BUSINESS BRIEFS
Islands among top sites
Advertiser Staff
Four Hawai'i vacation spots are among the top 50 destinations for the President's Day weekend that concludes today, according to a poll by online travel site www.Priceline.com.
Waikiki occupied two spots on the list, with what www.Priceline.com listed as the "beach area" on the tourist destination ranking sixth on the list, while the other end of Waikiki ranked No. 16.
Two spots on Maui also made the rankings. Wailea/Makena was at No. 18, and Ka'anapali/Lahaina came in at No. 32.
The ranking is compiled from a sampling of more than 30,000 hotel room-booking requests made by www.Priceline.com customers. New York City's Times Square district was the No. 1 destination for the weekend.
WAIKIKI PARKING $25 A NIGHT
A survey of Waikiki hotels shows people pay as much as $25 plus tax to park their car while staying overnight.
The survey conducted by Travel Hawaii LLC found that six Waikiki hotels charge a $25 per-night parking rate. It said most of the hotels in O'ahu's top tourist area charge between $12 and $22 per night, including the Halekulani, which quoted $22.
It said one of the best deals is at the ResortQuest Waikiki Beach Tower, which offered complimentary parking. Travel Hawaii said free parking is available depending on which Internet sites the traveler uses to book their stay.
LAS VEGAS FIGURES UP AGAIN
Hawai'i officials might want to study Las Vegas for some marketing tips based on what happened in 2007.
While Hawai'i's tourism counts slipped slightly, The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said the number of visitors grew last year. It reported a 0.7 percent increase in numbers to 39.2 million. It marked the fourth consecutive year a new record had been set.
The authority reported that hotel occupancy reached 90.4 percent, while gaming revenue in Clark County rose by 2.2 percent to $10.9 billion.
It also projected 39.8 million people will visit Las Vegas this year.
PACKAGES FEATURE SAVINGS
United Vacations said it has put its vacation packages on sale for people making bookings by March 31 for travel through Dec. 13, 2008.
The offering includes reducing a Hawai'i package featuring air travel and five nights at the Hilton Hawaiian Village to $1,139 from $1,599. That's a 29 percent savings.
The company also is offering packages to Aruba that include a roundtrip flight and three nights at a resort for $789, down from $1,099 previously, and a Mexico getaway for $599, marked down from $899. That includes air travel and three nights at a resort in Los Cabos.
