10:57
So it that was probably the biggest learning curve for me
10:59
for the first couple of years. For people from the outside of
11:03
your universe that you know don't know what it's like on the
11:06
inside, what do you think would surprise them the most about the
11:09
involvement of the USDA? Well, number one, I don't think
11:12
most people know what USDA does. I certainly didn't.
11:16
Number 2 was just how, you know, there's a lot of people out
11:19
there. There's a lot of bad players out
11:22
there that we hear about in the news as it regards to animal
11:26
welfare and animal care. The USDA book is probably 1000
11:32
pages long and goes into specifics on just about every
11:36
species there is and what environment they can be in what
11:39
what you have to do during different times, what kind of
11:42
feeding you should be doing, what kind of diets you should be
11:45
making. It gets pretty complex and
11:49
that's OK it it's just something that I had to learn.
11:53
OK, kind of thing. What order I want to do this in,
11:57
Let's take a step back and actually talk about what Safari
12:01
West actually is, because I think a lot of people, they'll
12:04
picture something different when they hear wildlife preserve in
12:07
California. So take me through What's it
12:09
look like for a guest who's coming there?
12:11
So Safari West is a, is a, we're multiple things, we're a
12:16
preserved, we're a zoo, we're an attraction, we're all those
12:18
things combined basically 400 acres.
12:21
As you said earlier, we have about 1000 different animals in
12:25
our lower area. We have 31 tents so you can
12:28
spend the night. Then the typical guess what
12:31
they're going to do is go on a on a three hour tour.
12:33
And for anybody my age that's watching this, it's not a
12:35
Gilligan's Island tour. You're going to actually come
12:37
back from it. But you spend about 45 minutes
12:41
to an hour walking the lower area where you go through a
12:44
giant aviary where birds are flying around.
12:46
You'll see our cheetahs, our hyenas, porcupines, different,
12:51
different primates. And then you jump in these 1950s
12:55
power wagons that we rebuilt, which is your tour truck.
12:59
And then you go out into the 400 acres and that's where you start
13:01
to see herds of animals, whether it's herds of giraffe or zebras
13:04
or wildebeests or Cape Buffalo, or get to see our rhino.
13:08
And we did have a baby rhino this last year, so it's pretty
13:11
cool. But then at the end of the three
13:14
hours you can stay for lunch or stay for dinner and and then be
13:18
on your way. And how is the weather, the
13:22
climate for these animals? So couple of things there, the
13:30
the all the hooved animals that we have are representatives from
13:34
Africa, African species like zebras, like giraffes.
13:38
So they're pretty good. But our giraffes as an example,
13:41
they don't do good with the cold winter, Winter next is north at
13:45
Sonoma County. It's not like winter.
13:48
It's, it's cool. It gets down in the 30s and 40s.
13:51
So they're housed into a barn that is pumping in heat.
13:54
Same thing with our cheetahs. Our birds have acts.
13:57
You know, some of the birds, our birds are representative from
13:59
all over the world. Some are more susceptible to the
14:03
to the cold. So we have night houses for them
14:05
that are heated. Same thing with all the
14:07
primates. They have night houses with
14:08
heating, but then the rest of the year in Sonoma County is
14:13
it's beautiful. I mean, we're having really
14:15
weird weather this week because it's like it's 90° and it's
14:18
March. I have misters at my restaurant
14:21
in our, in our deli and they kick on I think at 90°.
14:25
I've never seen them kick on like they did yesterday because
14:28
it was 91° up here. So, so that's saying, you know,
14:31
in, in the heart of summer, if we have a really hot summer,
14:35
we'll also, we also do misting machines and spray them down,
14:38
especially some of the birds, just to cool them off.
14:40
So we have to, yeah, you kind of have to go with the flow of the
14:43
weather. And so as I'm there as a guest
14:46
and I'm, you know, taking this three hour tour that I come back
14:49
from, which animals am I going to see kind of roaming more
14:54
freely where they could actually come right up to the truck?
14:58
Oh, when I was talking about the hooved animals, every one of
15:01
them they could. Our giraffes tend to be a little
15:04
bit more curious. We do have a rule in the truck
15:06
that giraffes can pet you, but you can't pet them.
15:10
Some of the older giraffes, they just stay away because they've
15:12
seen so many tour trucks come through.
15:14
But yeah, they'll they'll come pretty close.
15:17
It's it's not like you're going to be petting animals all the
15:19
time, but standing 10:50 or sitting in a truck 1015 feet
15:23
away from an animal is is still pretty cool.
15:26
Yeah. And so if I'm staying in one of
15:28
these tents, is there a chance that I'm going to get a visit
15:33
from one of the. Hooped animals?
15:35
No, you're you're not. You're going to be able to see
15:37
them. OK.
15:38
Again, USDA regulations, you can't be up close and personal
15:41
with some of these animals, but you can see them.
15:44
About a third of our tents look right out onto what we call our
15:47
Savannah, and that's where animals are roaming freely and
15:51
doing their thing. OK.
15:55
You mentioned that there are a lot of bad players in the
15:58
industry, which is why the USDA is involved in the 1st place.
