While record numbers of visitors have pumped more money into Hawai'i's tourism industry, they have also brought hectic workdays for many workers.

Skip Boyce, senior doorman at the Outrigger Waikiki, said tending to so many visitors can be a challenge.

"It's been stressful because of the impact," he said, adding that the rush comes in spurts. "If you're not prepared, you're going to have some long, hard days out here. Real long."

The Kailua resident is not complaining, however. The hotel has added help during peak times and the increased business has enabled him to bring home more tips to help pay the bills. "Tips are very good," Boyce said. "It's better than most years, that's for sure."

Visitor arrivals for the first half of this year totaled nearly 3.6 million, a midyear record. Hotels also set midyear records in room revenue, average daily rates and revenue per available room. Total arrivals this year are projected to reach 7.3 million, higher than ever.

The added visitors bring more money to the state and can mean an increased workload for the thousands of housekeepers, doormen, drivers, food servers and others who work in the state's No. 1 industry.

Some workers and union officials say hotels need to hire more employees to keep up with the growth in visitors.

Hotel leaders point to the state's low unemployment rate and say they are hiring employees to meet the needs of their properties while working to increase efficiency.

State figures also show the leisure and hospitality industry has been steadily hiring more people.

There were 107,000 leisure and hospitality industry jobs in June, topping last year's June high of 103,400, according to seasonally adjusted figures from the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Many in Waikiki say they are working harder.

Jennifer Harsh, 22, has been working longer shifts as a waitress at Cha Cha Cha Waikiki because the restaurant has been so busy. But the University of Hawai'i student doesn't mind because she also averages more money per hour with tips that sometimes are twice what she made last year.

Friends who work in the industry have also been benefiting, she said.

"Everyone's been out more and spending more," she said.

But Lois Tanaka, a 44-year-old beverage server at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, said she and her co-workers are exhausted and need more help.

"Now with business booming, we're really working now," said Tanaka, a member of the hotel and restaurant employees union, Unite Here, Local 5. "But you would like to give the service that the guest deserves. It's been really hard, it's just too busy. ... People are working so hard that they call in sick a lot. ... I understand that (the company) is strapped, too, and unemployment is low, but we still need the help."

Union officials said they have no problem with hotels being busy. "But we're concerned that the hotel corporations are not adequately staffing the hotels to deal with the increased business and that our members are being forced to shoulder the burden," said Andy Lee, senior research analyst for Local 5.

"Many members have told us that they're working harder than they have ever had to work before and that some of them can't spend the time with their families that they'd like and that they're used to.

"After 9/11, everyone in the hotel industry tightened their belt and made sacrifices, and now that business is booming again, it's only right that workers share in some of the prosperity."

Hotel executives have said that while room rates and revenues are up, expenses have also increased and that hotels are still catching up from slower periods resulting from Sept. 11, the Iraq war and the 2003 outbreak of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Unemployment levels affect the hotels' ability to hire at all levels, said Keith Vieira, senior vice president and director of operations for Starwood Hotels & Resorts in Hawai'i and French Polynesia. He said the company has "almost perpetual open positions that need to be filled."

"Our goal, like I'm sure other companies, is to be one of the best places to work at," he said. "So in times when business goes up, you have to find more employees and also look for more efficient ways to run your business. ... Rates are nowhere near where they should have been if you didn't have 9/11 and SARS, so expenses have increased by a much higher percentage than any rate increase. As a result of that, we've got to look for ways to be more productive in our properties, and at the same time make sure that we're able to hire staffing levels to operate our hotels. It certainly is a challenge and it's part of business."

Working conditions in the industry are taking their toll on some employees, Lee said.

He said the union surveyed more than 600 housekeepers this spring and found that 70 percent of them missed some or all of their meal breaks and that 89 percent of them experienced pain on the job. More than 40 percent of them reported taking pain medication regularly, he said.

Corazon Quinesares, a 50-year-old housekeeper at Hilton Hawaiian Village, said she often skips her half-hour lunch break so she can finish cleaning her required 16 rooms. She said she and other housekeepers want that quota reduced to make up for the increased guest room amenities, such as duvets, coffee makers, and pillows, which have doubled from four to eight.

"Do we take the break for 30 minutes? No," said Quinesares, a Local 5 shop steward. "Most of us are only taking 10 minutes because we have to budget our time."

Virginia Alcoran, a 56-year-old housekeeper at the Sheraton Moana Surfrider, also said she has been skipping her lunch break entirely so she can clean her rooms.

David Uchiyama, regional director of communications for Starwood Hotels & Resorts in Hawai'i, said the company's housekeeping staff is above pre-Sept. 11 levels and that a green program started a few years ago has helped housekeeper workloads by allowing guests to indicate if there's no need to change linens or towels. Uchiyama also said housekeepers' room quotas are adjusted when they have to clean a certain number of rooms following checkouts.