Kama'aina cash has value, too, but hotels don't seem to care

By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Staff Writer

Back in the late 1980s, local radio personality Michael Qseng had a feature on his morning drive show called "the L.P.N.A.I.A.J.T. Awards."

That delightfully ridiculous acronym hid a stiletto knife of truth.

It stood for "Local People Not As Important As Japanese Tourists," and Qseng actually took calls, named names, and aired angry stories of locals getting snubbed in stores, restaurants and hotels while shopkeepers, waiters and other service industry workers tripped all over themselves to attend to visitors from Japan.

As if their money is better than our money. Of course, back then, their money was probably more plentiful than our money.

But if two customers, a local person and a Japanese tourist, are standing side-by-side trying to buy the same thing and one is getting attention and the other is getting ignored, that comes down to attitude.

There must be more than attitude to explain the lack of kama'aina incentives to fill up Hawai'i's hotel rooms right now. Hotel workers have been laid off, rooms are sitting empty, people are afraid to fly, the Japanese don't want to insult us by having fun, but very few hotels are yelling "come on down!" to Hawai'i residents with any sort of vigor.

Chains like Aston, Outrigger, Ohana and Marc Resorts have offered special kama'aina discounts since the tourism shutdown that followed the terrorist attacks. Of course, those hotels also offered special kama'aina discounts before Sept. 11.

But the pre-Sept. 11 rates are the same as the post-Sept. 11 rates at high-end properties such as the Ritz Carlton Kapalua, Grand Wailea and Hilton Waikoloa.

The Hyatt Regency Po'ipu is offering a $179 a night kama'aina special, but that won't get you an ocean view. The Ko'ele and Manele Bay on Lana'i dropped kama'aina room rates by $50 a night to $199, but again we're talking "garden view."

The Halekulani has a deal for $275 a night, which is actually higher than it's $260 a night pre-Sept. 11 kama'aina deal, but offers a bunch of upgrades and amenities.

And the 'Ihilani Spa has a deal where if you pay for a 50-minute spa service you get the second 50-minute service at half-price. The Spa will also waive the $25 non-hotel-guest entry fee, but the special isn't available on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays. So if you wanted to take off time from your job to drive out 'ewa for a limu wrap and accompanying salt scrub, you could probably save a good $75.

It may be simply too expensive to pay staff at full price to clean and service rooms at cut rates. It may be that the high-end hotels aren't suffering much because they have enough of a markup on the rooms they are selling. It may be that these hotels don't want to dilute the perception of value of their rooms. It may be that the affluent independent travelers who frequent those hotels are still frequenting frequently.

Or maybe it's an attitude thing.

High-end hotels in Las Vegas like the MGM Mirage dropped room rates by 50 percent and reached 100 percent occupancy last week. The hotels welcomed guests who would have never dreamed they could afford such luxury, and who didn't have large chunks of change to drop on the roulette wheel. The attitude in Vegas was that it was worth it to take a short-term hit and keep employees working and hotels busy.

Maybe Gov. Ben Cayetano and his entourage successfully reassured would-be Japanese visitors that Hawai'i is ready, willing and able to resume shaking them down for their good money once again. Maybe one or two of the fancy hotels will learn the lesson of the Hawai'i Convention Center, that budget local bookings are better than no bookings at all. And maybe a few more hotels will at least extend a token welcome mat to us guys who would really like to do our patriotic duty and spend some money.

They could even make it so full of restrictions that no one could ever qualify. Just as a symbolic gesture. In that case, maybe Qseng wasn't joking at all.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.