16:03
What is it that these folks are doing and are we talking about
16:07
zoos describing? To me, typically, not zoos, it's
16:10
typically private owners, people who, I'm trying to think of the
16:15
guy's name that was in the Midwest, the lion guy.
16:20
I can't remember his name, but you know, he was abusing animals
16:23
and not taking care of them, not feeding him correctly.
16:28
You hear about it all over the place where there was animal
16:31
shelter up here just recently that got shot down because they
16:34
were getting animals and they weren't feeding him and
16:37
malnutrition and fleas and all sorts of bad things were
16:40
happening to those animals. And it's, it's sad when you see
16:44
something like that happen. And so is just anybody, like a
16:48
random person allowed to own a a lion?
16:51
No. You have to have the same
16:53
regulations that I do. And most of those players that
16:56
acquire them, they acquire them illegally from bad players
17:01
throughout the world and, and you know, poaching and stuff
17:04
like that and they'll end up getting them somehow.
17:06
They get shipped to their house and they put them in their
17:08
house. That's not allowed.
17:10
Got it. OK, so when you first came into
17:14
Safari West, what were some of the big changes that you saw you
17:19
wanted to implement? I think a couple of things come
17:24
to mind. One, I think a lot of the
17:26
departments worked in what I called silos, meaning that one
17:31
department wouldn't be working with the other one.
17:33
They would just do what they did regardless of how it affected
17:36
the outcome of that other department.
17:39
And so that really needed to be, you know, I, I, I think any
17:42
business, but I think especially in resort worlds and Safari
17:46
West, I, I always use the analogy of a Symphony.
17:49
You know, you can't just have the percussionist playing
17:52
whatever he wants to play. You know, this, the violinist
17:55
can't play whatever they want to play.
17:56
It all has to be in harmony. And just like a Symphony, you
17:59
have a conductor. And I kind of look at my role as
18:02
the conductor to bring all these things together so that so that
18:06
people work together and they understand how they affect each
18:08
other. OK, with these animals roaming
18:14
around, is there a fair bit of breeding that takes place?
18:19
Very much so. Matter of fact, Safari West
18:20
started out as a breeding facility.
18:23
Peter Lang, the owner, he, that was how that was his business
18:28
model, if you will, is to buy, sell and trade animals.
18:32
And that it was somewhat of a lucrative business for him.
18:37
It was more of a passion, but it, it paid his bills and it
18:39
paid his electric bill, if you will.
18:42
We continue that today. We still are a breeding facility
18:46
and we still buy, sell and trade animals to other facilities.
18:50
We do some of that for genetics. You know, you don't, can't have
18:54
the same herd breeding the same animals over and over and over
18:57
and over. It's the inbreeding is not a
19:00
good thing. So we ship out animals to other
19:04
facilities and bring in other animals, whether that's males or
19:07
females, and control the genetic diversity of our herds.
19:11
And that helps other facilities control the genetic makeup of
19:14
their facilities and. When you say facilities, you
19:17
mean zoos? Zoos, yeah, Anybody that's a zoo
19:21
or that there are some private places that we deal with as
19:25
well. Those are people who are just
19:27
passionate about animals and they have the land and they get
19:29
the permits and they can have these animals on their
19:31
properties. We don't deal with some of the
19:34
facilities that take in animals just for hunting.
19:38
We don't do any of that. But we want to just help
19:41
different different facilities be able to provide to their
19:44
guests A variety and and different animals.
19:48
So what are some of the other ways that you're different from
19:50
a typical zoo? So I talked about the breeding
19:53
and I think that's probably the biggest area.
19:55
You know, most zoo facilities, when you go, you're going to
19:59
see, let's say 2 zebras in the same habitat.
20:03
They are probably both male or both female.
20:05
So there is no breeding there. And there's a phrase out there
20:09
that, you know, captivity till death.
20:10
And that's kind of what that is in some facilities because
20:13
they'll get a zebra that's, I don't know, three years old and
20:17
then at 20 something years old, it's going to pass away and
20:19
they're going to have to get another one we believe in.
20:24
Breeding and procreating and having having diversity with our
20:27
herds and our animals. And it strikes me that in your
20:32
environment, it's probably a lot healthier for most of the
20:34
animals. They've got more space to roam,
20:37
it's kind of a little bit more of a natural environment for
20:39
them. Yeah, if you, if you looked when
20:41
you're on the property, if you've ever been to Africa, it
20:44
it resembles, you know, it's not a desert up here, but it is not
20:47
all of Africa is a desert. And I think that's a
20:49
misconception by a lot of people.
20:51
There are beautiful mountainsides and tree regions
20:54
and all sorts of things in Africa that is very
20:57
representative of here. You know, I had the opportunity
21:01
to do a safari in Africa several years ago, and I was interested
21:07
in going. I think I was really surprised
21:11
at how awesome it actually ended up being because I had been to
21:16
so many zoos before. It was going to see the same
21:19
kinds of animals, but I discounted the difference in
21:25
seeing them in a natural habitat instead of just behind a cage.
21:29
And I it strikes me that that's what your environment is like.
