While there aren’t any great deals at the moment between Southern California and Hawaii, there’s a glimmer of light for next year that might help keep a downward pressure on prices. I’m talking about renewed competition and Delta’s recent announcement of daily 757 service between San Diego and Honolulu starting June 3. This route has previously been served only […]
Hawaii Hotel Occupancy Improving First, on a bright side, we’re finally seeing a little glimmer of hope in Hawaii tourism. Occupancy rose in September, albeit slightly, for the first time in 18 months. Hospitality Advisors LLC reported September statewide occupancy of 64.6% vs. 63% a year earlier as the state saw a a 7.2% increase in monthly visitors to […]
Barbara De Lollis at USA Today is reporting that Expedia’s TripAdvisor will soon be adding direct links to properties. The catch to adding this long overdue and badly needed feature, is that hotels will have to pay up. The cost will be from $600 to $15000 per year, depending on the property’s size. The fee will reportedly be discounted, […]
I’m fascinated by developments in the global civil aviation industry, and wanted to share what I’m learning with you. Since I first wrote about China’s commercial aircraft aspirations 1 1/2 years ago, they have greatly accelerated their efforts. China already has an Airbus A-320 assembly line in full operation at Tianjin. This past June that facility delivered its first […]
Today’s announcement from Alaska Airlines is great news for both Hawaii and California’s bay area. Starting in March, the company will offer these new services: Three times a week between San Jose and Maui Four times a week between San Jose and Kona Daily service between Sacramento and Maui This announcement falls right on the heals of this week’s […]
Those of us in Hawaii (and many Southern California residents) were sad to see Aloha’s demise and the discontinuation of Hawaii service from John Wayne Airport in Orange County. I’ve been predicting that Alaska would be the natural to jump into these routes as they have been slowly working their way down the Gold Coast (with Oakland starting in […]
When I wrote recently about Filterstream, it was to tell you about how it allowed hotels to show you only those TripAdvisor reviews that made them look good. The problem is, that entirely subverted TripAdvisor’s integrity. At the time, I checked with our contact at TripAdvisor, who said: “We have no comment for now on the Filter Stream widget.” On […]
Here’s yet another tale in Hawaii’s never ending saga of inter-island transportation. Less than one year ago we were excited to see a new and local player, Mokulele Airlines, enter the prior duopoly of Hawaiian Airlines and Mesa Airlines’ Go!. Low Airfares drove Mokulele’s financial problems. So much has occurred in such a short time span. First we’ve been […]
Air Canada announced today that beginning in December, they will launch the only non-stop, seasonal service between Calgary and Hawaii. We’re always glad to see new service added to bring our Canadian friends to visit here in Hawaii. WestJet has had most of the recent news, and in December will start their latest service between Vancouver and Lihue, Kauai. […]
Last month we reported, based on multiple sources, that six Boeing 757’s had been acquired on behalf of Allegiant Air, likely in preparation for service to Hawaii. It is believed that at least one of these 757’s is in the shop at Goodyear, Arizona. We’ve been reporting Allegiant’s plans to begin service to Hawaii for some time. While the […]
Associated Press has placed the TripAdvisor review fraud issue front and center after their recent interview with me. With that bold step, the subject has gone from the cloaked domain of travel writers into open public view. Kudos to AP. What is TripAdvisor doing now that they’ve openly admitted to reviewer fraud? I spoke this week with April Robb […]
TripAdvisor removed their fraud warning badge on Honolulu’s Hotel Renew last week. With the badge gone, the hotel is now listed as the number one property in all of Honolulu. So how did Hotel Renew go from being a problem child last week to top property this week? TripAdvisor has removed almost all fraud warnings from their reviews. My […]
