No Ka 'Oi

Advertiser Staff

• Voted on by corporate and association planners, Successful Meetings Magazine's Pinnacle Award has been given to the top destination support organizations worldwide for the past 15 years — with receipt of its 2005 award, the Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau has won every year.

Meeting planners recognized HVCB's sales team for expertise in Hawai'i's products and services, and its work with individual island bureaus and industry partners to create meeting programs that present complete destination packages.

"All of this service results in a terrific return on investment for corporations and associations to conduct business in the nation's most beautiful setting," said Michael Murray, HVCB's vice president of sales and marketing for corporate meetings and incentives. The award recognizes, he said, event planners' assurance of Hawai'i as a proven quantity for a successful meeting experience.

• KAISER PERMANENTE'S Hawai'i Region, Waste Minimization Team, was honored recently by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its part in a national program reducing hospital pollution. The EPA, the American Hospital Association, American Nurses Association and Health Care Without Harm have joined forces to eliminate the use of mercury, cut healthcare waste and phase out use of hazardous substances and toxic chemicals. Kaiser's receipt of the Environmental Leadership Award and Making Medicine Mercury Free awards were among some 60 recognitions, nearly a quarter of which were given to winners in California and Hawai'i.

• A living ecosystem that maintains a golf course pond to supply the restaurant at the Four Seasons Hualalai with shrimp, oysters and fish, and a collaborative community restoration and preservation of 2,600 environmentally valuable acres at Maha'ulepu on Kaua'i are also among various efforts applauded in the Environmental Protectional Agency's seventh annual awards ceremony. Two organizations in Hawai'i were among the 37 businesses, government officials, tribes, environmental organizations and citizen activists honored for their efforts to protect and preserve the environment.

Malama Maha'ulepu was honored for the organization's stewardship of the natural, cultural and recreational resources of the Maha'ulepu coastal, undeveloped south shore of Kaua'i, home of rare fauna and endangered Hawaiian birds. The group's conservation efforts have included Hawaiian monk-seal watches, winter humpback whale counts, reef surveys, beach cleanups, tree plantings, maintenance projects and educational tours.

Also honored were David Chai, Morris Takuchi and Jan Dill of the "Living Machine" at the Four Seasons Hualalai. The ecologically engineered technology, is designed to replicate and boost the natural purification of streams, ponds and marshes by using a host of living creatures to naturally handle pollution and encourage contained ecosystems.

• The Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce has given its Pualu (variation of puwalu, all together in unison, united) Award for Visitor Industry Marketing to the Big Island Visitors Bureau for its success promoting the Kona-Kohala Coast and by extension the entire Big Island, as a visitor destination. According to the bureau, recent data suggests the Big Island this year will witness the largest growth in visitors statewide. The award recognizes leaders and businesses that make a difference in the community.

• For the second year in a row, three Marriott International resort hotels in Hawai'i have been listed among the Top Ten Readers' Choice Platinum List of favorite vacation destinations. The three — JW MARRIOTT IHILANI RESORT and SPA, KAUA'I MARRIOTT RESORT and BEACH CLUB and KAPALUA BAY HOTEL — A RENAISSANCE RESORT ON MAUI — were chosen, based on guest service and "memories." Nearly 50,000 travelers submitted entries in the survey, published in American Airlines', Summer, 2005, edition of "Celebrated Living," passenger luxury magazine. Marriott International's lodging presence in Hawai'i includes more than 7,000 rooms at 14 properties statewide.

Announcements of business-related awards and honors can be sent to: Business No Ka 'Oi awards column, Business Section, The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802; faxed to 525-6763, or e-mailed to business@honoluluadvertiser.com. For e-mailed releases, please make sure the information is included in the body of the message, not as an attachment.