21:33
Very much so, yeah. I mean, these are herds, you
21:37
know it, it is not uncommon to be on tour and all of a sudden
21:40
you'll see our 1212 or 13, I don't remember.
21:42
We have wildebeest on a dead run running someplace just because
21:47
that's what they do, you know, and, and we have the space
21:50
provided for them to be able to do that.
21:53
Yeah, it's incredible. For people who are listening,
21:56
they're like, oh, Zoo, you know, Reserve like what?
21:59
You know, Safari West, Like, what's the difference?
22:02
It really is. It's a difference and and it's
22:05
hard to put into words why until you actually get a chance to
22:08
experience it. There's just something thrilling
22:10
about getting so close to the animals in a more natural
22:14
environment like that. Well, and I think the other
22:16
thing, one of the big differences between a zoo and us
22:18
as well is that we have trained professional tour guides.
22:21
Some of them are both trained by us and they go to Africa and get
22:25
their, their credentials. Where in a zoo, you walk around
22:29
and you see the animal and then you look at a placard that says,
22:31
this is what the animal is, this is where it's from, that sort of
22:34
thing. There's nobody talking to you
22:36
about it. And you know, especially the
22:38
kids, they have unbelievable amount of questions they want to
22:42
ask. And I, I know from my own son,
22:44
when I took him to, to a zoo years and years and years ago,
22:48
while he is a good reader, he got bored with reading the
22:51
signs. He wanted to ask questions.
22:52
And here that's the big difference is that you go out in
22:55
a truck with 12 people and the tour guide and you can ask
22:59
whatever ridiculous question you want to about an animal.
23:02
You know, why does, why does zebras have stripes?
23:04
Why do hyenas have stripes? Why is this animal red and this
23:07
one's beige and this one's white?
23:09
You can ask those kind of questions that you don't get at
23:12
a typical zoo. And kids are the best.
23:14
They have the best questions. Tell me some of the good ones
23:18
you remember. I just didn't, I just named off
23:21
a couple of those. I there's so many kids stories.
23:25
I, I think people ask me what the one of the best things about
23:29
working here is. And, and I always tell them the
23:31
same thing. It's watching the kids because
23:35
it's so different and so unique. Yeah, I always say that.
23:38
You know, there's the old phrase, a deer in a headlights
23:40
scenario where the deer looks at you and his eyes are bright wide
23:43
open. A lot of kids that come here,
23:45
that's what they do. And you know, they, you see them
23:49
on a tour truck or walking up to a flock of flamingos.
23:52
It's 100 individuals big and their eyes just light up and
23:56
they're like mom, dad, you know, and that's what makes this real
24:00
and makes it fun. And then every now and then you
24:03
see an adult do the same thing, and that's kind of cool.
24:08
Do you find that Safari West is competing with the wineries for
24:13
the same visitor tourism dollars, or are people coming
24:18
and maybe doing both things? I I think there's a combination
24:22
you know, Napa and Sonoma between the two of them probably
24:24
have 1000 wineries. All of them are unique unto
24:27
themselves, but still you're going wine tasted.
24:33
Not everybody can say they're going on a safari.
24:36
And that's fairly unique to us. And I, I, there's only about
24:39
four or five facilities across the United States that are
24:41
similar to us. So we're competing in the sense
24:45
that if you're going to Napa and you're doing wine tasting, it's
24:48
not inexpensive and you come to visit us.
24:51
We're not inexpensive. So people who have discretionary
24:54
dollars are definitely making a choice on what they want to do.
24:58
The, the niche that we try to find is say, great, come see us
25:02
in the morning and then go wine tasting at one of your favorite
25:05
wineries in the afternoon. A lot of, I was one of them
25:09
novice people to wine country and experiencing wine tasting.
25:13
You know, I when we first got here, we'd take a Sunday and
25:16
we'd go to three different wineries.
25:18
That was a mistake. Going to one wine winery is
25:22
great and then but you've got to fill up the rest of your day.
25:25
And if you're flying in or driving in, you don't want to
25:27
sit in your hotel. Maybe you do, but most people
25:30
don't want to sit by a pool all afternoon and so come visit us
25:33
for three hours. That's kind of the niche that
25:36
we're looking for and that's kind of how we position our
25:38
marketing and our what we talk about We're in the heart of wine
25:42
country. There's no doubt about that.
25:43
We we live in the Calistoga Mountains.
25:46
The Napa border is about two miles from our 2 miles east of
25:50
us and we're sitting in Sonoa. So there is competition.
25:54
I just don't think it's as direct.
25:58
Makes a lot of sense. Let's talk about KO.
26:01
You know, a big challenge that we mentioned that, you know, we
26:04
mentioned this in the intro that took place because Safari West
26:08
went through a public moment when the Association of Zoos and
26:13
Aquariums denied accreditation. This is the organization that
26:16
sets the standards for animal care and conservation across the
26:19
country. That denial was pretty shocking
26:24
and it had to be, you know, devastating, I imagine.
26:26
Take me back to the moment where you got that news.
26:30
What was your first instinct about how to handle it?
26:35
Well, yes, it was shocking and it was devastating.
