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TheBuzz
Erika Engle
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Pleasant Holidays wins for a third time among Travel Weekly's readers
Pleasant Holidays has scored a three-peat in the
Travel Weekly Magazine 2006 Readers Choice Awards, and so have the state of Hawaii and the island of Maui.
This is Travel Weekly's fourth annual awards program, which sought online votes for favorites in 51 categories from readers across the travel industry.
Pleasant, the California-based company that started as Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays many moons ago in 1959, has been voted the No. 1 tour operator for Hawaii travel by readers of the magazine, which goes to 50,000 travel professionals across the nation.
"What an honor this is to receive this award three years in a row," said Tim Irwin, Pleasant's president and chief executive officer, in a statement.
"Without our travel agent partners, this award would not have been possible, and we promise to continue providing the high standards and services our customers have come to expect."
Hawaii's other hard-to-be-humble wins came in the destination category.
Travel Weekly's readers voted Maui their favorite Hawaiian island for the third year in a row and voted the state of Hawaii the No. 1 U.S. state to visit, also for the third consecutive year, according to Travel Weekly Editor in Chief Arnie Weissmann.
While Hawaii's resorts always do well in travel magazines aimed at consumers, from upscale to more budget-conscious travelers, Travel Weekly's industry-professional readers gave our resort operators something to think about.
The St. Regis Resort in Bora Bora was voted the top resort worldwide. Being a bit of a research fanatic, it occurs to your columnist that a little on-site espionage in Bora Bora might be appropriate. Not that any suggestion of travel for personal gain is being made here, of course.
The editors are never going to let that last line fly -- but just between us, it was just a dream, er, a joke, anyway.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4747, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at:
eengle@starbulletin.com