APPLE VACATIONS is offering a free roundtrip
ticket to Hawaii for agents who book three air-plus-hotel Apple
holidays of five nights or more by July 31 for travel through Dec.
15. Book seven and a companion goes with you. (800) 800-0202; www.applevacations.com
HAWAIIAN AIRLINES has a new Chapter 11 trustee.
Joshua Gotbaum, an investment banker who previously served as CEO
of the Sept. 11 fund, was named to the position by the U.S.
Trustee's Office and appointed by the Bankruptcy Court late last
week. He replaces John Monahan, who resigned as trustee for
personal reasons after three weeks on the job. "I'm confident we
can resolve the issues that led to Hawaiian's bankruptcy and
successfully return the company to its rightful place of stature in
Hawaii and the airline industry," Gotbaum said. As an investment
banker with Lazard Freres & Co. in New York and London,
Gotbaum's work included advice to several airlines when they were
restructuring. He is a 1973 graduate of Stanford University, and
earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School, with a Masters in Public
Policy from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
WORRY-FREE VACATIONS [www.worryfreevacations.com] added a new flight from
Las Vegas to Hawaii beginning Sept. 17, expanding Worry-Free's Las
Vegas-Honolulu service to five days per week. Packages from Las
Vegas start at $433.99, and have more than 90 hotel and resort
choices. In addition, MLT Vacations' annual Travel Agent
Appreciation Month is coming in August, with booking incentives and
opportunities to win free trips.www.worldagentdirect.com
STAR OF HONOLULU has a new seven-course menu
for summer. After champagne and canapes, selections include chilled
Charentais melon soup, heirloom tomato salad featuring saut...ed
sweet rock shrimp and hand-picked mesclun greens. Butter-baked live
Maine lobster is paired with three caviar choices. Watermelon
sorbet intermezzo clears the palate before the main course:
tenderloin of beef, Kahuku corn crepe, baby eggplant filled with
smoked duck and hazelnut foie gras, vegetables and French
bordelaise sauce. Banana inspires the dessert. Mousse is filled
with caramelized pecans and layered with sponge cake, supplemented
with banana rum ice cream, deep-fried bananas and baked banana
chips. The five-star sunset dinner cruise--with cocktails--is
offered nightly at 5:30 p.m. for $199 per person. (800) 334-6191;
www.starofhonolulu.com
VISITORS WHO ARRIVED IN HAWAII BY AIR in April
spent $752.4 million, a 19.1% increase over the same period last
year. Per person daily spending also grew from $154 to $160. As a
group, visitors who spent the most hailed from the western U.S.
Their expenditures jumped 40.5% to $348.4 million.
CULTURAL HAPPENING: The Doris Duke Jewelry
Collection will be on display Oct. 15 to Dec. 31 in the Textile
Gallery at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. Approximately 100 pieces
from the 1860s through the 1960s, including a Maharaja diamond
necklace, woven gold mesh bracelets and other family heirlooms
passed down to the American heiress and former Honolulu
resident.
RUNAWAY has land-only offers on Maui this
summer. Prices are per person, double, and include a rental car
during the stay. Five nights in a garden-view room at the
Ritz-Carlton Kapalua start at $833, including daily breakfast for
two. The package for the Embassy Vacation Resort Kaanapali starts
at $939 for five nights in an ocean-view room, plus daily breakfast
and a cocktail reception. The Renaissance Wailea Beach Resort
package starts at $844 and comes with daily breakfast, and the Maui
Prince Hotel package begins at $631 for a partial ocean view and a
$100 food and beverage credit. Rates are commissionable, and agents
can add to those commissions by booking luaus, meal cruises, dinner
shows and other tours through Runaway. Valid through Sept. 15.
(800) 622-0723.