26:38
I think the very first thing in my mind was obviously, what do
26:43
we do next? And in the, in the hours that
26:49
after that, it became very apparent, you know, as far as
26:52
West has been around for a little over 30 years in this
26:54
community and Sonoma, you know, Sonoma County has 500,000
26:58
residents. So we're, we're very well known.
27:01
I think we have a very good reputation and we needed to get
27:04
ahead of AZ as press release. They provided it to us at the
27:10
time that they denied our our accreditation and it was not a
27:14
very favorable press release by any means.
27:17
So we had to come out and be very transparent about what we
27:20
were doing, what we were fixing, talking out loud to people, not
27:24
hiding behind it. I, I believe that our reputation
27:29
needed to have transparency. The community needed to know
27:33
what it meant. You know, there's, there's a lot
27:35
of misunderstanding about the word accreditation.
27:38
If you're a school and you lose your accreditation, you have to
27:40
close. Accreditation for us is a, is a
27:44
badge of honor, if you will, in how you treat your animals.
27:48
It affects, it does not affect our daily work in any way.
27:53
We are so regulated by USDA that I talked about earlier.
27:57
Aza just kind of reinforces all those things.
28:00
And so we wanted to get out and talk about how we do it.
28:02
One of the biggest things was veterinarian care.
28:05
We had four or five different vets that we used on a regular
28:08
basis, but we didn't have one on staff.
28:11
Aza felt we needed one on staff. Well, now I've got 2 on staff.
28:15
And then very shortly after we went after accreditation with
28:18
another facility or another organization called ZAA and
28:23
within a few months we were accredited by them.
28:25
Their animal Wellness standards are identical to each other.
28:29
So from an animal welfare and an animal care standpoint, we had
28:33
to talk about that and get that message out that our animals are
28:37
getting some of the best care that you can get.
28:39
And we we wanted to be accredited to prove that to the
28:43
public and and let the public know.
28:47
Was there any thought about as this, you know, is starting to
28:50
come out of, I don't know, being defensive and, you know, saying,
28:54
hey, this was undeserved or, you know, trying to just stick your
28:58
head in the sand and and and ignore it?
29:01
No, I do not attack life that way at all.
29:04
Excuse me, I am not a defensive person.
29:07
I'm more of an optimist. I, I look at, I truly look at
29:11
the glass half full and when presented with an opportunity,
29:15
you've, you have to go after it and and deal with it.
29:19
If you stick your head in the sand, you're not going to be in
29:22
business very long. It doesn't get any closer to
29:26
addressing what the issues are. And so aside from bringing
29:31
veterinarians on staff, were there other changes that you've
29:34
made, other opportunities for improvements here that you saw?
29:38
That was probably the biggest issue that Aza had with us.
29:42
The other stuff was so minor that it, it, it didn't need
29:46
addressing to be honest with you.
29:49
We just had to be out in front talking about what we were doing
29:53
because there were a couple of, you know, when you, when you're,
29:57
when you're in the public for one reason or the other, there
29:59
are some people out there that want to take jabs at you.
30:02
There are reporters that want to do that.
30:04
And you, in my opinion, you have to be honest.
30:07
You have to talk. You have to let them hear your
30:09
side of the story and hopefully they print that whole side of
30:12
the story and not just what they wanted to print.
30:16
So correct me if I'm wrong, I'm an outsider.
30:18
I'm hearing this story and I'm thinking, wait, you guys had
30:21
four vets that you used on a regular basis, but their beef
30:24
was that you didn't have a vet on staff?
30:28
To me, that seems like a ridiculous thing to lose an
30:33
accreditation over. I wouldn't use the word
30:36
ridiculous, but I would say that I disagreed with them.
30:41
We were providing veterinarian care to our animals.
30:44
If that took, if we had to make a phone call.
30:48
The two of them are in Santa Rosa, which is 1015 minutes
30:52
away. Couple of them are a little bit
30:54
farther removed because they specialize in certain things.
30:58
But it it, it just, there are a lot of, there are a lot of big,
31:03
big zoos that have a lot of public funding that can afford
31:08
massive amounts of things. We are a private business.
31:11
Bringing on 2 veterinarians on staff is a very expensive thing
31:15
to do. And it was, it was a step we had
31:17
to take. But being a private business
31:21
that that affects us in different ways.
31:23
Most zoos, we talked a little bit about what's the difference
31:25
in zoos? Most zoos are publicly funded or
31:28
non profits. Excuse me, we are not.
31:33
We're Peter and Nancy are it. And so you, you, you got to run
31:37
a business in a smart way that provides, you know, the, the,
31:41
the care to the animals that is needed.
31:43
And you got to watch your expenses.
31:45
It's just like people running their household.
31:47
You know you don't leave the lights on all day if you don't
31:49
need to, right? And so how have you guys been
31:52
able to grow? How do you attract more
31:54
visitors? I I think reaching out to one of
32:00
the things that we've done for a lot of years was we really
32:03
didn't spend marketing dollars. It was all about public
32:06
relations, and that still is true today.
32:10
It's a little bit easier for a company like us than say, any
32:14
other company, because when we have the birth of a giraffe,
32:17
reporters want to report on that, right?
