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produced
by Successful Meetings' Marketing Services Department: Judith Sawyer, Special Projects Director Joy Anderson, Special Projects Associate Amy Bothwell, Creative Director Jason Beckstead, Associate Art Director Ji-Young Chung, Associate Art Director David Diehl, Designer Marcie and Rick Carroll, Writers
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For More Information: Sandra Butler Moreno V.P., Meetings, Conventions, Incentives Hawai'i Visitors & Convention Bureau (888)424-2924 (toll-free); (808)923-1811 Fax: (808)924-0293 email: meetings@hvcvb.org www.gohawaii.com
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As most planners know, Hawai'i is a dazzling meeting and incentive travel destination. A place that exceeds attendees' wildest dreams with its great beauty, warm people, singular cultural heritage, unbeatable weather for entertaining and recreation, and unexcelled resorts and meeting facilities. Now, since the opening of the $350-million Hawai'i Convention Center in July, Island travel partners have been upgrading their facilities and services and marketing to planners more fervently than ever.
One reason for this enhanced commitment to the future is their conviction that large-scale conventions "bring more first-time visitors to Hawai'i," asserts John Votsis, director of sales and marketing for Starwood Resorts & Hotels Hawai'i. "Once they see the Islands, they'll come back with their families on vacation." Likewise, families often accompany meeting delegates, who then extend their stay to take advantage of pre- and post-convention trips to the Neighbor Islands.
Starwood (also parent to Westin) has purchased the Westin Maui as well, and is likely to take over Westin's marketing and franchise agreements with Hawai'i's five Prince Hotels. In all, that comes to some 8,000 high quality Starwood guest rooms throughout the islands.
Such a consolidation creates a "certain amount of apprehension" among wholesalers, planners, and other bargaining partners in the rate packaging game, admits Votsis, former marketing chief of the competing Hilton Hawaiian Village. "Others like dealing with one office, one-stop shopping" for rates and options. Votsis believes planners will appreciate the changes because, he claims, Starwood is "significantly more group-oriented" than Sheraton.
Even so, Sheraton spent millions in recent years for Neighbor Island hotel makeovers that, among other things, added or improved meeting facilities in leisure resorts like the Sheraton Maui and Sheraton Kauai.
After seeing active duty in both the Korean war and the Persian Gulf, the ship was towed across the Pacific and underwent a $1 million refurbishing to prepare it as a museum. Spokesman Roy Yee, who worked for many years to win the Missouri, anticipates it will be a major visitor attraction for Oahu.
"The marriage of this ship with the Arizona and the Pearl Harbor complex someday will gain an importance I think as great as the Statue of Liberty for the West," says Yee. The grand opening is set for early next year. Atlantis Adventures will market the battleship as a site for meetings and receptions.
Located on Maui's rugged northeastern coast, the 123-acre garden specializes in research into the ethnobotany of the Pacific-plants significant in Hawaiian and other Polynesian cultures. It has the world's largest collection of breadfruit and extensive plantings of palms, coconuts, banana, vanilla, pandanus, and awa, Hawai'i's version of kava. The garden is developing a collection of rare and endangered native coastal plants that grow only on Maui.
The garden is also the site of Piilani Heiau, an ancient temple site and 16th century residence of Maui's King Piilani. Tours will allow viewing of the sacred site. The area is rich in archeological detail.
The garden was created in 1972 with the donation of 61 acres by a local family of ranchers who wanted the heiau, surrounding archeological sites, and family graves preserved but shared with others. It later expanded with a second acquisition.
"We have more emphasis on meetings and convention business because of the new facility," says Outrigger spokesman Bryan Klum. "The Convention Center creates higher demand for deluxe and premium hotel rooms throughout Waikiki. That's one big thing driving us to upgrade our facilities." Outrigger has spent multi-millions on upgrades, particularly for its classier Waikiki hotels, such as the meetings-oriented Outrigger Prince Kuhio and the deluxe beachfront Outrigger Waikiki Beach and Outrigger Reef on the Beach hotels.
