Blog: www.kgmb9.com/howard

Video Headline:

Hospitality Advisors reports Hawaii hotels were almost 75% full in the seven days to last Sunday, down from 78% a year ago and also lower than occupancy in Los Angeles, San Diego and Orlando.

Kauai was 81% full, even with last year, with room rates almost even at an average 226 dollars a night. Kauai is having a good summer for visitor traffic, and it's cushioning the cooling in other sectors.

Oahu is 75% full, even with last year, despite room rates up 6%. The average room rate is still below 200 a night on Oahu thanks to economy hotels back from the beach in Waikiki.

Maui is less than 71% full, down 12 full percentage points from last year, but Maui hoteliers aren't compromising on rates and the average daily rate is 317 dollars a night.

The Big Island is almost 76% full, commensurate with the other islands, whicb is to say, way better than usual for the Big Island, and its hoteliers did it by discounting rooms an average 11%, to 190 dollars a night.

Other Headlines:

Governor Lingle has authorized the use of federal money to extend Hawaii jobless benefits from a maximum of six months to nine. State Labor Secretary Darwin Ching says the average time people need unemployment checks before finding new work is only 14 weeks but we can still help people for whom it takes longer.

American Airlines unions warn that American is likely to cut more jobs than it has specified so far. American says it will cut 900 flight attendant jobs in the fall. But the attendants union says it would take hundreds more furloughs to reach the 8% reduction it mentioned recently. American employees have gotten months' warning to look for other work, but most industries don't pay as well as the legacy airlines do.

---