Here in Hawaii the overall crime rate has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded.

There is a decline in property crime, which represent the majority of the state’s offenses. In the last year reported, 2008, overall crime was down 13 percent from the previous year, and down 23 percent over the past decade.

This made me think how Hawaii not only offers reasonable prices and tropical beaches but also provides a safe destination.  To me that adds up to extraordinary value.

Tips for Staying Safe in Hawaii

Here’s my personal experience: I had my trunk broken into years ago in Honolulu. My mistake was unloading items from the back seat and placing them in the trunk at my hotel garage. I did this in plain view and then never moved the car. Someone was watching and stole the contents. They damaged the lock and got away with Catholic college recruiting material (can you imagine his/her surprise?). My mistake of course was not moving the car after I placed contents into the trunk.

1. Like anywhere else, you need to be aware of your surroundings to stay safe.

2. Don’t forget to lock your car and hotel/condo windows and other points of entry too.

3. Practice diligent water safety and swim where there is a lifeguard.

4. Drive defensively and don’t make U-turns on the highways. This happens frequently on Kauai. Our two lane road may look like a country back-road, but it’s our major thoroughfare with all the dangers of a freeway.

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New facility fee.

A facility charge of $4.50/day for all Hawaii airport car rentals is expected to go into effect starting September 1. The current charge is $1/day.  The fee is being proposed as a way of improving Hawaii’s aging car rental facility infrastructure.

The only way to avoid the charge is to rent off-airport. Unfortunately, in Hawaii, that isn’t all that easy or convenient. At Honolulu Airport however, it is possible to rent from two companies which are nearby, but off-airport.  They are Alamo and Thrifty.

Neighbor islands.

On the neighbor islands, it is more unclear as to how the charge will be applied. At Kona for example, all of the car rentals are a distance from the airport, but may still be technically considered on-airport.  At Hilo, all car rentals are on the Airport Road loop, but some are on-airport while others are not.  At Lihue, Thrifty and Alamo/National are clearly off-airport.

Fee likely unavoidable.

Unless current legislative plans change, off-airport locations will not be subject to the fee.  At other airports that have implemented similar fees, like Seattle for example, it is not possible for off-airport car rental locations to provide pick-up and drop-off at the airport.  I suspect that before it is all said and done, that will be Hawaii’s implementation plan as well.  Therefore, simply prepare to pay $4.50/day.

What are your thoughts?

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Here are just a few examples of the many coupons that might be of interest to visitors and locals:

Oahu

• Baskin-Robbins. Buy one get one free.
• Big City Diner. Free dessert.
• Wahoo Fish Tacos. Free taco.
• Iolani Palace. Two video tours for price of one.

Kauai

• Hanalei Dolphin restaurant.  10% off.
• Kalapaki Joe’s restaurant.  10% off.

Maui

• Cilantro Mexican restaurant.  $2.00 off.
• CJ’s Deli.  50% off second entree.
• Kobe Japanese Steak House.  20% off.
• Pizza Madness.  $5 off.

Big Island

• Taco Bell.  Free taco.
• Drysdale’s Two.  $1.50 off and free coffee or soft drink.
• Lulu’s restaurant.  50% off second entree.
• Captain Zodiac.  15% off dolphin/snorkel adventure.

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• Hawaii Vacation Costs Plummet
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Travel reviews are something I’m very interested in.  So when something comes along that has the potential to change the review playing field, I take notice. Such is the case with the new location sharing applications.

If you’re already a Foursquare user, you know that one of the most interesting and useful aspects isn’t people checking in at various locations, but rather the comments they leave.  Taking this to a new level is the just released FourWhere, which is showing great potential to enrich your next Hawaii (or other) vacation.  If you’re not already familiar with Foursquare, read this.

FourWhere is basic in design and ease of use, overlaying venues and comments from Foursquare onto Google Maps.  Right-clicking on the map brings up options, so for example you can omit venues that don’t have comments.  You can choose a city, like Honolulu, or perhaps more useful, a specific street or neighborhood to which you’re headed.

Foursquare, FourWhere, and other Geo location products represent a whole different take on comments and reviews, which are paramount to travelers.  If you haven’t tried them, I suggest you do. They are evolving very rapidly and formidably.  Next to join will be mammoth Facebook, with yesterday’s announcement of their intention to release new location-based tools and features.

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There is still plenty of space available for this great deal.  Four carriers are competing on this route to create a far better price than normal.

• Airlines: American,  Continental, Delta and United Airlines.
• Price: $386 round trip (all-inclusive).
• Availability: The only days the fare is currently not available from LAX are March 13, 19, 20 and 27, and April 1, 2, and 3.  Thereafter it is wide open through May.
• Book on-line at each carrier’s website.
• Offer valid both directions (a great opportunity for Hawaii residents).

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Photo:  Maui view en-route from Lanai

• Spring Break: Orange County/Honolulu $174 Each Way
• Unadvertised West Coast to Hawaii from $124 Each Way
• Kapalua Villas Maui $199 (1K+ sq ft)

Last year Allegiant reported net income of $76.3 million on revenue of $558 million.  Up to thirty percent of Allegiant sales are derived from non-airfare, composed mostly of packages that include hotel and/or car.

In comparison, Southwest Airlines reported net income of only $99 million on revenue of $10 billion.

Allegiant joins the Hawaii market later this year in a field dominated by regional airlines Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines, together with mainline carriers American, Continental, Delta, United and US Air.

These legacy airlines all play on a relatively even field comprised primarily of air only.  Each is of course working to improve their all-inclusive package performance, but they have accomplished little in that area compared with Allegiant.