Now, however, Outrigger is considering a major redevelopment in Waikiki that would involve creating a mixed-use "super-block" of hotel and retail facilities along Lewers Street, prime real estate where Outrigger owns a cluster of eight older hotels. Klum describes it as something "along the lines of a festival marketplace." The plan, to create a "destination within a destination," would probably take five years to execute.
In addition, Outrigger recently purchased the Royal Waikoloan Hotel at Waikoloa Beach Resort on the Big Island, renamed it the Outrigger Waikoloa Beach Resort, and announced a major renovation there. The Royal Waikoloan will be repositioned as an upscale family, incentive, and meetings hotel. Outrigger's other Neighbor Island meetings hotel is the Outrigger Kauai Beach Hotel.
Spa Kea Lani, introduced last spring, has added sauna, steam room and water therapies to its several varieties of massage, from Swedish to shiatsu to Hawaiian lomilomi, facials, body wraps, and body polishes. Spa packages for a full or half-day of pampering include specially prepared lunches.
Kea Lani has also opened a new seafood restaurant-Nick's Fishmarket Maui-with seating both outdoors and inside. A private dining room seats up to 40.
The Maui hotel, which features spacious one-bedroom suites and plushy villas with all the comforts of home plus private pools and up to three bedrooms, offers special rates to groups that reserve 10 or more suites for select dates.
The hotel's splendid oceanfront site on 10 acres beside the mouth of Hawai'i's Wailua River is shared with a beach park featuring protected swimming and ancient ruins. Wailua Golf Course, one of the top public courses in the nation, is just a mile away.
Meeting facilities will hold groups of up to 300 with full catering and banquet services. Room amenities include phones with voice mail, data ports and free local calls, in-room coffee and refrigerators. Shopping, dining, sightseeing, and the airport are close by.
The Holiday Inn SunSpree management firm is a subsidiary of British-based Bass Hotels & Resorts. The 216-room Kauai resort is its first hotel in Hawai'i.
The Boardroom, located in the lobby's new business services center, has easy access to audio-visual equipment, office machines, and secretarial services, as well as free coffee.
Hawai'i drew an estimated 8,000 delegates and their mates for the convention Aug. 23-28, the union's largest meeting ever, according to local host Russell Okata, executive director of the Hawai'i Government Employees Association, Local 152. Vice President Al Gore led the roster of speakers. It was the first time in 25 years that AFSME could meet in the Aloha State, Okata says, because the union had grown too big for any single meeting space here-until the arrival of the new convention center.
Okata was the advance man who calmed headquarters' jitters about the center's progress, which was still under construction as conference commitments were being made, as well as state officials who were in charge of the public facility but had no expertise in meeting planning.
For AFSCME, there were other concerns to overcome. The union membership in 3,000 local chapters is heavily concentrated on the East Coast, and delegates are sensitive to public concerns about cost and possible charges of junketing to resort destinations. "Apparently that didn't deter many people," says Okata. The meeting was of record-breaking size.
Speaking to many delegates during the sessions, Okata found no complaints and lots of praise for the facility. "They were just happy to be here," he says.
Taking advantage of convention center features and weather few other destinations can duplicate, the delegates gathered on the rooftop for a reception and entertainment on a delightful summer night.
Mickey Linnell, a travel planner who worked with AFSCME on the meeting, had high praise for the Hawai'i regional cuisine served from the convention center's elaborate kitchens and overseen by Chef Sam Choy. "The food was absolutely wonderful," recalls Linnell-both banquet fare and the buffets for the VIP room and other locales. "I can't even describe the flair he used to create dishes-a lot of Asian influence, in the salads, hot entrees. People would come through the line and say, "Oh! 'This tastes great!'"
Indoors during business sessions the group tackled difficult issues. But, adds Okata, "the magic of Hawai'i and the great convention center made the decisions much more palatable. The facility lived up to expectations and the meetings went extremely well."
