What's New

The state that saw its hospitality business tank most quickly after September 2001 was among the first to recover — and come roaring back. Hawaii in 2005 was near or at capacity with almost 7.5 million visitors, many of them conventiongoers. The benchmark goal of 7 million was almost reached in 2004, but 2005 was the islands' best year ever.

“Let's put it this way, it's been a good year,” Rex Johnson, president and chief executive officer of the Hawaii Tourism Authority (www.hawaiitourismauthority.org), told USA Today in January. Johnson went on to explain that hotels were running as full as they could in 2005, and in high season, there were times when there were no available rooms anywhere in Hawaii.

While no new hotel construction is happening on the islands, hotels and resorts are following an increasingly popular trend of remodeling and repositioning themselves to target more affluent guests and grow their bottom lines. This is particularly true in areas such as Waikiki and the Kohala Coast, where there is no more room to build. Instead, hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent on rehabilitation projects, including the $460 million Outrigger Beach Walk project in Honolulu that should be complete next year.

With memories of 2002-2003 still fresh in their minds — when occupancy rates dropped below 50 percent — hoteliers are looking to draw as much business as possible, but are particularly eager to attract the “Big Kahuna” — the lavish incentive or large corporate or association meeting. In the meantime, occupancy rates are skyrocketing.

Hotels intend to make the best of the good times, so rates and surcharges are up, and planners looking to squeeze in a few unexpected qualifiers at the last minute might find there is no room at the inn.

An alternative to hotel-based meetings is gaining ground: Corporate meetings at sea and incentive cruises are trendy, and company executives are discovering that business-related cruises offer convenience and some economic advantages over land-based meetings.

One is the package deal. Cruise operators can roll airfare, lodging, audiovisual, planning, entertainment, food, and even taxes into one price tag. Hotel packages often are more limited. Norwegian Cruise Line, Hawaii's largest cruise operator, is able to combine a tropical cruise environment with corporate and individual tax deductibility for meeting expenses, because NCL Hawaii has two rare U.S. — flagged ships in its fleet. The Pride of America's entire top deck is dedicated to conferences and meetings. Launched last year, the ship has boardrooms for 10 people and an auditorium for 260. The Pride of Aloha also offers meeting facilities.

Another nautical development, the Hawaii Superferry, is on track for a 2007 launch, and that means interisland travel is about to change. Once confined to canoes, modern public travel between islands has been limited to small planes. The Superferry, 340 feet long and 80 feet wide, will be able to transport 900 people, 200 cars, and 15 trucks between Oahu and Maui or Kauai in three hours. At a speed of 48 mph, the Big Island and Oahu will be only four hours apart. Could a group present a seminar or hold a meeting on board? They certainly could get their business done and leave the shore time on the neighbor island for exploring.

The Waikiki Beach Walk (with 90,000 square feet of retail shops, restaurants, an entertainment plaza and outdoor venues) involves the redevelopment of almost eight acres of land in the Lewers/Beach Walk area between Kalakaua Avenue and Waikiki Beach. Outrigger Enterprises is behind the $460 million project, which is expected to be complete by next year. Redesigns and upgrades will also take place at the Ohana Waikiki Village and Ohana Waikiki Tower hotels.

Facility Updates

Maui

• A $60 million upgrade planned for the WAILEA BEACH MARRIOTT is already in motion with a $19 million room upgrade and conversion of one restaurant into a spa. If proper permits are forthcoming, the entrance will be rebuilt to face the ocean, and a permanent tent will be pitched over the activities deck atop the banquet hall.

• ATLANTIS ADVENTURES recently sank the Carthaginian, a replica whaling ship off Lahaina, Maui, creating an artificial reef for marine life. The Carthaginian is anchored in 95 feet of water half a mile offshore. Atlantis will incorporate the attraction into its Maui submarine tours.

Oahu

• WAIKIKI PARC, a 297-room boutique hotel in central Waikiki, will undergo a complete renovation this year and will be launched as an upscale hotel in 2007. The Parc averaged a 90 percent occupancy rate in 2005. Interior renovation of the rooms began in February and will be done by summer, with public areas and meeting space to be completed by November.