32:19
So it helps us tell the story. And then we crack.
32:22
We help those, those, the editors and the authors of those
32:25
and the reporters, we help them craft their story to make it
32:31
even better than just the birth of a giraffe or a birth of a
32:34
baby white rhino. It, it's, it's getting out there
32:37
and talking to them. I, I have done more interviews
32:40
since joining Safari West than I can tell you.
32:42
And, but it, it's all good and it's all positive because we're
32:46
talking about good things that happen in the world.
32:49
You know, we, after 15 years or so, we finally had the birth of
32:53
a southern white rhino three years ago.
32:55
We've been trying for 15 years and never success.
32:58
All of a sudden we have success. Now, there are other facilities
33:01
in the country that have had success in the past, but it was
33:04
the first time Safari West in the heart of wine country had
33:07
success with that. And it's a good, good, feel good
33:10
story that reporters want to talk about.
33:13
How many giraffes have been born there?
33:16
Over 200. Oh my gosh.
33:18
In the 30 plus years, yeah. So that's not a rare event.
33:23
No, I we've got a very active herd, yes.
33:27
Active is it's a good word for it and and so when these animals
33:31
are born at Safari West, is it sort of completely natural or
33:37
are the veterinarians getting involved to, you know, help
33:40
ensure that it's a a safe birth process or that the animals are
33:43
getting. Care.
33:45
Each birth is unique unto itself.
33:48
If the a lot since a lot of our animals are in herds and they're
33:54
out in the 400 acres, they could be having a baby at 2:00 in the
33:58
morning. We're not going to know about
33:59
it. And so almost all the births are
34:02
natural. There are times when our
34:04
veterinarian staff has to step in and help because something
34:07
goes awry. A few years ago we had a a
34:10
giraffe born that needed a lot of almost almost intensive care
34:17
type care for the first couple of weeks.
34:19
So we had staff sitting with that baby giraffe for 24 hours a
34:23
day for about two weeks getting it bottle fed it, it was too
34:27
anemic to be able to to milk from mom.
34:30
You know, there there was a lot of lot that went into that.
34:33
And we actually called in experts in giraffes to come help
34:35
from veterinarians that would help our veterinarians.
34:39
But each birth is unique and almost all of them are natural.
34:43
Very we try not to intervene very much at all.
34:46
OK. And so especially with these
34:49
larger herds, there are many times where they're pregnant and
34:52
you don't know. Our, our animal keepers know
34:55
that they're pregnant. You know, it's just like a human
34:58
all of a sudden you have, you have a bubble on your stomach,
35:00
right? So that's very similar with
35:02
animals. We usually know when they're
35:03
pregnant. What we don't know is when
35:06
they're going to be born. You know, in our human world,
35:09
you know, it's the dates, October 12th is my due date,
35:12
right? We, we talk about that.
35:14
That doesn't exist in our world. We might be able to narrow the
35:17
gap to a couple of months, but inside that couple of months we
35:20
don't necessarily know. Talk to us about the work you do
35:25
chairing the Sonoma County Tourism Board.
35:29
I've been involved with the organization for 20 years.
35:31
I'm I'm currently the board chair.
35:35
We've in about 7 years ago, we changed from a typical business
35:40
model of a tourism Bureau, which was coined as the destination
35:45
marketing organization. While it is still that we
35:48
actually changed it to destination sustainable because
35:53
we we're getting a lot of feedback.
35:55
You know, like every tourist place I've ever been, the word
35:59
over tourism sometimes comes into play and we had a
36:03
reputation that we needed to fix about tourism.
36:06
Tourism is a huge financial benefit to the county pays a
36:11
pays for a lot of general fund money for different different
36:15
for the county. And that general fund pays for
36:19
police and fire departments and lots of those kind of things.
36:23
Without it, the county would be in in more financial trouble,
36:27
But you have to manage your reputation and perceptions.
36:30
So we, we started doing things like we joined just recently, we
36:34
just joined Wheel of the world. We had over 70 different venues
36:38
that got accredited, if you will.
36:42
It's not true, not a true term, but by Wheel of the World.
36:47
And Wheel of the World is an organization that reaches out to
36:50
or provides a, a resource for people with disabilities so that
36:56
when they go someplace, they know exactly what they're
36:59
getting into. We all know about ADA laws and
37:02
we all know about ADA lawsuits that take place all the time.
37:06
And, and that's more punitive than what reals the world is.
37:10
We, we want our disabled guests, whatever their disability,
37:15
whatever level of disability, to know what they're going to get
37:18
to and what it's like to, to, to go someplace.
37:22
And I think that's amazing thing.
37:24
And we've got 72 that have already been been we're on their
37:28
website already and they'll be even more of this next year.
37:31
And just opening the door that I, there's some astronomical
37:34
number. I don't remember what the
37:35
percentages of people that travel with disabilities and it,
37:39
it's, it was a shocking number to me how high it is.