As often happens with Hawaiian meetings, many delegates brought their families. Were they pleased? "You can't not be pleased in Hawai'i," declares Linnell. "There are so many things to do. It's beautiful, very relaxed, a wonderful experence."
Only the Northwest Airlines strike, which began while the meeting was underway, caused any disruption. As a result, Linnell faced a lot of angry delegates one morning, but by the time they had been moved into the luxurious Hilton Hawaiian Village for a windfall extension of their stay, they were smiling again.
Chalk it up to the aloha spirit and a certain something more important to take home than souvenirs and snapshots. In Hawai'i stunning reminders of nature's magnitude, like live volcanoes and towering surf, can restore one's perspective. The perfumed air, the sweet sway of hula, and warm smiles from strangers cast a spell of joy and well-being. The beaches are fabulous, the hotels superlative, and the golf among the most challenging in the world. And finally, there's the discovery that a surprising amount of work can be accomplished by relaxed people in pleasurable surroundings.
One of Hawai'i's greatest assets is its diversity. Its six main islands-Hawai'i (the Big Island), Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Molokai, and Lanai-lie just inside the Tropic of Cancer, about 1,400 miles above the Equator and about 2,400 miles from the nearest continent. Each one is unique.
Always strategic in location and function, Honolulu grew from an outpost port village into the headquarters of the Hawaiian kingdom, the capital of the territory and, in 1959, the 50th State, and the nation's 11th largest city, even though it meant shipping every nail, board and pane of glass across the sea and attracting capital from the U.S. mainland, Canada, the South Pacific, Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
Today's Honolulu is a shopping center of global proportions, with goods imported from everywhere to sell to eager shoppers from around the world. Upscale retailer Nieman Marcus is the latest to join the parade of European and American designer and sports boutiques, Asian and American jewelry stores and art galleries, Hawaiian arts and crafts stores, factory outlets, discount stores and retail "destination" stores like Nike Town competing for attention. Overall, annual retail sales in Hawai'i, a state of 1.2 million people, exceed $12 billion, most of it spent in Honolulu. This is in addition to nearly $10 billion in yearly tourism revenues. Hawai'i has had its economic ups and downs and now is feeling the effects of the Asian economic ailments, but basically it has survived a revolutionary transition from a sugar-based export economy to a tourism-dependent one based on the importing of visitors.
Honolulu's newest edifice of note for meeting planners is the $350 million Hawai'i Convention Center, which opened for business this summer to accommodate convention groups of 500 people or more. Its glass facade and lobby palm trees and waterfalls, Hawaiian art works, lavish tropical gardens and huge rooftop outdoor function area leave little doubt as to where you are, and the high-tech appointments are so good they are worth a tour.
Tucked among the mirrored highrise towers and busy boulevards of Honolulu are historic treasures such as Iolani Palace, America's only former royal palace and home of the last Hawaiian monarchs. It is the centerpiece of a downtown historic district of gracious old monuments, including the Mission Houses Museum and Kawaiahao Church, made of coral carved from a reef in 1842.
Honolulu was just a quiet town in the isolated Territory of Hawai'i when life there changed forever on Dec. 7, 1941, the day Japanese planes attacked U.S. ships in Pearl Harbor. The modern world makes pilgrimages to the USS Arizona Memorial to reflect on the events that catapulted America into World War II. Fittingly, the Arizona will soon be joined by another memorial, the battleship on whose decks the war ended, the USS Missouri.
Along famous Waikiki Beach, the former playground of kings who invented surfing and outrigger canoe races, nearly half the state's 70,000 rooms are packed into less than a square mile, in hotels and condos with abundant restaurants, entertainment and shopping. For many conventioneers and visitors, Waikiki is the Hawai'i experience. It's the only place they go. While the tropical dream of "little grass shacks" by the beach has vanished, Waikiki knows how to deliver a rollicking good time after nearly a century in the business of tourism. It hums day and night with swimming, surfing, cruises, dance clubs, and more.
