Travel for kama'aina no longer the best deal
By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer
Lisa and Dane Martin love to play tourists in Waikiki.
They'll have a nice dinner, maybe catch Sunset on the Beach, then stay the night at the Sheraton Moana Surfrider. The next morning, they'll hit Kuhio Beach for a morning surf session before heading home to Hawai'i Loa Ridge in East Honolulu.
"It's fun and it's different," said Lisa Martin, an at-home mom and former Banana Republic district manager.
And it's usually affordable.
The Martins would find rooms at discounted kama'aina rates for around $100 a night. Their recent jaunt to Hilo in June, for example, cost around $500 total for accommodations at a quaint bed-and-breakfast near the volcano.
But they consider themselves lucky.
With visitor numbers rising and fewer available hotel rooms, residents aren't getting the promotional deals they once did.
Summer's soaring visitor count and record-breaking hotel occupancy rates have squeezed out Hawai'i residents who face rising interisland airfares and fewer rooms available at kama'aina rates.
"Basically, the hotels don't really need to sell a room with kama'aina rates; their rooms are filled (at) higher rates by (visitors from) the Mainland and Asia," said Duke Ah Moo, vice president at Pleasant Island Holidays. "The kama'aina market is now seen as a filler. Only when they have excess inventory or slow periods will they open up these lower rates."
Local travel agents say residents can find cheaper deals in Las Vegas or California than to a Neighbor Island destination, primarily because of high-cost interisland airfare — between $180 and $260 round-trip from O'ahu to Maui this weekend.
A package to Las Vegas including airfare and room could cost $400, said Bonnie Gutner, owner and manager of Travel Inc. "It'll cost you more than that to go interisland," she noted. Interisland airfares are the main reason residents opt to book a more affordable trip to Vegas, she said.
"It happens with great regularity when we quote the price (of an interisland vacation to kama'aina). That's when they say, 'We'll stay home or go to Vegas,' " Gutner said.
While always welcome, kama'aina travelers aren't always targeted by Hawai'i's tourism marketing campaigns.
In fact, the Hawai'i Visitors & Convention Bureau, which was the state's leisure marketing arm until this year, isn't including the kama'aina market in its current fall campaign, said Jay Talwar, vice president of marketing for HVCB.
"There is less emphasis on kama'aina travel, only because it doesn't create new money from the outside," said Rex Johnson, president and chief executive officer of the Hawai'i Tourism Authority. "It's kind of like us swapping money around amongst ourselves. ...
"It's still something you want to pursue," he said, " ... but there has always been less emphasis on kama'aina travel because of the fact we have travelers coming from destinations outside the state, and that's new money."
However, the Hawaii Tourism Authority will include kama'aina travel for the first time in its strategic plan, to be presented at Wednesday's monthly meeting. It will acknowledge that to some hotels — namely those on Lana'i and Moloka'i — kama'aina travel remains a very important segment of business.
At Moloka'i Ranch, for example, kama'aina make up about 30 percent of business, said Marlo Nishimoto, director of sales. The kama'aina rate is $149 per night, compared with the rack rate of $285.
The kama'aina market always has been an important segment of visitors to the Turtle Bay Resort in Kahuku. Since completing a $60 million renovation in December 2003, the resort has seen a 34.1 percent increase in growth from local leisure travel in 2003 compared with the year before, said Sumithra Balraj, public relations manager. For this year it expects 15.5 percent growth in the kama'aina market.
"It's still an important part of most companies' strategies, and it's certainly a market segment we hold on to and look at," said Murray Towill, president of the Hawai'i Hotel Association. "Obviously, for some properties it's more a part of (their strategy than others). ... But the reality is, as the world market changes, emphasis is placed on different markets and places. There's certainly more demand today from outside the state than there was in the post-September 11 environment."
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, hotels and air carriers began slashing prices and offering deeply discounted rates for kama'aina travelers in hopes of stimulating the market and filling rooms and seats.
In 2002, 'Ohana Hotels & Resorts offered rooms at some properties for $49 a night for kama'aina. At the upscale Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hawai'i hotel, ridge-view rooms went for $195 a night for kama'aina.
Today, kama'aina rates at the 'Ohana hotels range between $62 and $163 a night. Rates for residents at the Kahala Mandarin Oriental have increased to $225.
"After 9/11 we needed the kama'aina all year," said Marsha Wienert, the state's tourism liaison. "But as the visitor industry picked up, we're not as reliant on the kama'aina (market).
"But there's still shoulder periods where the kama'aina market will make or break (the industry)," she added.
Travel agents recalled kama'aina rates hovering around half-off rack rates in 2002. "Now it's about 20 percent," Gutner said. "Those (deeper discounts) have gone by the wayside."
Advertiser staff writer Dan Nakaso contributed to this report. Reach Catherine E. Toth at 535-8103 or ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.