37:42
And, you know, disability can be anything from needing to use a
37:46
Walker to needing to use a cane, to having a prosthetic leg, to
37:50
being bound to a wheelchair, not being able to stand for a long
37:54
time visually impaired. You know, it's just the list
37:57
just goes on and on and on. And so this helps people with
38:00
disabilities know what they're getting into when they come to
38:03
Sonoma County and they want to come to Safari West or stay at a
38:05
particular hotel or go to a particular winery.
38:09
So Wheels of the World is an organization website that I can
38:12
go to and I can say, and I can say, oh, I'm going to be in
38:16
Sonoma. I'm going to go to Safari West.
38:18
What is going to be accessible to me?
38:20
Where might I, you know, not be able to go just so I can plan in
38:25
advance? Am I understanding that right?
38:27
Exactly. You know, ADA laws put very
38:30
strict things that companies have to do.
38:34
And I think of one of them is there's a bed height
38:36
requirement, but that requirement doesn't fit all.
38:42
We had a gentleman here 2-3 months ago that the bed was too
38:46
high for him to get into. Even though we were ADA
38:50
compliant, he couldn't get into the bed.
38:53
We fixed it. We took the box spring out and
38:54
lowered it down and did all these things and, and he had a
38:56
great stay. But had he gone on to wheel the
39:00
world that we've been on at that time, he would have known
39:03
exactly what our bed height was and he could have asked the
39:05
question, can it be lower? So that's a great thing for that
39:10
person. And and that's just one example
39:13
probably of thousands that Little World has has done for
39:16
these people. Because I have to imagine if you
39:18
have a disability, you know that you have difficulty getting
39:21
around, but you still want to get out and see the world.
39:23
There's a stress involved where I'm going to a new place.
39:26
I don't know what it's going to be like for me.
39:29
And to to know that in advance and then be able to communicate,
39:33
right, like you said and ask that question.
39:35
What helps Safari West too, right, you guys?
39:38
Oh, so OK, hey, we've got a fix for that.
39:40
We, you know, we can plan in advance.
39:41
We'll take care of you. Well, now that puts that
39:43
person's mind at ease. Great, I can go, I can have fun.
39:46
I'm I'm going to have a bed I can get into, etcetera.
39:49
Yeah, I I look at my own personal life.
39:52
My mom lost her lower part of her leg 20 years before she
39:56
passed away, and she wore a prosthetic.
40:00
Obviously the house got modified so she could take a bath and do
40:03
different things, but one of her passions was to travel.
40:07
Matter of fact, in her younger years, she was a stewardess for
40:11
Pan Pan American Airlines, which doesn't exist anymore.
40:13
So only, only those people who've been around for a while
40:15
will know that name. But you know, for her to travel
40:19
was difficult and trying to navigate not only a destination
40:24
she wanted to go to or a hotel she wanted to stay.
40:27
You know, how far down the hallway does she have to walk
40:29
before she could get to her room?
40:31
Because that makes a difference. And so I think we'll the world
40:34
and what they're doing is making it possible for people like her
40:39
to know what they're getting into and make arrangements in
40:41
advance to make it make it a successful trip.
40:45
So as you look out five or ten years, where do you think Safari
40:49
West goes from here, KO? So we just announced a couple of
40:53
weeks ago that we are transitioning from a for profit
40:55
business to a nonprofit business.
40:58
We have been, we have our nonprofit status with the state
41:02
of California, it's the Safari West Zoological Society.
41:05
We're in the process of filing for our federal 5O1C3 status so
41:10
people can donate and make money or get a tax write off.
41:15
Transition's going to take a little bit this year, but we're
41:19
in the process of developing what our capital campaign will
41:22
be with the new board of directors.
41:24
And so in five to 10 years, I want to see all that stuff
41:28
happen. You know, we want to build a vet
41:30
clinic and that costs millions of dollars.
41:32
We want to, we need a another animal welfare building.
41:35
We, we have a number of things that we're going to put on this
41:37
capital campaign and I would love to see it come to fruition.
41:41
Whether that's 10 years, I hope it's not ten years.
41:42
I hope it's more like a three to five year plan, but you just
41:45
never know in that in the nonprofit world how it's going
41:47
to work. And so what's really driving
41:49
this decision? Is it just a different ability
41:52
to find funding sources that allow you to expand what it is
41:56
that you're doing? Care for more animals.
41:58
I think it's, it's combination of that, but I think the biggest
42:00
driving force behind this is both Peter and Nancy are at a
42:04
retirement age and they, this will enable Safari West to
42:10
continue into perpetuity, if you will, and keep what they
42:14
developed and they built here going on for potentially
42:17
generations. And they can their, their stamp
42:21
of what they did and what they made will continue on for a
42:25
very, very long time. And I think that's probably the
42:27
biggest driving force behind it. It it, it is the, the, the money
42:32
change of money creates a different thing, you know,
42:34
becoming a nonprofit versus having to be private funding for
42:37
building things. But I I think carrying on their
42:41
reputation for the next 3060, whatever years, is really the
42:46
driving force behind it. You're still early in the
42:49
process, but anything about what you've gone through so far
42:52
that's really surprised you in this transition?