The proudly restored 1901 Sheraton Moana Surfrider remains dowager queen of the beach, attended by the 1927 Royal Hawaiian Hotel and a host of younger landmarks. Many of Waikiki's other historic sights have vanished, but their stories live on in historic walking tours. Free hula performances, crafts demonstrations and plentiful live Hawaiian music, at many hotels, in the parks and on the sidewalks, give visitors a taste of the real culture.
Outside the city corridor and its suburbs, the island of Oahu is largely an undeveloped rural landscape of forested mountains, vacant beaches and fields of pineapple and sugar cane. Two other golf resort areas offer a quiet alternative to Waikiki -Ko Olina, with the Ihilani Resort & Spa on the west side of the island, and Turtle Bay on the North Shore, home of the world's largest winter waves.
Ko Olina
North Shore
King Kamehameha the Great was born there in North Kohala, and British Capt. James Cook died there, at Kealakekua Bay. Fire goddess Pele, tempestuous queen of the Hawaiian pantheon, lives on in Kilauea Volcano-and in Hawaiian hearts.
Ancient Hawaiians used smooth lava pillows for drawing tablets and rough rocks for building blocks. They ran along a lava path worn smooth by barefoot messengers and slept behind rock travel shelters, a far cry from the modern palaces nearby. They built their homes on lava foundations, such as the ones that still support cottages around a fishpond at Kona Village Resort, a modern retreat on a prehistoric site north of the airport at Kaupulehu.
Next door is the state's newest hotel, the Four Seasons Resort Hawai'i at Hualalai Resort, which features a new golf course. Both neighbors are noteworthy for their low development profile, sequestered against the seashore.
Two Kohala Coast resorts serve as stewards for the enormous Waikoloa and Puako petroglyph fields, the best places in Hawai'i to puzzle over the thousands of primitive drawings carved there long ago. Waikoloa Beach and Mauna Lani resorts provide parking, trails and signs for visiting the petroglyphs and huge complexes of royal fishponds where small fry were trapped and raised to eating size.
Beyond Mauna Kea Beach Resort, a massive stone war temple at Puukohola National Historic Site dominates a windy lookout from which King Kamehameha launched his conquests to unify the island kingdom.
Above Hilo is Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, a must-see attraction starring Kilauea, the world's most active volcano. The fiery spectacle that lured Hawai'i's first "eco-travelers" here in the late 1800s continues to be a spell-binder.
Across the island in South Kona, Puuhonua o Honaunau (Place of Refuge) National Historic Park preserves the serene refuge where both war victims and miscreants once fled for sanctuary.
Kona-Kohala Coast
Thanks to the devoted work of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, visitors can see where whalers played and preachers prayed. The historic brig Carthaginian II rides at anchor on the waterfront, across the street from the renovated Pioneer Inn, a favorite watering hole.
Lahaina's resort neighbor, Kaanapali Beach Resort, is a popular collection of family-oriented and group-oriented hotels, luxury condos and other properties along a four-mile beach backed by golf greens.
To the north is Kapalua Resort, part of a 23,000-acre pineapple plantation whose fields spread beyond two beachfront hotels, the Ritz-Carlton and newly renovated Kapalua Bay, as well as condos, homes, shops, and three golf courses. The resort's plantation roots are apparent in the old company store and chapel and the signature Cook pine windbreaks that line the roads. The beaches have won national acclaim for their good looks and recreational attractions, including great snorkeling.
To the south, the town of Kihei and its condos offer moderate-budget accommodations, along with shopping, restaurants, and beaches. Then exclusive Wailea Resort takes its luxury turn with three golf courses and five beaches shared by five hotels catering to groups. Last on the southern end is Makena Resort with 1,800 acres of golf course and natural landscape and one hotel, the Maui Prince.
