This reported in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin today:. Local hoteliers, who expect to see a 10 percent to 30 percent year-over-year drop in fall bookings for the industry's bread-and-butter hotels, plan to ask the Hawaii Tourism Authority for emergency action, including…

Aloha to Hawaiigaga.com! I have been trying out this new vertical search tool for Hawaii vacation rental units. It's pretty cool, although activity content remains thin. Still, a nifty Web 2.0 app and something quite useful compared to the…

Check it out here at search.hawaiirama.com. Tell us what you think and what can be made better -- or if it totally rocks, tell us that, too. Hint -- this thing is best for detailed searches into Hawaii topics. We…

My friend (and Hawaiirama blogger) Bruce does a nifty podcast on how to get cheap Hawaii hotels. Surprisingly, there are a decent number of totally decent cheap hotels for this price. And if you want to dip into condos, then…

As noted by Derek Paiva over at Hawaii Magazine's blog (it's worth the daily read), Travel & Leisure put 16 Hawaii properties among its 500 World's Best. There are, of course, no surprises here with the Four Seasons Hualalai on…

The good travel agents over at Travel-Hawaii have chased down info on what Hawaii hotels are charging for in-room Internet access. Oddly, most seem to be charging something. Due to the size of these resort and the concrete walls, finding…

This is fairly clever. Voyager Travel is offering a promo on a handful of Hawaii hotels with rates running below $100 per night. Most people can't conceive that hotels in such an expensive place could be so cheap but they…

That Hawaii hotel deal which seems to good to be true? Often times, it really is. There's a whole lotta renovations going on right now but you may not figure that out until you arrive in the islands. Shame on…

Seems Outrigger is joining the free phone and Internet frenzy with an offer of free dial tone and high-speed Internet access at the Outrigger Reef, one of their flagship beachfront properties in Waikiki. This hotel has undergone extensive renovations and…

So we know that Barack is a literary man. He's written two memoirs before hitting 50 years of age. He was the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review (he got his law degree there). So the man clearly…

I've blogged before about weakening occupancy levels in the Hawaiian Islands and how that would likely mean better deals on rooms. Yesterday Hilton Hotels posted quarterly earnings that were below expectations due, in large part, to weakness in its Hawaii…

ResortQuest Hawaii, a mid-to-low end hotel chain popular with families, will become part of the Barry Diller empire, according to this PBN article. This continue along the path of Hawaii acquisitions for Expedia / IAC. Expedia bought Activity World in…

The agents over at Travel Hawaii, which is becoming a quasi-travel news agency focused on Hawaii, put together some good info on the smoking ban that has pretty much banned smoking in hotel rooms and public places. They put together…

This AP article published in the Vancouver Sun covers a trend I was totally unaware of, namely, pet owners schlepping their furry friends to Hawaii for a vacation. That is, not of the pets, although they clearly come along for…

Ho, cuz! Barack got some kala! (That's money in Hawaii slang). So now that Barack has raised almost as much money as Hillary Clinton, me thinks he can afford a REAL NICE Hawaiian vacation at this point. Not that I…

Pacific Business News in Honolulu has a piece detailing the woes of a top-Google ranked listing, Top-10-Hawaii.com / Hawaii Travel Network. This was a popular online travel site and referral network that sold all sorts of stuff -- cruises on…

The Kauai County Council is considering a bill that would effectively freeze the growth of unlicensed B&Bs and vacation rentals on the Garden Isle. Maui and Oahu both have similar measures in place and there have been some crackdowns. Essentially,…

A few weeks ago Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) announced poor quarterly results and blamed Hawaii operations for much of the red ink. The head of NCL and Hawaii swore up and down that the company was here to stay. Clearly,…

You've ponied up beaucoup bucks for the holiday of your dreams in Hawaii (or, if you're local, that luxe holoholo). Sure, you expect the resorts to charge a premium for food, drink and activities. But what the heck is a…

I'm always amazed when people tell me they have never heard of VRBO.com. The letters stand for "Vacation Rental By Owner" and the site is a compendium of vacation properties for rent by their owners rather than agencies. In most…

Most travelers (and locals, for that matter) prefer to stay at branded hotel properties. It's like eating at Mickey D's instead of some unknown, untested local burger joint. Except its a lot more expensive so why risk it? Enter the…

So how pricey is a visit to Hawaii? That depends on how pricey you want to make it but, in a nutshell, the answer is not as pricey as you think. In particular if you follow a few of these…

The site that Shatner shills released on Dec. 26 its list of hot destinations for travelers going to party like its 2007. Five Hawaii spots make the list, although a number of them are pretty wierd choices. Most notably, that…

In the world of travel, its hard to get the truth. The major travel pubs deemphasize the negative sides of destinations and hotel/resort properties out of fear of ticking off potential advertisers. Clueless posters on Trip Advisor and Hawaii.com throw…

Here's a roundup of interesting links. Hawaii Hotels Running Over 80% Full: Pacific Business News Kailua, Hawaii among Top 10 2007 Destinations for Trip Advisor: But Oahu or Big Island? Which Kailua? Four Seasons Hualalai one of two hotels in…

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin is reporting that hotel workers in Honolulu just OKd a strike. This woudl happen only if the contentious contract negotiations going on right now grind to a halt and workers decide to walk off. I'd say a…

A reader sent in a question asking me about good bed and breakfast reccomendations. She said that its an area which is difficult for visitors because the quality varies so much and there are so many listed on the…

On a flight back to Hawaii from New York not long agoI happened to sit next to a pair of newlyweds on their way to tropical bliss in the islands. I asked them where they planned to stay. They…

With the kids heading back to school and summer travel mostly done, we're entering "hump" season for Hawaii. This lasts, roughly from September through the Christmas Holiday Season. And it usually means great deals. Here's our pick for this…