42:56
You know, I've been involved with nonprofits as a board
42:58
member for probably 30 years. So not really a little bit more
43:04
cumbersome from a legal standpoint having to deal with
43:07
so many different documents. But nothing.
43:10
Nothing has been earth shattering, let's put it that
43:12
way. KO, we talked about, you know, 1
43:16
difficulty you know, you dealt with there at Safari West and
43:19
the accreditation issue. What's another serious
43:22
professional challenge that you've had to work through in
43:25
the past? And what did you learn going
43:26
through it? So I think that probably the
43:29
most, well, I guess, I guess I would call it devastating day of
43:34
my career was going through COVID.
43:37
We had to lay off probably 80% of our staff with the virtual
43:42
unknown of how is the world going to change?
43:45
What's the world going to look like 2-3, six months a year from
43:49
that? I have never liked terminating
43:51
any employee. It's just a part of being a
43:55
manager that that you have to do that in the business
43:58
environment. But having to lay off over 100
44:02
employees in one morning was not a fun day.
44:08
Went home, cried, got up the next day and said how are we
44:11
going to manage code? Like so many businesses, we
44:14
ended up coming out of it and got to hire all those people
44:16
back or a couple because they went on to different ideas and
44:19
different careers. But you know, literally like
44:22
that day was horror. I went home, slept on it, said
44:27
the next morning, we're going to fix it.
44:29
We're coming back. And we went through a lot of
44:32
steps to make Safari West a COVID safe facility, if you
44:36
will, And that we kind of benefited a little bit from that
44:40
because we're an outdoor activity, you know, but we did
44:43
all the stuff. We put up plexiglass, we did the
44:46
spacing, we did everything that everybody did.
44:49
I one of the funniest stories in that was that I had heard that,
44:52
you know, you needed more hand sanitizers.
44:54
We have like 10 that are scattered throughout the lower
44:56
area down here. So I bought 50 more it, it only
45:01
like 2 were used, you know, but you didn't know back in those
45:04
days. But I, I guess similar to my
45:07
whole life, you run into something, you wake up the next
45:11
morning and you go fix it. Go figure out a way to make it
45:14
work, whether that's personal or professional or whatever it is.
45:17
I'm one of those people that just says let's go fix it.
45:20
And that's what we started doing the next day.
45:23
Yeah, for listeners who have never been in a position where
45:26
you had to let somebody go, it is probably one of the most
45:30
difficult things that you experience as a human being.
45:33
Like, the closest thing might be like, if you, you know, had to
45:36
break up with somebody, you know, you were in a serious
45:39
relationship with. But, you know, there's something
45:43
about this that feels worse because you're affecting their
45:45
livelihood, right? And there's nothing that, you
45:48
know, especially in the case of COVID, there was nothing that
45:50
these people did to to warrant this.
45:53
It was just the, the enormity of the entire situation.
45:56
So for you to not for you to have to do that 100 times in a
46:00
single day, it just, you know, each time I have to imagine it
46:03
just tears out a piece of your soul.
46:05
Oh, 100%. That was I, I don't think I ate
46:09
that day just because I was so bothered by it and but there was
46:13
nothing I could do. You know, we couldn't pay them.
46:16
We were closed. I knew financially I, you know,
46:21
Sonoma County is not an inexpensive place to live.
46:23
And these folks aren't, they're not living in mansions by any
46:27
means. And they're sharing bedrooms
46:29
with a lot of people to be able to afford rent.
46:30
And all of a sudden, I'm not giving them any money to be able
46:33
to pay rent. I know what that's going to do
46:35
to that. And, you know, unemployment
46:38
doesn't kick in for at least 10 days.
46:40
So yeah, that was a hard day, one I'll never forget.
46:45
How long before you were able to start bringing them back?
46:50
We had to bring them back in phases primarily because we kind
46:53
of opened in phases. I would say the worst case
46:58
scenario was almost a year before I brought the last
47:01
employee back. Yeah, it was a it was a it was a
47:05
position that was non, I don't want to say I can't think of a
47:10
better term to say, but it was it was non vital to running the
47:13
operation on a daily basis. It was kind of more of a feel
47:16
good position for Safari West and it definitely benefits
47:21
Safari West. But it wasn't during those times
47:23
you only brought back essential employees.
47:26
And you know, if I needed a tour guide, I'm bringing them back
47:31
before when we finally opened the restaurant, OK, now I got to
47:34
bring back my cooks. I got to bring back my servers,
47:36
dishwashers, maintenance, we kept, we kept most of our
47:41
maintenance guys around because you can't have fences falling
47:43
down when you've got lots of wild enemies.
47:46
But yeah, it was, it was, it was a phased approach, I would say
47:49
within three months of reopening, which took it.
47:52
So it was probably four or five months before we had a good
47:55
share of them back. So we talked about how difficult
47:59
that day was letting all those folks go.
48:02
Obviously very difficult for those folks to receive the news.
48:06
You go home, you cry. Was there any sense of just,
48:10
again, I know the answer to this question, but I have to ask it
48:14
because this is human nature for so many folks.
