Tourism Talk
It's crucial for businesses to get up to speed with Value Pass
By Michele Kayal
Advertiser Staff Writer
This is not the time to be disappointing people.
But Millie McCormick and her husband, Bob, were most definitely disappointed.
After Sept. 11, the Chicago couple decided to forgo their long-planned 30th anniversary celebration in Europe and to spend their dollars at home. They came to Hawai'i for 39 days. And when they got wind of the Hawaii Value Pass — a much-vaunted discount card for visitors covering 1,200 retailers statewide — they were among the first in line.
But there was a problem. Their hotel, which was supposed to be distributing the card, had never heard of it. So they went to the mayor's office. The mayor's people had heard of it, but they didn't know how to get one. Some phone calls sent them to the Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau, which created the program and promoted it. The bureau set them up with the card.
But there was a problem. None of the half-dozen vendors the McCormicks visited that first day had heard of it. A couple of days later they didn't get much further. So they didn't get very many discounts.
"It seemed everywhere we turned we were running into some kind of a difficulty," Millie McCormick said.
Anyone can have one of those days. Anyone can run into the clueless salesperson over and over, the bad waiter, the unknowing clerk. Especially when a program is new.
But yesterday, nearly a week after the Value Pass went into play, about half of 14 retailers and restaurants asked about their Value Pass specials returned blank stares. In all but one that balked, someone eventually was located who knew about the pass, but that took anywhere from one to 10 minutes. Tourists don't like to spend 10 minutes finding out how they can spend their money.
And they certainly don't like to be sent away to await a phone call from the store's marketing department, as happened at one retailer.
Turns out, some of the specials aren't specials at all. ABC Stores — where it took about six minutes to locate someone with knowledge of the Value Pass — offered their Gold Card. But the Gold Card, which gives the patron a free gift after he or she spends $100, can be had anytime, Value Pass or not. It's not something created to make Hawai'i visitors feel special.
And making visitors feel special is really the point, isn't it?
As Hawai'i tries to keep its tourism-dependent economy from slipping beneath the waves, it has never been more important to make visitors feel special. To be sure, half of the retailers queried yesterday were well informed, even cheerful, about their Value Pass offerings, which were pretty good. But the ones who weren't took the shine off it for the rest.
The Value Pass is a great idea and a potentially hot promotion. The bureau is already getting calls from people on the Mainland asking how they can get their cards. But making sure the expectations are met is up to all the participants and, really, everyone in the visitor industry. If there are 1,200 participants, everyone on the street should be able to tell you who they are.
Before the program launched, the bureau sent out reminders to merchants by blast fax. They worked through hotel and attraction associations to get the word out. But clearly the message didn't filter all the way down in some cases to the people actually meeting the shoppers. The bureau is trying to fix that now.
"We want a positive impact, so we are doing everything we can at this point to make sure our program participants are all clear on what each is offering and that they can communicate that when visitors come to their establishment," said the bureau's Barbara Okamoto.
But what about those visitors who tried to use the pass this weekend and have now left Hawai'i? What will they tell their friends? A great deal of energy was put into publicizing the promotion. It's too bad the community didn't pull together more to make sure Hawai'i could deliver from Day 1 on the expectations it created.
Michele Kayal can be reached at mkayal@honoluluadvertiser.com
