The pool attendant looked lonely as he put out gleaming white lounge chair after gleaming white lounge chair, carefully positioning them where they would get plenty of sun.
The only problem was that almost nobody came to sit down. Temporarily, at least, the new Hyatt Regency Kauai has had all the charm of a magnificent theater staging its first production but whose only audience consists of a few friends and relatives of the cast members.
This Hyatt is the chain`s first on Kauai and it didn`t exist a year ago, but over on Maui, in the winter and spring of 1990, guests at another Hyatt would have been hard put to cadge a similar chair without getting down to the pool at the crack of dawn to stake a claim.
Now here on Kauai, the scores of empty chairs were a silent chorus reminding everyone that travelers have been staying away from Hawaii in droves-especially on the Neighbor Islands. Business has been down more than 25 percent in some places.
Hawaiian hotels and resorts seem to be of two minds during the current downturn in the tourist business. Some, like the Hyatts, have decided to tough it out, regarding the economic crisis as merely a temporary hiccup, or perhaps a bad cold that will be cured now that troops have begun coming home from the Persian Gulf.
Others, however, have created some elaborate and effective plans to attract business now, and some of these are genuine bargains. A few have announced some ”specials” that on closer inspection are not very special at all.
Plenty of rooms
One thing is certain: Hawaii has at least become very accessible during what is normally still the high season. There are plenty of seats on airplanes, rooms in the resorts, available tables in the best restaurants and at live shows and convenient tee times on the golf courses.
Some of the best bargains in the islands have been announced and others have not, and some packages will be found only through travel agents or major tour operators. Some travelers have discovered they can get their best deals by picking up a phone themselves, or even haggling at the front desk, an almost unheard-of phenomenon in Hawaii.
Generally speaking, visitors should ask hotels about, first, discounts for large families or friends traveling together; second, special bargains for longer stays; third, ”summer rates” that may be in effect immediately;
fourth, room and car packages; and fifth, upgrades to better rooms for the price of the parking-lot views.
Here are some specific possibilities that may continue to be in effect this winter, and perhaps for the rest of the year:
On all islands, Aston Hotels and Resorts has begun a ”cash back”
program. If you turn up with a coupon printed in West Coast newspapers or obtained from travel agents (or even a facsimile), you may receive $50 or $100 off at checkout (depending on the hotel or condominium). Aston also is handing out an Aston Fun Book, a set of coupons for free meals, gifts and admissions. Fourth night free
Sheraton Hotels will provide a fourth night free, effective until May 31, available through some travel agents.
American Hawaii Cruises has held its 1990 fares over into 1991 for its seven-day cruises throughout the islands.
Budget Rent A Car has a new coupon book called Pleasure Islands, which the company says would be worth nearly $1,000 if you managed to use all its tickets for meals, visitor attractions, souvenirs and the like.
On Kauai, the Aston Kauai Resort has announced an extra special: a room, a rental car and one evening at its Polynesian dinner show for $47.50 a person a night, double occupancy. (Normal room rates at the hotel: $89 to $159.)
Also on Kauai, the flamboyant Westin Kauai has a special double rate of $159 for garden view rooms through Dec. 21, in contrast with published rates that begin at $195. You also get free daily admission at the Westin`s European Spa and Wellness Center.
And the vintage Coco Palms Hotel is offering a ”family and friends”
package: Four or more may stay in two rooms for $199 (normally the price of one room), get a free rental car and receive a family food credit of $50.
In Honolulu the Outrigger Hotels chain has slashed its rates at the Outrigger Waikiki, its headquarters property, and at all its hotels has already put into effect its summer Outrigger Free Ride package, providing a car daily.
The Hilton Hawaiian Village also is offering its summer rates. What it calls its ”bounceback” rate of $149 per deluxe room includes a continental breakfast. (Deluxe rooms normally begin at $175, and breakfast is extra.)
The Kahala Hilton Hotel has established a new minimum rate of $150 a room through the end of March, rising to $189 through Dec. 15, as compared to the hotel`s normal minimum of $210.
The Sheraton Royal Hawaiian Hotel has a family two-room package that allows half off the normal rate for the second room.
On other islands
On Maui, several resorts are offering room-and-car packages at varying rates, including the Westin Maui, the Maui Eldorado, the Whaler Condominium, Destination Resorts, the Maui Prince Hotel and the Maui Inter-Continental. The latter also has a package called Kids Stay and Eat Free, valid when parents take at least an ocean-view room, which starts at $285 nightly.
Over on the Big Island, the Kona Village Resort, which has never offered summer rates, has now established them. Beginning April 1, full American Plan (all meals) double accommodations, which normally cost $375 to $615 daily, will run $345 to $565.
The Mauna Lani Bay Hotel has set up a Family Suite Package for $350 daily for two connecting rooms.
Nearby, the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel has worked out a special Family and Friends Getaway, cutting $50 off of one room, increasing that discount to $75 for a second room and to $100 off for the third and fourth room. Thus, the normal mountain-view rate for four rooms, which would total $1,000 a night, is discounted to $675 a night. The offer is available for rooms reserved before June 30 and occupied before Dec. 15.