• The investment company that owns TURTLE BAY RESORT is planning to expand on oceanfront property at Kawela Bay — a secluded bay on the North Shore — in accordance with an agreement reached with the city in 1986 to eventually build 3,500 additional hotel and condo units. The agreement includes provisions for a hotel at Kawela Bay, which is adjacent to Turtle Bay. The Pacific Rim Conference Center at Turtle Bay has more than 31,000 square feet of event and pre-function space.

• The RADISSON WAIKIKI PRINCE KUHIO on March 1 embarked on phase three of its $12.1 million room renovation. The project is scheduled to begin work on the 36th floor and works down to the lobby level by December.

• HILTON HAWAIIAN VILLAGE BEACH RESORT & SPA and Xerox Hawaii have expanded their hotel business center facility to include 450 square feet more space to house $300,000 in new photo-imaging equipment. Meeting, convention, and incentive attendees staying at the hotel can convert digital camera memory card files, camera phone photos, film, or disposable cameras into photos on DVD, CD-ROM, standard prints, postcards, and calendars — literally overnight.

• The HYATT REGENCY WAIKIKI RESORT & SPA has completed the second phase of a $16 million renovation of its guest rooms. “Simple Hawaiian Elegance” is the catch phrase for the new room designs. As of this past September, all 1,230 guest rooms had been redone.

• Hawaii hotelier André Tatibouet intends to renovate his 247-room AQUA CORAL REEF HOTEL on Kuhio Avenue next to the International Marketplace. The Coral Reef's $7 million renovation is set to begin in mid-April.

• Last year, the SHERATON WAIKIKI, with 1,695 rooms and suites, hired Xerox to run its business center, which is available around-the-clock to meeting planners and convention exhibitors. Among its services are a wireless access lounge for laptops, large-format printing, binding, collating, and laminating, as well as notary and cell-phone services.

Lanai

• FOUR SEASONS RESORT LANA‘I AT MANELE BAY has completely redone 236 rooms and suites with tropical island and East Asian influences. A highlight of the renovations includes the new 2,500-square-foot Ali'i Suite with a mahogany four-poster bed, Oriental carpets, and an oversized private lanai. A new fitness center offers yoga, Pilates, spinning, personal training, and cardio classes as well as a full spa.

• THE LODGE AT KOELE, the sister property to Four Seasons Resort Lana‘i at Manele Bay, has the traditional elegance of an English manor set in the central highlands of the Island, and will undergo extensive renovations during 2006.

Kauai

• COCO PALMS RESORT, the last of Kauai's hotels to come back after 1992 Hurri cane Iniki, is finally being rehabilitated. Too badly damaged to restore, the buildings will be replicated in a combination of 196 condominiums and 48 bungalow hotel units, a spa, meeting space, and two restaurants. The $220 million project is expected to begin in June or July, with a grand opening scheduled for 2008.

The Big Island

• The FAIRMONT ORCHID has unveiled its Fairmont Gold Floor for guests who prefer personalized services and a private Gold Lounge. The hotel has also added a Hawaiian look and feel to its outdoor “Spa Without Walls,” including new waterfall massage houses and oceanfront massage cabanas.

• The new owner of the Hilo Hotel has renamed it NANILOA VOLCANOES RESORT and is renovating two floors at a time to keep it open during the project. The hotel has approximately 325 rooms.

• Waikoloa Beach Resort is constructing a $95 million QUEENS' MARKETPLACE AND CULTURAL GARDENS, a 28-acre retail and entertainment center with exhibits of native Hawaiian art, history, song, and dance. Upon its early 2007 opening, one highlight will be a gourmet grocery that brings together items from the multiple cultures that make up Hawaii's Big Island. The Waikoloa Beach Marriott has 545 guest rooms and 10 meeting rooms that can seat up to 500 people.

