Tuesday was a very special day for Clint Hansen as the Maui Planning Department gave unanimous approval granting his special use permit for Maui Paintball.

Click here http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/555590/Planning-commission-approves-permit-for-paintball-facility.html?nav=10 for the article published in yesterday’s Maui News.

Mahalo Nui Loa to everyone for their ongoing support.

Happy Thanksgiving from our Ohana to Yours.

Hotels see increase in room rates

Article From: The Maui Weekly

The Maui News – Maui’s hotels were two-thirds full in September, not unusual for one of the dullest months of the year in the visitor industry, but hotel operators were able to boost their rack rates by more than $15 a night.

That contributed to a sizable increase in the amount of money coming in. So far this year, and despite some slackness in arrival numbers, Hawai’i’s lodging business is doing better than last year, and much better than it was in 2009.

The Hawai’i Hotel Flash Report released by Hospitality Advisors last week said that through nine months of 2011, island hotels have reaped room revenue of $2.14 billion. That is 12.8 percent better than in 2010 and 20.9 percent better than in 2009.

But it was not equal to the $2.41 achieved in the first three quarters of 2006.

For the year-to-date, Maui had the highest average daily rate ($246.52), up 9.3 percent. Occupancy rates are up about the same amount in each county so far this year, a somewhat surprising result considering the turmoil caused by Japan’s earthquake in March and the continuing uncertainty in general economic terms.

Each county is up around 3 percentage points in occupancy. Maui is up to 71.2 percent from 68.8 percent last year.

Hawaiian Launches Nonstop Daily New York To Honolulu

Hawaiian Airlines will operate the its newest and largest aircraft, the Airbus A330-200, seating 294 passengers, on its new Honolulu to New York daily nonstop service.

By Sonia Isotov
Article From:Mauinow.com

Hawaiian Airlines announced today that it will launch a daily nonstop service between New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Honolulu starting June 4, 2012, and is promoting the new service with introductory fares.

Starting June 5, 2012, Hawaiian Flight 51 will depart JFK daily at 10:00 a.m. and arrive at Honolulu International Airport at 3:00 p.m.

The new route will be inaugurated from Honolulu the day before on June 4, with the departure of Flight 50, familiarly known as “Hawaiian 5-0″. Flight 50 will depart Honolulu daily at 3:05 p.m. and arrive in New York City at 6:55 a.m. the following morning.

Hawaiian’s new flights from New York will add more than 107,000 new air seats annually to Hawaii’s tourism industry from the Eastern US, the state’s second-largest geographic source market for visitors.

“New York is an important part of our growth strategy. Hawaiian is the leading airline in Hawaii’s largest tourism market, the US West Coast, and we are expanding in Hawaii’s third largest market, Asia. Adding service to the largest market in the Eastern US, Hawaii’s second largest tourism market, was a logical step,” said Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian’s president and chief executive officer, in a written statement.

“Hawaiian’s new service will generate an estimated $156 million in direct visitor spending and $17 million in state tax revenue annually for our tourism economy and will provide much desired direct air service to New York City making it more convenient and accessible for travelers from the East Coast. This flight is of strategic importance to promoting the Hawaiian Islands brand to our second largest market, and we look forward to welcoming our guests,” added McCartney.

Hawaiian will operate its New York-Honolulu route using its growing fleet of new Airbus A330-200 aircraft that seat 294 passengers, with 18 seats in First Class and the remainder in Economy Class.

In celebration of its new service, Hawaiian is offering special introductory fares of $212 each way in Economy Class and $808 each way in First Class (212 and 808 being the area codes of New York City and Honolulu, respectively). The introductory fares are available for purchase from today through November 20, 2011 and are valid for travel between June 4 and June 30, 2012.

Don’t forget about this lisitng on Akala.  It’s a fabulous house in Maui Meadows.

Hawaii Holiday Travel Poll: Lower Travel, More Spending

By Sonia Isotov
Article from: MauiNow.com

Local consumers will spend more on holiday trips this season, but slightly less likely than last year to take at least one overnight trip for the holidays in November/December, according to AAA Hawaii’s 3rd Annual Winter Holiday Travel Poll.

39% of polled local residents said they plan on one or more holiday trips, compared to 42% last year, while 50% definitely won’t take a trip (48% last year) and 11% are undecided (10% in 2010).

The 50% not taking a holiday trip cited several reasons, including:

■Too many other expenses (43%)
■Rising prices for travel (38%)
■Rising household expenses for items other than gas (30%)
■High gas prices (29%)
Of those who will be traveling in November and December, 77% plan to spend more than $1,000 on their getaways, compared to 69% last year who said they would spend more than $1,000.

64% of surveyed holiday travelers will take one trip in November or December, 29% will take two, and 7% will take three or more. Last year, 65% said they would take one trip, 30% were taking two, and 5% were taking three or more.

Many more Hawaii residents plan to visit family over this holiday season compared to last year (56% compared to 44% in 2010), while fewer local travelers will be shopping (46% vs. 58% last year) or sightseeing (40% vs. 49% last year).

“We are definitely seeing some price sensitivity on the part of travelers because of the economy and high gas prices, but we also see that travel is viewed as a high priority and people will continue to fit trips into their budgets however they can,” said Diane Peterson, AAA Hawaii regional manager, in a written statement. “Fortunately, travel providers are recognizing this also and are offering many family budget-friendly deals and significant discounts for early bookings.”

Of those polled who indicated they would travel this holiday season, 36% will take at least one trip within Hawaii, while 42% plan to visit Nevada, and 33% will visit California.

AAA Hawaii offered the following tips for saving on holiday travel:

■If you fly to your destination, consider mailing holiday gifts ahead of time to avoid high baggage fees. Also, wrapped gifts can cause problems with the TSA screening process, so if you do bring gifts on the plane, wrap them at your destination.
■The last-minute holiday deal is back for many travel providers because of lower demand due to the economy. To take advantage, do some online research or let a travel agent do it for you. Travel agents don’t charge for their services, so you’ll get the same price on the deal and also save time.
■For long-distance road trips, plan your stops for gasoline with a tool like the AAA TripTik app for smartphones, which lists gas prices at stations all along your travel route. Price differences can be as much as 50 cents per gallon because gas stations near airports and key freeway locations may charge much higher prices, so it’s worth it to shop around first.
■Avoid speeding. It’s tempting to drive 75 miles an hour or more on an open highway, but doing that on a long-distance road trip could cost you $20 to $30 more per day in wasted fuel.
AAA Hawaii’s Holiday Travel Poll was conducted online by the AAA Marketing Research Department along with the Holiday Shopping Poll, which was released last week. The poll surveyed 361 AAA Hawaii members between Oct. 4 and Oct. 20. It has a margin of error of +/-5% and the differences between 2011 and 2010 results were tested for statistical significance at a 95% confidence level.