The Dailey family, a longtime operator of Waikiki hotels, is nearing the home stretch in its effort to open The Paniolo, a bar that honors its history at the former Waikiki Polo Club and at the existing Hawaii Polo Club on Oahu’s North Shore.
The equestrian-themed bar is slated for a late November opening in The Equus, a boutique hotel near Ala Moana Center. The property is run by Mariah Dailey, a third-generation general manager and the youngest to hold this leadership role in Waikiki. Her grandparents — the late Fred Dailey and her inimitable grandmother Murph, who turns 99 in December — began the family’s hotel legacy with The Waikikian, which housed The Tahitian Lanai.
The family was instrumental in building Hawaii tourism before jet travel and in re-establishing polo, which the Hawaiian royal family had made popular in Waikiki in the late 1800s but had slowed by World War II. Fred Dailey formed the Waikiki Polo Club, which brought polo back to Kapiolani Park in the 1950s and 1960s. The Waikikian, which opened in 1956, was a major polo sponsor and hosted visiting players and teams, including Great Britain’s Prince Charles.
The family sold The Waikikian in the late 1970s, but continued its horse tradition. A few years after Kapiolani Park closed its stable operations, the family founded the Hawaii Polo Club in Mokuleia.
The family returned to Waikiki when the founder’s son, Mike Dailey, and his wife, Becca Dailey, purchased the old Driftwood Hotel in 1990 and converted it into the Hawaii Polo Inn, a boutique hotel that now serves as a North Shore polo sponsor.
“We had kids and it was time to focus on something besides polo,” said Mike Dailey, Equus hotel owner and president. “We went from the Driftwood where everyone partied at some time in their life to the Hawaii Polo Inn, which was tied to our North Shore polo roots.”
After a second renovation in 2007, the inn was renamed The Equus. The property’s decor reflects the family’s passion for horses. Hotel guests who come during the polo season are treated to two complimentary admission tickets to the matches, which run every Sunday from April to Labor Day.
Becca Dailey, who hails from Charlottesville, Va., and played polo for 20 years, led the transformation, which drew inspiration from Hawaii history and her own equestrian photography.
“We wanted to make sure that our guests knew the history of the paniolos (Hawaiian cowboys) and of polo,” said Becca Dailey, who is Equus’ vice president and lead designer.
The couple ran the property until their daughter Mariah Dailey, who got her start in hotels working as a front desk clerk at age 14, took the reins in 2012.
Mariah Dailey, who is pursuing a Masters of Global Leadership in Sustainable Development at Hawaii Pacific University, shares her family’s love of Hawaii’s lands. She’s already racked up several significant green awards and has set a goal to turn the property into a benefit corporation.
“It’s about making a statement that you are putting people and planet on an even keel with profit,” Mariah Dailey said.
Mariah Dailey pushed for this latest renovation, which adds a lobby bar where the family can talk story with patrons, sharing their equestrian history, and their pledge to run a sustainable hospitality operation. There will be equestrian-themed decor, such as saddle seats at the bar. There also will be a grab-and-go menu from Hiking Hawaii and equestrian-themed drinks. The bar will be open from 2 to 9 p.m., providing a place to hang out for the 3 p.m. hotel check-in crowd.
“A bar will improve the arrival experience. The Driftwood was this old-fashioned walk-up with a funky desk and a utilitarian security grill at the front,” Mariah Dailey said.
She said the new bar will add warmth and create a new Waikiki gathering place.
“I really want something that brings people together to have a conversation and share information — even better if it is about sustainability,” Mariah Dailey said.
