They need me again

Today’s Honolulu Advertiser had a nice graphic which showed that visitor arrivals to Hawaii dipped in November.

With conspicuous timing, Hawaii’s hotels and resorts appear to need me again.

Just a few years ago we vacationed on the neighbor islands. First, the Grand Wailea on Maui, then an anniversary celebration at the Four Seasons Hualalai on the Big Island. Of course, we used the local rate. Who can afford their regular rates?

Over the past few years we’ve had a desire to visit the neighbor islands but simply could not afford to stay at the places we love best. Why? Get real. Four Seasons at Wailea wants $620 a night. That’s more than $25 an hour. The place is seriously nice, but not that seriously nice.

Times change. Fewer visitors to Hawaii are willing to cough up $620 a night for a hotel room, even if it a multi-star resort that’s within driving distance of Joe’s Bar and Grill. With fewer visitors to Hawaii willing to spend less money, the hotels and resorts dig into their little customer database and come up with names they haven’t seen for a few years.

Mine.

This week we received advertisements in the mail with a request to return to each of our favorite resorts on the neighbor islands. Frankly, I admit that it’s really nice to be wanted and needed again by the very resorts who’ve ignored me for the past four or five years.

Guess what? Even a 50-percent off Kamaaina Rate for local residents isn’t enough to get me to return to the Grand Wailea or a Four Seasons again. I can travel to Las Vegas for about the same as a nice resort on Maui, so why bother?

But it’s nice to be needed. Get me 50-percent off the 50-percent off Kamaaina Rate, and I’ll think about it.