The Allegiant difference.

Two Allegiant destinations are similar to Hawaii:  Florida and Las Vegas.  There, the carrier has amassed nearly 60 exclusive accommodation deals which are offered in conjunction with air.  Not coincidentally, those are the only two major airports Allegiant currently serves.  Otherwise, and another Allegiant focus and distinguishing point, is that the company only flies from smaller airports that do not often have competing services.

Allegiant has been on the ground here in Hawaii for over a year shopping for the best deals possible as they begin to put together packages.  I expect this to put intense pressure on their competitors because Allegiant will offer Hawaii visitors advantageous accommodation deals not otherwise available. In fact, Allegiant may well choose to sell Hawaii air only in conjunction with accommodations.

Bottom line for Hawaii visitors.

First, it is going to be awhile before this is sorted out, as all of the new planes will not be in service for 18 months.  When complete, the six 757’s will be used exclusively for Hawaii service.  Depending on utilization, that should afford them the ability to run perhaps 10 daily round trips to the islands.  As such, Allegiant will become a major player in Hawaii, and their presence and unique marketing abilities will be taken very seriously.

Hawaii airfares have been climbing higher recently, and deals have been fewer and farther between.  Because of the way that Allegiant packages accommodations, cars and other trip expenses with airfares, and based on their history, I believe Allegiant can offer better value in Hawaii deals than any competitor.  That will in turn raise the bar, which should result in improved overall value in Hawaii vacations across the board.

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This is great news for Hawaii bound visitors in search of great airfares and packages as well as for Hawaii residents visiting the Mainland.

Which locations will offer Hawaii service?

Allegiant did not announce the cities which will premier their Hawaii service, but I remain confident that the contending airports are:

• Bellingham, WA
• Fresno, CA
• Las Vegas, NV

What to expect.

Allegiant will be offering their stock-in-trade packaging of highly competitive airfares with great deals on accommodations, car rentals and other ancillaries.

The competitors.

The primary competitors will be Alaska and Hawaiian Air, because they both offer service from surrounding airports, and Pleasant Holidays, which features aggressive packaging of United’s bulk seats, together with cars and hotels.

Earlier posts regarding Allegiant:

• New “Deal” Airline Coming To Hawaii?
• Allegiant Confirms Hawaii Plans
• Allegiant Buys 757s: Hawaii Service Update
• Allegiant Air Hawaii Update
• 2010 Hawaii Travel Trends

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• Allegiant Will Recast Hawaii Deals
• No Wi-Fi On Hawaii Flights
• Hawaii Vacation Costs Plummet

I was concerned until 8am; here’s what changed my mind:

On-line maps of wave heights arriving in French Polynesia clearly indicated even to a lay person that a significant tsunami was not possible in Hawaii. At 2,500 miles closer proximity to the event epicenter, French Polynesia reported only a 6 foot wave in the Marquesas Islands followed by a half foot in Tahiti.  It isn’t possible for a tsunami to suddenly pick up strength as it moves; all models indicate the reverse happens as it loses power over time and distance.

Look at the chart below and think how you would react.

The is a screen-shot of the report I found on-line early Saturday morning.  Why didn’t NOAA explain this and curtail the panic?

Even without any serious threat, NOAA’s Hawaii Tsunami Center scientists continued, based on unsubstantiated assumptions, to create unnecessary panic including hourly air raid  siren blasts.

• The event fueled incessant, irrational and non-investigative traditional media fervor that went unabated well past mid-day.
• Social Media, otherwise extremely helpful in disasters such as Haiti and with this earthquake in Chile, served to only exacerbate the false alarm here in Hawaii.
• Before the bewitching hour, stores closed, and many did not reopen again.  People had been so frightened by the incorrect information that many simply did not want to leave home.
• Many roads throughout Hawaii were roadblocked making transportation difficult to impossible.  Statewide, police department ordered to work all officers on their day off to stop traffic.

NOAA has been apologizing, not for the panic, but for how incorrect they were. Other reports indicate that tsunami forecasting will now need to be completely reassessed.

The whole state seemed simply worn out from Saturday’s drill. One Facebook friend lamented that he wanted his Saturday back. Some say that it was a good preparatory drill while others believe say it will backfire and that next time there’s a warning, people won’t heed it.

Charles McCreery, NOAA’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center head admitted, “we’re still in the incipient stages of using these models to constrain our forecasts. There are still lots of improvements we need to make before we can rely on them totally for our decision making.”

One of the most frightening aspects of this erroneous reporting and seriously flawed modeling is that it would seem to indicate that an error in the opposite direction could be made just as easily.

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• Kapalua Villas Maui $199 (1K+ sq ft)
• Hawaii Car Rental Prices To Soar
• Spring Break on Maui $175 Each Way

• Kapalua Villas Maui.
• One bedroom, 1022-square-foot Fairway View villa with full kitchen, in-unit washer/dryer, and sleeps up to four guests.
• Availability:  through December 21; 4-night stay required.
• Bonus:  $150 resort credit (which will just pay for the exorbitant $25/night resort fee).
• This offer is in conjunction with Travelzoo.

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• Spring Break on Maui $175 Each Way
• Newark Honolulu Nonstop $263 Each Way
• Unadvertised: Bay Area and LA to Honolulu Sale

• Airline:  Continental Airlines.
• Price: $585 round trip (all-inclusive).
• Availability:  Good availability from now through May.

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• Spring Break: Orange County/Honolulu $174 Each Way
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