BUSINESS BRIEFS
ResortQuest will 'assist' at Ilikai
Advertiser Staff
ResortQuest Hawaii will take over some management services at the Ilikai Hotel but owner Anekona LLC will continue overall management of the Waikiki hotel, officials said yesterday.
"Anekona LLC is not turning over management of the Ilikai Hotel to any entity," said Anekona chief executive Brian Anderson in clarifying an earlier announcement.
"We do have an agreement as of (Monday) ... with ResortQuest Hawaii to assist with certain services at the Ilikai in two areas: accounting, and sales and marketing."
The agreement between the two companies will not affect employees or residents, according to Anekona officials.
ResortQuest has been contracted to provide full management services to another Anekona property, the Aloha Beach Hotel on Kaua'i.
SEATTLE'S BEST TO OPEN IN KAPAHULU
Seattle's Best Coffee will open a cafe Feb. 15 at the new Safeway complex on Kapahulu Avenue.
The Kapahulu store, with indoor and outdoor seating, will be the company's 11th location on Oahu since the opening of its first cafe almost nine years ago.
"We are very excited to be part of the Kapahulu neighborhood and look forward to serving alongside the other quality establishment at the Safeway site," said Werner Gerst, president of GMS Hawaii Corp., the franchise company for Seattle's Best Coffee in Hawai'i.
After the soft opening in February, the cafe will hold its grand opening March 1 with a Hawaiian blessing at 10 a.m. Following the blessing, coffee and samples of cakes and pastries will be served.
MORE INTERISLAND AIR CARGO SERVICE
Aloha Airlines said it will increase its air cargo service to include Moloka'i, Lana'i and West Maui, beginning in April.
The daily service is being made possible through a new agreement with Mokulele Airlines. Mokulele will operate Aloha Air Cargo Express for Aloha Airlines using a Cessna 208 Cargomaster, the all-cargo version of the single-turboprop Cessna 208B Grand Caravan.
The first Aloha Air Cargo Express plane is being outfitted on the Mainland and will arrive in the Islands within 60 days. A second Aloha Air Cargo Express plane is expected to arrive later this year. Each Aloha Air Cargomaster will be capable of carrying a payload of about 4,000 pounds.
CRUISES TO HAWAI'I COULD LOSE OUT
Cruise operator Carnival Corp. said it could lose money on its voyages to Hawai'i if a proposed change in the Passenger Vessel Services Act goes into effect.
The company said it believes the rule change by U.S. Customs and Border Protection is being issued to protect NCL America's interisland cruise operations in Hawai'i.
The rule could require that all roundtrip U.S. cruises by foreign flag vessels spend at least 48 hours in each foreign port on the cruise and that the time spent in foreign ports must be more than 50 percent of the time spent in all U.S. ports on the cruise, Carnival said in a regulatory filing.
"If implemented as written, the proposed rule could also impact other non-Hawaii itineraries such as Seattle-based Alaska and some Caribbean cruises, which may no longer qualify under the PVSA," Carnival said.
"Accordingly this proposed rule could adversely affect our Hawai'i and non-Hawai'i cruises' profitability."
