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6 October, 2022

International women in travel: Aqua Aston Hospitality’s Rhonda Khabir

Travel Weekly sat down with the dazzling Rhonda Khabir, senior VP of sales and marketing for Aqua Aston Hospitality as part of our International Women in Travel series.

Travel Weekly: What do you love most about your job?

Rhonda Khabir: I love being in hotels. I have loved them from the first time that I walked into one when I was 16 years old, just looking for any job that was not on my father’s farm milking cows!

His friend owned a hotel and out of pure desperation I said to him, ‘what job could I do there that doesn’t involve milking cows or bailing hay!?’

I had never even been in a hotel before. I never even stayed at a hotel. I remember walking into the restaurant for the first time, and people were dressed so nicely. They were going places and they were so intentional and smart.

What I love about my job is no different than that small, little hotel, way back then, when I walk into a hotel in Brisbane, Melbourne, in Scottsdale, Arizona, it’s the same kit.

Look at the people, they look so lovely. They’re going somewhere, they have something to do, and they’re from somewhere else. And they might know something that I don’t. And really, it’s a keen curiosity about people”

TW: How do you spend your free time?

RK: I fly planes. A lot of people call me an adrenaline junkie, but I don’t think I’m an adrenaline junkie.

I like being in places where people can be surprised to see women show up.

So when I walk out on the tarmac at the airport, it’s generally filled with men. I do some volunteer work where I will give rides for medical purposes. And invariably, the patient will come up to me and say, “Excuse me, ma’am, do you know where my pilot is?”

TW: What’s been your experience as a woman in travel?

RK: I would say that’s really changing now and when I first started, every general manager I had was a male. And then as I worked my way up the ranks, it was sort of with one of the guys, becoming one of the guys and almost having like a sister, brother relationship.

I’ve been blessed to work with some incredibly smart, welcoming individuals who really do treat me like Ohana. I would say, I really have been fortunate, I’ve only had three jobs, right? So I tend to stay in jobs for a long time.

In the job before this, I had a female CEO. And it was a startup company. So there was plenty of runway available for me to grow.

TW: What’s one piece of advice or wisdom you would give for women entering the travel sector today?

RK: My advice that I firmly believe is to be a good student, show up, learn as much as you can and add value to other people around you. What you will get is equivalent to what you give, so try to show up and always be of value and actually help and do more than is required. And I think that’s the key to success. I really believe that.

TW: What would you say to the Australian travel industry and travel advisors about Hawaii and your hotel group in the year ahead?

RK: In this next year ahead, I think it’s going to be a really special time to come to Hawaii, I really do. There is so much work being done at the Tourism Authority to promote, protect and educate about the Hawaiian culture.

If you go to Hawaii now, you’re going to see more of the true authentic Hawaiian experience.

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

Aqua-Aston Hospitality hawaii International women in travel Rhonda Khabir