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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Golf club offer
drives for miles
and more members
THE Honolulu Country Club has teed off on a new drive for members who don't live on Oahu, offering 100,000 bonus miles on Hawaiian Airlines to each person accepted by the club.
CORRECTION
Friday, July 2, 2004Dues for resident members of Honolulu Country Club are monthly and vary, according to marketing director Melvyn Ho. Nonresident members pay a $10,000 initiation fee and $600 in annual dues. "TheBuzz" column on C1 Wednesday erroneously indicated resident members also pay $600 in annual dues.
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"That's almost three round-trips for coming to the islands to play golf," said general manager Jochen Moskopp. A mainland round-trip flight requires 35,000 miles.
Neighbor islanders and mainlanders are being wooed, but the Salt Lake club also has international nonresident members.
"We have a lot of people coming," Moskopp said. "Why not give them a first-class club with excellent service, good food and why not enjoy golf with friends, or make friends?"
The club's Web site, at honolulucountryclub.com, lists amenities that include tennis, a swimming pool and meal service.
Resident membership costs $20,000 plus $600 in annual dues. Nonresident membership costs $10,000 plus dues, a lower amount since visitors don't spend as much time at the club as locals.
The mileage award is a larger-than-usual incentive offered by Hawaiian Airlines, according to Randy Morioka, manager of Hawaiian Miles Partner Marketing.
"It's a nontraditional type (of award). We've never had a country club who did this before and you know, it can be very profitable for the club as well as Hawaiian Air and the member." The partners pay the airline for the miles, but the airline helps with promotion.
Hawaiian has nearly 1 million mileage members actively earning miles.
"We have statement mailings ... we also have newsletters that go out quarterly, we speak to elite members, our highest-flying members, every month, we do e-mail blasts and through our in-flight magazine, Hana Hou," Morioka said. Hundreds of other merchants are listed on www.hawaiianair.com.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4302, 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