Ask the CVB

HAWAII VISITORS AND CONVENTION BUREAU
(888) 424-2924, (808) 923-1811
www.meethawaii.com

OAHU VISITORS BUREAU
(877) 525-6248, (808) 524-0722
www.visit-oahu.com

MAUI VISITORS BUREAU
(888) 918-8444
www.mauimeetings.net

THE ISLAND OF LANAI
(800) 947-4774
www.visitlanai.net

MOLOKAI VISITORS ASSOCIATION
(800) 800-6367, (808) 553-3876
www.visitmolokai.net

BIG ISLAND VISITORS BUREAU
(800) 648-2441
(808) 961-5797
www.meetbigisland.com

KAUAI VISITORS BUREAU
(808) 245-3971
www.kauaivisitorsbureau.com

Phantom Planner

• Promotional items, such as Hawaii logo pens, stickers, lapel pins, etc., may be obtained without charge by planners to promote a Hawaii meeting. Visit www.sharingaloha.com/promoitems.atm.

• If the group will be connecting through Honolulu to a neighboring island, remind everyone to check their baggage claim tickets. If tickets read HNL, luggage stops there and will need to be hand-carried to a connecting flight. Bags checked to the Big Island will read ITO or KOA. Those checked to Kauai will have the letters LIH; claim checks that read OGG go to Maui.

• The low humidity in an airplane during a relatively long flight can increase allergy or asthma symptoms. Attendees should pack medications and inhalers in carry-on bags.

• Avoid a session with a Hawaii Plant Quarantine Inspector. Don't bring fresh fruits or vegetables, cut flowers or plants, rooted plants or cuttings, seeds or bulbs, live seafood, cultures of bacteria, or any other living item.

• Clothes needed will be casual summer resort wear and perhaps one skirt or sport jacket, unless your group is hosting a formal event. Warm clothes will be needed only if groups will be going to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island, or to Maui's Haleakala National Park.

Special Venues

• Here's a challenge for any group's most enthusiastic golfers: King Kamehameha the Great walked the trails of the 20-mile shoreline of the Kohala Coast on Hawaii's Big Island. Today, his route is still dotted with ruins of ancient temples, although it is also home to modern resorts. Golfers can walk pathways once reserved for Hawaii's royalty on the KINGS' GOLF TRAIL. Six championship-quality courses have connected the footpaths of King Kamehameha, beginning with the Mauna Kea Golf Course and moving 108 holes along the coast through the Hapuna Golf Course to the North and South Mauna Lani golf courses to the Waikoloa Kings' Course and, finally, the Waikoloa Beach Course. Players who complete all six courses receive a special certificate. www.gohawaii.com/bigisland/golf/kingstrail.aspx

• On the slope of the Big Island's Maunakea, the IMILOA ASTRONOMY CENTER opened in February. The $28 million, 40,000-square-foot exhibition and planetarium complex tells the stories of the Maunakea volcano and of the Hawaiian voyages of discovery that led people of many cultures to the islands. Funded primarily by NASA, the architectural design of three huge titanium-covered cones represents the volcanoes of Maunakea, Maunaloa, and Hualalai. The cones are a highly visible landmark from the sea, the air, or the roads around Hilo. The meeting space and facilities are available for private events. www.ImiloaHawaii.org; (808) 969-9705.

• Groups of 40 to 850 guests can hang out with bright tropical reef fish, green sea turtles, squid, stingrays, and sharks at the MAUI OCEAN CENTER. With exclusive rental of the aquarium, the evening begins with a leisurely tour of the exhibits, dinner in an outdoor or open-air setting, and entertainment. (808) 270-7000; www.mauioceancenter.com/Group_Events.html

• Plans for a new USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL MUSEUM AND VISITOR CENTER are being finalized to accommodate increasing numbers of visitors to Pearl Harbor. Included are walkways, exhibit and event space, a larger bookstore, and two theaters. A new Education and Research Center will have teleconferencing capabilities, a research center with access to historical documents, and classrooms. www.PearlHarborMemorial.com.

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