Brother Act

Brothers Ryan and Jon Laskey manage two of the biggst hotels in Waikiki, and credit their success to father Walter’s lifelong leadership lessons

Wednesday - July 05, 2006
By Lisa Asato
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They may be managers of big Waikiki hotels,
but Ryan, left above, and Jon Laskey are still
brothers with a healthy bit of sibling rivalry

Ryan and Jon Laskey can’t get enough of the hotel business, nor it seems of each other. Brothers who were born 14 months apart, they grew up playing on the same sports teams, starting with soccer, coached by their dad, when they were 5 and 6, through Little League, and on to high school football, where they played defense for Punahou School.

The activities one brother undertook, the other did too, hoping to excel and, dare say, outdo the other.

Not that they excel at everything - don’t ask about their golf scores, they’re not telling. “There’s no competition there ‘cause I’m a terrible golfer,” says Ryan, the elder.

Jon adds, “It’s not that I’m good, it’s that he’s really bad.”

But one thing they do know about is hotels. Both have turned entry-level jobs with Sheraton Hotels & Resorts into the top job as hotel manager at two of its Waikiki properties: Jon at Princess Kaiulani, which he affectionately refers to as “PK,” and Ryan at Sheraton Waikiki. And perhaps in keeping with the spirit of a healthy sibling rivalry, they happen to work on opposite sides of Kalakaua Avenue.

“Kind of like bookends in Waikiki, I’m on one side of the street, he’s on the other,” says Jon, 34, who worked his way up from an intern 11 years ago. His ascent through the ranks includes a one-year stint as general manager of the W Hotel, a 49-room boutique hotel, which he describes as “very trendy, very hip. We played Top 40 music in the lobby.”

Ryan, meanwhile, started as a busboy at the hotel he now manages.

They may be managers of big Waikiki hotels, but
Ryan, left above, and Jon Laskey are still brothers
with a healthy bit of sibling rivalry

“I wanted to get into business school but my grades weren’t high enough. But I got into (travel industry management) school thinking I would change my major after I got my grades up.”

He took what he considered to be a good summer job at Sheraton Waikiki and “ended up never leaving.”

Fourteen years later, leaving definitely isn’t a thought anymore. “Having been in this position for a couple years, it’s been fun, but now it’s really getting fun,” says Ryan, 35. “Things are starting to gel. It’s a nice lifestyle to be in this job and to work with these people, dedicate the time to it and be able to focus on the job and not have to worry so much about the family things just yet. But I’m looking forward to that a little later.”

Richard Smith, a longtime friend of the Laskeys, met Jon in kindergarten at Punahou and the two became “best friends through high school.” He says the Laskeys are a down-to-earth, tight-knit family, and everyone has done well for themselves. The Laskeys’ younger brother, Jason, 29, is a portfolio manager for Wells Fargo Asset Management in San Francisco. Their mom, Shirley Fujisaki-Laskey, by the way, is a former Cherry Blossom

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