|
TheBuzz
Erika Engle
|
Hawaii beaches and resorts score more national ink and yikes
THE 2007 list of Hawaii's best family resorts is heading for 500,000 mailboxes in the Sept./Oct. issue of Travel + Leisure Family magazine, a supplement to Travel + Leisure not sold on newsstands.
Separately, another magazine singles out Waimea as a top waterfront town. Waimea on the Big Island, that is. Hah? For real, but try wait.
The T+L Family 50 is broken up into four lists by region or state -- the U.S. and Canada; Hawaii; Florida, and Mexico and the Caribbean.
The resorts were rated as part of the T+L 2007 World's Best Awards survey, by, in the magazine's words, "our just-back-from-vacation readers."
This year's top ten are, with last year's rank in parentheses if applicable: No. 1, Four Seasons Resort Hualalai (2); Fairmont Kea Lani (4); Four Seasons Resort Maui (6); Four Seasons Resort Lanai; No. 5, Mauna Lani Resort; Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa (5); Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa (3); Halekulani; Royal Hawaiian; and No. 10, Hilton Waikoloa Village (1).
The resorts' points were not released this year so it isn't possible to see how Hawaii's resorts stack up overall.
Last year, the Hilton Waikoloa Village and Four Seasons Resort Hualalai were Nos. 7 and 8 in the U.S.
It was amazing to learn from the T+L Web site that the Grand Wailea offers skiing, represented by a snowflake icon.
"We're always trying to add something extra," laughed Jim Miller, director of sales and marketing. Hotel officials were working to contact T+L about the flake foible.
Waterfront Waimea
National Geographic Adventure magazine's September issue features Waimea as a top waterfront town, among its 50 Best Places to Live and Play.
The online story explains that the town is minutes from beaches and is an otherwise lovely story about a great town. But, waterfront?
This is the same magazine that last September reported that Kahului is the reputed birthplace of the loco moco. You can still hear Hilo people grumbling.
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