Hawaii Vacation Blog

KING KAMEHAMEHA'S Kona Beach Hotel was purchased by Investwest Financial/Pacifica Hotel Co. and a group of Hawaiian investors. The new owners have committed $25 million to a renovation that will emphasize the hotels historical setting as one-time home to the warrior king, Kamehameha. The hotel will remain open during the renovation, which will begin next spring. The purchase is the first in Hawaii for InvestWest Financial/Pacifica, which owns and operates hotels in California and Florida.

MORGAN STANLEY REAL ESTATE and Trinity Investments have completed a $575 million purchase of Maui's 1,800-acre Makena Resort. The purchase includes 1,300 undeveloped acres, two golf courses and the 310-room Maui Prince Hotel.

STARWOOD HOTELS & RESORTS is negotiating to purchase or partner in the controversial expansion of the Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu's North Shore. Newspaper reports, unconfirmed by Starwood, identify the company as a potential joint-venture partner with the current owner, Oaktree Capital Management. The master plan for the resort, approved in the early 1980s, includes five hotels with a total of 2,500 rooms, although it is likely that timeshare projects may replace the currently planned hotels.

HAWAIIAN AIRLINES, Aloha Airlines and Mesa Air Group all reported first-quarter losses due to high fuel costs and an on-going fare war initiated in June 2006, when Mesa Air launched Go, a low-cost, interisland carrier. Aloha lost $24.3 million, Hawaiian lost $11.9 million and Mesa lost $24 million.

HAWAII'S PLANTATION VILLAGE, located in central Oahu, is now offering tours that emphasize Hawaii's historical and cultural diversity. Tours depart Waikiki and include Honolulu's historic landmarks, Hawaii's Plantation Village (an outdoor history museum showcasing restored buildings and replicas of plantation structures), a 45-minute narrated ride on a vintage locomotive and a finale at the Paradise Cove Luau. Tours ($109 for adults, $90 children 12 and under) are offered every Wednesday, with pickups at various Waikiki locations starting at 12:45 p.m., returning to Waikiki is at about 10 p.m. Call (808) 677-0110.

There's been a lot of anticipation about the superferry coming to Hawaii and I have to say that I've been caught up in this anticipation as well. When I first heard about the ferry coming, I thought it would be a great idea and as a travel agent, I was thinking of all the possibilities that this could open up. For example; we could create all-inclusive packages that include a car and our clients could simply drive onto the ferry then disembark and drive to their hotel or any activity that they choose. I also thought it would be great for people who live here who will finally be able to get to some of the other islands pretty easily with their car.I love driving my car however, there's not too many places you can drive after awhile; you pretty much drive around in circles here so I looked forward to the idea of maybe driving up to Haleakala or a ride down Front Street! So as days approached for the ferry to come to Hawaii I kept checking to see when you would be able to purchase tickets online and finally last week they started accepting reservations for later in August because they do not have a start date for the first voyage. I decided to make reservations for a date in August and started to drill down through their website to add the various components for the reservation. I selected 2 adults, the Premium upgrade, and one car, the total price was $466.33 WHAT!!! Wait a minute I said, I don't think I'm quite ready to spend 500 bucks to go over to Maui plus a three hour boat ride!!! Additionally, when I get there I have to have pay for a hotel for the night because the ferry won't be back until the next day

And then it hit me!! This superferry may not be such a good idea after all especially from a cost/time perspective. Think about this, you have to get yourself together and drive on down to the port, wait on a line if you have a car, and get your car through their inspection, then you have to find seats on the ferry, then you have to eat, yes, more money!! You also need or four or five hours to spare because that's how long this whole fun trip is going to take.

The jury is still out on the superferry and I really hope that we can find some ways to make this work for us both to the tourist and for Kamaaina. I will certainly take the ferry as soon as I have an extra of $466 to spare but in the meantime I think taking the ferry might be a little too expensive. Especially when you fly the neighbor Islands for half the price.