In Upcountry Maui, a third of the way up 10,000-foot Mt. Haleakala, ranches and flower farms thrive in the cool air. At historic Ulupalakua Ranch, 19th century cowboys once drove cattle down the slope into the sea below, where they swam to ships bound for market. Today's ranch also includes a winery that is open to visitors, the Tedeschi Vineyards.
Kaanapali
Kahului
Kapalua
Wailea
Makena
The cool upland estate-like Lodge at Koele and the sun-drenched coastal Manele Bay Hotel share the island with less than 3,000 residents, ancient ruins, and a small old-fashioned lodge in the plantation village of Lanai City. Wilderness trails for Jeeps, hiking, and horseback riding beckon adventurous guests.
Life is low-key and close to the earth on neighboring Molokai, a rural retreat of open spaces and open-hearted people who still follow the Hawaiian traditions of their ancestors. More than half the population of 7,000 claim Hawaiian bloodlines.
Tourism development is restricted to one West End resort, Kaluakoi Hotel & Golf Club along a scenic golden beach, and a new rustic eco-adventure resort on the 54,000-acre Molokai Ranch as well as a handful of other small hotels and vacation condos and cottages.
A remote peninsula beyond Molokai's imposing seacliffs once was home to the infamous Kalaupapa leper colony. Belgian priest Father Damien de Veuster, recently beatified by the Vatican, worked with the ailing victims until the disease claimed him in 1889. Kalaupapa National Historical Park preserves the settlement, still inhabited by patients whose illness is controlled by drugs.
Water carved Kauai, fed its cascading falls and rainbows, nourished the jungle wilderness, gave birth to the Hawai'i sugar industry in 1835 and flooded the Hanalei River Valley taro patches. Mount Waialeale crater, the ancient volcano from which Kauai grew, is said to be the wettest place on earth.
Some evidence suggests the earliest seafarers arrived on Kauai in 200 or 300 A.D., five centuries before the other islands. Tahitian chiefs settled along the Wailua River and built temples. Explorer Capt. James Cook landed first in west Kauai in 1778.
The sweet life of Kauai sugar barons reached its zenith in the 1930s, when Kilohana was built south of Lihue. This Tudor estate, popular for offsite functions, houses restored living rooms, boutiques, galleries and a restaurant. Polo matches are staged on the lawns, and oversized horses pull carriages around the estate for short rides.
Kauai resort areas include Poipu Beach Resort, home to myriad comfortable condos that spread across hillsides down to the beach, the Hyatt Regency Kauai with its art deco lobby, and the rebuilt Sheraton Kauai complex that was closed in 1992 by Hurricane Iniki.
Further west at Waimea, one of Hawai'i's most nostalgic resorts, renovated sugar shacks rest under a palm grove on Waimea Beach. The bungalows of Waimea Plantation Cottages bear nameplates of the families who once lived in them.
In central Kauai, the Kauai Marriott at Kalapaki Beach and its group facilities occupy Kauai Lagoons resort, with two golf courses and fantasy resort features. Further north, Outrigger Kauai Beach Hotel anchors one end of the Wailua River resort area, which also includes moderately priced condos and hotels along the shore.
On the North Shore, at the resort gateway to the fabled Na Pali Coast, Princeville Resort sprawls over a seacliff. Luxurious Princeville Hotel on the cliff's edge offers one of the world's finest views, of picturesque Hanalei Bay below.
Poipu
Princeville
When you're ready to venture beyond the tried-and-true favorite mahimahi, consider the following:
Ahi-Hawai'i's delectable yellow-fin tuna, with a rosy translucent flesh. It's a favorite sliced into rectangles for sushi or sashimi, usually accompanied by pink pickled ginger and a Hawaiian-style sauce made of soy sauce mixed with a bit of hot green wasabi mustard. Platters of ahi sashimi are produced for special guests and holidays in most Hawai'i households and can also be found among the pastries and eggs at many a lavish Island restaurant brunch. Blackened or black-and-blue ahi, singed on the outside and dressed with a spicy sauce, is a stand-by for Hawai'i's power-lunch crowd. Grilled ahi is ubiquitous on island menus, and leftovers make terrific tuna salad sandwiches. Tombo ahi, another tuna variety, is also known as albacore.
