The Honolulu Advertiser has a good article covering the first instance of a Hawaii upscale hotel hiring foreigh workers. The Fairmont Orchid, on the Big Island, hired these workers to ease an acute labor shortage. They have 100 staff positions unfilled and Hawaii's unemployment rate of less than 5% means these jobs have proven particularly difficult to fill (the article also notes that passing the drug test seemed to be a problem for applicants). People watching Hawaii tourism have seen how much difficulty cruiseline NCL has had in staffing up their Hawaii-only boats with American citizens. Clearly, the hotels are experiencing similar difficulties. The import workers, coming on guest visas, will get union wage scale jobs starting at $13 per hour so the unions are actually on board (surprisingly).

With Hawaii hotels turning in record profitability in the past year -- almost 30 cents on the dollar going to bottom line -- it raises the obvious question of how much should hotel workers be paid and if you can't hire them, why not pay them more? Alternatively, this could bode a future where significant chunks of hotel jobs are sent out to foreign workers, as these jobs (at least, the lower level service variety) are increasingly going unfilled and workers are voting with their feet. Perhaps most significant of all, many visitors say that they love Hawaii in part because of its people. If locals are no longer the primary face of Hawaii, then what becomes of that? Will a Hawaii vacation feel like a vacation on a tropical resort in Manila? Will visitors care?

—Alex, 12/01/06