AIR CAPACITY TO HAWAII from the Mainland is inching downward compared to the same period in 2006, according to the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism, with a 4.3% decline in capacity for the July-through-September quarter. Although ATA has increased its seat count to the islands, the trend is lower; ironically, the shrinking Japanese market will see a 1.9% increase in seat count to Hawaii. The reduced capacity affects all islands, with capacity down 1.3%, or about 25,000 seats, with Kahului down 7.1%, Kona down 20.9%, and Hilo and Lihue down about 13%. The figures point to fewer visitors flying through Los Angeles and San Francisco and more flying direct from second tier cities. Capacity will be down 15% from LAX and almost 17% from SFO, affecting flights to all four main islands. Delta is nearly halving its Salt Lake City service and reducing its Cincinnati flights (connecting from European routes) by two thirds; it is also cutting capacity 26% from Atlanta. At the same time, capacity will be up 20% from Sacramento, 25% from Portland, more than a third from both Seattle and Oakland (a hub for ATA), and almost 54% from Denver (a United Airlines hub).

NON-HOTEL ALTERNATIVE ACCOMMODATIONS are being selected by a growing number of Hawaii-bound visitors, according to Hospitality Advisors. Many hotels have seen occupancies dropping thanks to alternatives like timeshares, condominium ownership and cruise ships. Statewide occupancies at the end of June stood at 77.1%, down almost 10 percentage points from 2006. And while hikes in daily room rates have helped keep bottom lines strong for hoteliers, they're generally lower than 2006, with occupancies lower for all islands despite record visitor arrivals, according to Hospitality Advisors. In addition, in May, Hawaii occupancies declined in each of five price-tier categories, ranging from budget to luxury, with revenue per available room falling 2.3%, to $129.

Fresh lava returns to Puu Oo crater on Hawaii

Fourteen days after the lava stopped after twenty five years of flowing, raising concerns it might be over for good, fresh lava has been found at the collapsed floor of the Pu'u O'o crater, the source of lava for most of those years. The presence of new lava in the bottom of Pu'u O'o crater was confirmed by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) on Monday July 2. The fresh flows were first reported by local helicopter tour operators between 8 and 9 a.m. on Monday morning.

The lava was flowing across the crater floor, which sank more than 350 feet over the last two weeks. Loud, gas-jetting noises could be heard associated with spattering on the crater floor. HVO monitoring instruments detected a slightly elevated seismic tremor. A University of Hawaii infra-sound array identified signals from Pu'u Oo, suggesting change was in the works.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the state and has lately been getting hundreds more visitors per day, even while overall Big Island arrivals by air ran a fifth below last year.

THE OUTRIGGER REEF has added in-room, high-speed Internet as a value-add for guests. Also, the hotel's fitness center was renovated and reopened, part of a $100 million remake still underway. The makeover of the Ocean Tower's 200 rooms and suites was just completed.

THE FOUR SEASONS RESORT MAUI at Wailea has completed the installation of contemporary Hawaiian art, part of the hotel's recently completed $50 million remodel. The 280 works are featured in the hotel's guest rooms, corridors and public areas.

RESORTQUEST HAWAII has announced a wide range of fall specials for its three properties on the Big Island. Fourth-night-free promotions are available at Kona by the Sea, Shores at Waikoloa and Waikoloa Colony Villas. Free luaus, discount books and kids-stay-free deals are also available. Call (866) 774-2924 or visit www.resortquesthawaii.com.

THE WAILEA BEACH MARRIOTT Resort & Spa is offering the Exotic Escape Package, which includes daily breakfast for two, a 50-minute Elemis Coconut Rub and Milk Ritual and valet parking. The package, valid through Dec. 20, is priced from $369 to $413 per night for a minimum four-night stay. Call (800) 220-2925 or visit www.waileamarriott.com.

THE HILTON WAIKOLOA VILLAGE has completed most phases of a $90 million upgrade, with updated rooms, enhanced service options and property-wide improvements. The room upgrades included new carpeting, wall art, renovated bathrooms and the installation of Hilton Serenity beds. All pools were resurfaced and retiled. Technology improvements include high-speed wireless Internet access.

