This was a tremendous week for us. Thank you again, our loyal readers and friends, for your support. Beat of Hawaii recently received national notice for which we are most grateful: Arthur Frommer Newsweek’s Budget Travel Some of the Beat’s recent top posts included

Experience the culture of Bhutan in Honolulu between now and May 23. Make a prayer flag, observe sacred dance, meet a guide from Bhutan, try on a Bhutanese robe, see art never on exhibit before and participate in daily rituals with monks. We did all of this in one afternoon last week at the Honolulu [...]

Here’s a last minute Hawaii cruise deal that came across my desk this morning, which is too good not to mention. The cost is less than half of what we are now seeing for comparable cruises. The caveat is that one person must be 55+ to get these rates. I’d give them a call, however, [...]

Hawaii air travelers are swimming upstream at the moment: Soaring and unstoppable fuel costs Bankruptcies of Aloha and ATA Announced merger of Delta and Northwest Financial upheaval at Go! (Mesa) Airlines As a result, airfares are up 30% over the same time last year and it is becoming nearly impossible to find reasonable airfares for [...]

Thank you sincerely Arthur Frommer for your kind mention of Beat of Hawaii on your site this week! We started publishing Beat of Hawaii just over three months ago. This is a generous acknowledgment of both our efforts here and our decades as travelers and travel industry observers. Lastly, we most appreciate our readers and [...]

1. GoHawaii. Our excellent official state visitor site. You’ll find tons of information about each island, our culture, weather, events, things to do and places to stay. This is “the” place to start. 2-7. Official island sites. Oahu Maui Kauai Big Island Lanai Molokai 8. Official weather forecast from the National Weather Service. 9. Surf [...]

Wotif.com, the last-minute hotel discounter that you saw on Beat of Hawaii this week, was recommended today on Arthur Frommer’s blog. In addition to Wotif, we also use last minute hotel discounters Need it Now (Australia and New Zealand only), and Rates to Go which is owned by Orbitz.

Would you like a vacation in Hawaii, brief or extended, without any costs for hotels or condos? Do you have a cottage, apartment/condo or house that you are willing to exchange? If so you may want to consider a home swap. This is a growing travel industry trend and may be a perfect solution in [...]

This deal is too good not to mention. It can really help make your upcoming vacation much more affordable. You can instantly get 20% off “any hotel stay” (not just Hawaii) from now through August 31 by using promotion code SEVENDAYSALE2 when making your reservation. A quick check found a huge number of Hawaii hotels [...]

The deals at Hotel Equus in Waikiki keep getting better. In February we reviewed our stay in their Executive Suite. Last week we returned for a two night stay, and have updates to share with our readers. Using Wotif we found their smaller Polo City View King for $79 a nite, based on availability. At [...]