48:17
Was there any folk thought of I'm just going to stay in bed
48:20
today, I'm going to pull the covers up over my head and I am
48:24
just going to sit here and lick my wounds for a minute because
48:27
my gut's just been ripped out? No, I, I, I again, I don't
48:33
operate that way. I, I've never been one to just
48:36
say, oh, there's a problem down that doorway.
48:38
I'm going to go this doorway. I literally, I think it was
48:41
probably around probably around midnight that night that I
48:46
finally said, OK, tomorrow we have to go figure out how we're
48:49
going to open so I can bring them back.
48:52
It, it's, I don't know if I can use this word on podcast, but it
48:56
sucked that day. And my responsibility as a
49:00
general manager, executive director, whatever my title was
49:03
at the time is to those employees.
49:05
I have a responsibility for them.
49:07
And so I have to do whatever I can to bring them back, you
49:11
know, help them make their month, their rent payment next
49:14
month. KO, in this role, what do you
49:19
most want to be remembered for? Hopefully be recognized or
49:29
remembered for how I've led the organization through so many ups
49:33
and downs. We had massive fires in 2017
49:37
that we had to deal with. We had COVID, we had fires the
49:40
next two years, we had COVID, economic downturns.
49:46
You know, tourism right now isn't the best in one country,
49:51
but how you lead an organization and manage it through those
49:55
times. I, I, I, I hope I'm remembered
49:58
that I did. I did well through all those.
50:01
OK, now I have to ask about your name.
50:03
The combination is little unusual.
50:05
K OK EO and Hornbostel tell me about this.
50:09
So, as my dad used to call it, the Reader's Digest version of
50:12
that, again, aging myself a little bit, Reader's Digest
50:16
version of the story is that, believe it or not, my blood is
50:19
half aligned and half Scottish. I think the Scottish shows
50:22
through. I'm very pale.
50:24
I was adopted at 10 years old, and since my blood was half
50:29
Hawaiian, my parents who adopted me into a German family, that's
50:32
the last name Hornbostel. My dad had lived in the state of
50:36
Hawaii before it was a steak, and so he thought it was
50:39
appropriate to give me a Hawaiian name.
50:42
And since I was only half Hawaiian, much like somebody
50:45
with the name of Joe or John, that's the only portion of the
50:50
real name Joseph or Jonathan. I got Keoni, which in the full
50:55
name is actually, it's longer than that, but that's that's my
50:59
version of it. So yeah, it's it's a little bit
51:01
of a different story. Well, that's fun.
51:04
Thanks for sharing that. Kay.
51:06
I've just got one more question for you today, but before I ask,
51:08
and I want to do 3 quick things for the audience.
51:11
First of all, if you want to learn more about Safari West,
51:15
this is super easy. Their website could not be
51:17
easier to remember, folks. It's safariwest.com.
51:20
safariwest.com. Go and learn about it, learn
51:23
about the tours, the different excursions, the things that are
51:26
available to do there. Lots of fun if you're heading to
51:29
Northern California. Also, if you're enjoying the
51:32
show today, please take a moment to subscribe wherever you're
51:34
listening. It sends a signal that helps
51:36
others discover our podcast. So thanks for taking a quick
51:39
moment to do that now. And as a reminder, you can get
51:43
your park employees access to therapists, doctors and
51:46
prescription meds that, as paradoxical as it seems,
51:49
actually increases your company's net profits, real
51:52
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51:55
Contact us today at adbackbenefits.com.
51:58
So last question for you, Ken, a year from now, what is 1 very
52:01
specific thing that you hope to be celebrating?
52:06
I'm going to go back to the the success of the non profit being
52:09
launched this year. I I think that will do so much
52:13
for the legacy of Safari West for the long term.
52:18
It's going to take a year for it all to really happen.
52:21
Not necessarily about raising the money yet.
52:23
I that, that'll, that will come, but it's, it's a successful
52:26
transition to be able to have people know that we're going to
52:30
be around for a very, very long time.
52:31
And those who are close to us know that, you know, Peter
52:34
basically retired four or five years ago.
52:37
Nancy's getting up in age and she wants to retire.
52:40
And so people around in our neighborhoods know that, but
52:43
they want to see Safari West continue because they they love
52:46
us in their backyard. So do you think you're going to
52:50
be taking on some of these fundraising roles or are you
52:53
going to bring in some folks that have expertise in this to
52:57
assist? Well, you just found my biggest
52:58
weakness. I am not a fundraiser.
53:01
I do not ask for money. Well, no, they've, they already
53:04
have a, the new board is already starting to talk to people about
53:07
who would become the business development person and who would
53:09
be out there. I'll run, I'll, if they have a
53:12
fundraiser at Safari West, I'll make sure it's organized to the
53:15
tea and we have a great party and a great meal and great
53:18
drinks and whatever else it might be.
53:21
But let's let let's let the true fundraisers go do their thing.
53:24
Love it KO harn bostel from Safari West.
53:27
I want to be the first to thank you for sharing both your time
53:30
and your story with us today. I really appreciate you being
53:32
here. Perfect, thank you for having
53:34
me, it was fun. Folks, that's a wrap on another
53:36
episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
53:39
Thanks for learning with us. And if one thing stood out, put
53:42
that into action today.