SUCCESS STORIES

From Bust to Boom
BY MIMI KMET
Agent@ Home Magazine July
An Internet company finds success as a travel retailer after dot-com fallout

When the dot-com industry went bust a few years ago, Bruce Fisher and his wife, Yaling Yu, went into the travel business out of necessity. Today, their Honolulu-based at-home agency, Hawaii-Aloha.com, is booming. Last year, the agency did $5.4 million in gross sales, nearly double its 2005 sales, according to Fisher. Moreover, gross sales in the first quarter of 2007 are up 120 percent over the first quarter last year, thanks mainly to their embrace of technology.

"We started out as a dot-com in 1997 and got dot-bombed when the Internet marketing business went bad in 2000," Fisher says, referring to the Internet marketing company they operated from home. But what kept Fisher and Yu afloat was their affiliation with Planet Hawaii, a portal with a hotel booking engine, which was still getting plenty of traffic. Fisher says, "We were getting commission checks from Planet Hawaii, because people were booking travel. We had a licensing agreement to run Planet Hawaii, so we were getting any money that came through."
And when that agreement came to an end, Fisher and Yu, who operated Hawaii-Aloha.corn as the website for their marketing company, posted their phone number on the site.
"We made a conscious decision out of desperation, because we were going out of business," Fisher says, adding that the response was almost immediate. "When we stuck the phone number on our website, someone called, and I didn't know what I was doing. So I booked the air on Orbitz, I booked the hotel on the Planet Hawaii affiliate program, and I used a supermarket coupon that offered free companion inter-island air. I bundled it together, and it was cheaper than what the client could find online at the time."

The transition into travel retailing seemed natural, since Hawaii-Aloha. com had clients such as the former Aston Hotels & Resorts (now ResortQuest Hawaii) and Prince Resorts Hawaii when it was an Internet marketing company. Nonetheless, Fisher and Yu weren't familiar with all of the hotels there, he admits. So Fisher bought the book "Hawaii for Dummies," and HawaiiAloha.com started growing as an inbound Hawaii travel retailer. In fact, he says, "By the second year, we were so overwhelmed by the amount of traffic we were getting, we were turning down business. At the same time we weren't making a killing." This put Fisher and Yu into another dilemma: They needed employees but couldn't afford to pay them regular salaries or rent office space. At that time, Voiceover Internet Phone (VOIP) service, which uses the Internet as a phone connection point, was becoming popular.

They embraced the new technology by setting up a part-time agent with VOIP in her home. Now, when HawaiiAloha.com's toll-free number rings, it rings on all phones with the company's VOIP service, and the first person to answer takes the call. Agents also can transfer calls to one another, participate in conference calls and perform other phone functions as if they were located in the same office.

Today, Fisher and Yu still book travel from their home office, while 15 agent affiliates, most of whom are in Hawaii and all of whom are certified Hawaii specialists, work completely on an independent , basis, aside from the VOIP connection.
But that's where web technology gives way to personal interaction.

"Once a customer interacts with our website and makes contact with us, the Internet experience ends and it's humanized from that point forward," Fisher says, explaining that clients then speak to the agents via phone. "We use Internet technology just to make things easier," he says, noting that agents also have live, online chats with clients.

Each of the Hawaii-Aloha.com's agents has a blog on the website. And the company recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of its podcast, www.hawaiialoha.com/podcast, a travel show that goes online three times a week, covering topics such as all-inclusive options and inexpensive airfare. Fisher also answers questions submitted by podcast customers and provides information about packages. The podcasts resulted in regular appearances on the Travel Channel's "Hawaii Do's and Don'ts."

In addition, Fisher appears regularly on AllExperts.com in Hawaii, where he answers questions about traveling to the islands. Although he does this gratis, his appearances boost his credibility, and some of the people who have posed questions are now clients.
Next on the tech agenda is developing a proprietary database program. "We develop our own stuff," Fisher says. "There are so many cookie-cutter sites out there," most of which use engines such as Expedia to operate.

Hawaii-Aloha.com is also venturing into wholesaling with its commissionable "Oahu Carefree All-Inclusive" package, which it rolled out in April. "Hawaii is not really an all-inclusive destination, but there are a lot of people who want it," Fisher says.