Aku-One of several tuna cousins, stronger, darker, and cheaper than ahi and a favorite to use in the Hawaiian marinated raw fish salads called poke. You may see poke, a dish made of various fish and shellfish at the evening luau, glistening in a bowl with seaweed, ground nuts, hot chilis, green onions, sesame oil, and other ingredients. Try this and all luau dishes for a taste of the real Hawai'i, but be warned: once you get a taste for it, poke is extremely addictive.
A'u-Marlin, the giant of the Hawaiian deep, and other billfish come to the table in several forms known collectively as a'u in Hawaiian. After that it gets complicated, for each major billfish has a Japanese name, too. Shutome, for instance, is the broadbill swordfish known to most other Americans as "swordfish." Shutome is a recently expanded fishery in Hawai'i, where swordfish were traditionally avoided by fishermen whose canoes were vulnerable to piercing by the sharp bills. Although Hawai'i produces much of the swordfish sold on the mainland, fresh swordfish is still a relatively new choice here. Other tasty marlin varieties include hebi (shortbill spearfish), nairagi (striped marlin), and kajiki (Pacific blue marlin, the kind trophy anglers pursue off the Kona Coast).
Mahimahi-Everyone loves to say the name of Hawai'i's best known seafood. It just sounds better than "dolphinfish," its alternative designation. A handsome creature of irridescent green and gold in the sea, mahimahi cooks to a juicy white filet with a distinctive tangy flavor. Insist on eating it fresh.
O-fish-Just about any fish whose Hawaiian name starts with "o" is a winner. Here are a few:
Onaga-Succulent ruby snapper with a meaty texture, often baked or encrusted in spices for steaks as plump and hefty as ribeyes. Only better. Don't miss it.
Ono-Hawaiian name for wahoo. Also a Hawaiian word meaning "delicious," and the name fits. Wahoo is the standard moniker given the fish by early anglers who found it first off the coast of Oahu, the island originally called "wahoo." By any other name, this sleek, silver-bullet fish with firm white flesh is fantastic prepared by a wise chef.
Opah-A new favorite, soft-textured and lightly flavored, especially appealing to diners who are uncertain about trying fish.
Opakapaka-A delicate white fish prominently featured on Hawai'i restaurant menus, often topped with something rich, like butter and macadamia nuts, or a sparky tropical salsa.
The Hawaiian Islands obviously are a very different place today. There are more Baptists than animists. Christian churches stand atop ancient sacrificial altars. And you can sail into Kealakekua Bay, where Cook met his end, without undesirable consequences.
Yet Hawai'i remains rich in mysterious sites, inexplicable events, and rituals to which outsiders are not invited. Ancient ways persist below the surface of modern island life. Kahuna (head priests or elders) still talk to rocks; the rocks, they say, talk back. And people pray to ancestral ghosts in hope they'll halt construction projects (especially golf courses).
Here is one excerpt from my book, True Spooky Stories of Hawai'i, an armchair tour of sites where paradise is full of peril, spirits roam, and that person standing behind you at the luau may not be a person after all.
The hull, an underwater tomb for 1,100 sailors and marines killed in the Japanese air raid on Dec. 7, 1941, continues to deteriorate and emit eerie noises. `You can hear it bubbling and gurgling,'' Daniel Lenihan of the National Park Service's Submerged Cultural Resource Unit, told the Honolulu Star Bulletin. "It's making sounds and dripping and bleeding."
Twenty U.S. ships sank that day, but 17 rose to fight again. The Oklahoma was scrapped in 1946; the Utah, with 58 sailors, lies under water on the west side of Ford Island. The Arizona, which never fired a shot in combat, is one of the world's most famous war monuments.
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