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TheBuzz
Erika Engle
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Merry marriage merges merchants
DON'T tell the civil-union-debating Legislature, but there is a three-way marriage to report.
Outrigger Hotels & Resorts, hosts of newlyweds for generations, has entered into a marriage of convenience with Oregon-based online honeymoon registry TheBigDay.com and with Calif.-based Pleasant Holidays.
TheBigDay.com and Pleasant Holidays have been business friends with benefits -- of the monetary variety -- since April of last year, providing newlyweds with honeymoon travel to Pleasant Holidays' many destinations, including Hawaii.
Now Outrigger has joined in with a link on its Web site leading to a honeymoon registry powered by, and co-branded with, TheBigDay.com.
"It's a three-way partnership," said Michael Cottam, president of TheBigDay.
Pleasant Holidays provides the travel service and agents to consult with customers, he said. TheBigDay provides the registry service, which includes customer service and hosting.
Outrigger has links to their co-branded registry on its Web site, and the partners market the services jointly.
For the end user, newlyweds who book a honeymoon to an Outrigger or Ohana property through Pleasant Holidays receive a discount on service fees TheBigDay charges on gifts purchased from their registries.
Without the discount, if you went to Junior Boy and Lani's registry to kokua $100 toward their honeymoon, the couple would pay $9 to TheBigDay for administering the registry.
However, if the value of Junior Boy and Lani's registry was $2,000, the fee would be cut to 3.5 percent. At $3,500 or more, they would pay no fees.
Other honeymoon registries are driven by service charges to the couples on their gifts, with no incentive to book with the partner, Cottam said.
"While customers can pay our service charge, we'd prefer to get their travel business for our partners and give them the registry for free," he said.
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