Hawaii Uses Supercomputer To Lure High-Tech Co. Mtgs.
<B>Hawaii Uses Supercomputer To Lure High-Tech Co. Mtgs.</B>
By Judy Jacobs
Two recent developments on the island of Maui are reinforcing the island's allure as an optimal location for the meetings and incentives market.
While Hawaii usually is known to entice travelers and meeting planners with its sand, sun and rainforests, officials in Maui have launched a campaign to convince high-tech companies to meet on the island and take advantage of one of the world's most powerful computers, which is housed there.
Additionally, a pending hotel sale that may bring one of the state's most remote and unique resorts, the Hotel Hana-Maui, back into play as a meeting and incentive destination has officials raving about the diversity of the island's offerings in this market
The high-tech approach may be a bit of a novelty for a place that usually touts its beaches and fun. The existence of one of the world's most powerful computers, however, has encouraged the Maui Economic Development Board to embark on High-Tech Maui, a campaign to convince high-tech companies to meet on the island.
The computer in question, an IBM 400 processor RS/6000 Scalable Power Parallel System SP, is housed in the Maui Supercomputing Center at the Maui Research and Technology Park. Since it was first installed in late 1993, the supercomputer has been operated by the University of New Mexico, but the University of Hawaii in October will assume the duties. The center ranks as the 12th most powerful computing center in the world.
"The fact that the University of Hawaii has been awarded the contract for the supercomputer is good news for us and the groups who might want to meet here," said Loren Malenchek, program director of the Maui Economic Development Board. "The University of Hawaii will be bringing a whole contingent of people, scientists and technical people. As a result, there will be a broader base and wider variety of scientists for meeting groups to draw speakers from."
While the supercomputer and access to technical experts may be reasons to hold a meeting at the research park, it also boasts state-of-the-art meeting facilities, and the MEDB intends to capitalize on that fact to attract high-tech meetings to Maui. The board plans to host the second annual Meeting Visions 2001, Emerging Technology and the Meeting Planning Industry, a conference highlighting how new and emerging technologies are changing the meetings industry. The conference will include sessions on data management, imaging, online registration, smart facilities, wireless communications and best practices.
While the board is busy seeking new high-tech meeting business, on the eastern tip of the island, a sale is in progress that may bring back one of the state's most unique meetings and incentives destinations.
Passport Resorts LLC, a San Francisco-based company that owns properties in California and Fiji, is in the process of purchasing the Hotel Hana-Maui. Situated amid the 4,500-acre Hana Ranch on a remote corner of the Maui rainforest, the hotel once was a favorite corporate location but has faced difficulties in recent years.
The hotel originally opened in 1946 as the Ka'uiki Inn and has gone through several owners and management companies, including Rosewood Hotels and Sheraton. "A lot of people got involved and then ran out of money before they got started," said Mike Freed, Passport Resorts co-managing director.
"We plan to make it smaller and very upscale, modeling it along the lines of the Post Ranch Inn. There are 97 rooms now, and we'll reduce the number to 75. We'll also put in a spa. It will take a year to remodel it, but we'll keep it open during that time," he added. When the upgrade is complete, Freed said, the resort hopes to attract small executive meeting groups.
The current owners, Chicago-based Meridian Financial Resources, which has owned the hotel since mid-1999, finished the first phase of a $3 million renovation to refurbish the lobby, the dining room and the 47 Sea Ranch cottages, individual units modeled on the homes of the plantation workers who once worked the land where the Hana Ranch now stands.