Maui To Offer More Meetings And Incentives Options
<B> Maui To Offer More Meetings And Incentives Options</B>
By Judy Jacobs
The island of Maui is adding and increasing the level of air service from the mainland, and is creating two new venues that will make the island even more attractive as a destination for meetings and incentives.
Hawaiian Airlines on March 12 will introduce Los Angeles-Maui daily service, and establish year-round, four-times-per-week Seattle-Maui service, which it previously operated only on a seasonal basis.
"An advantage of holding meetings and incentives on Maui is the amount of direct service the island gets, so you can bring a group straight to the island. There are currently 110 flights per week to Maui from the mainland, and that will increase with the addition of the new flights," said Marsha Weinert, executive director of the Maui Visitors Bureau.
Hawaiian Airlines also will introduce first class service on inter-island flights to stay in line with Aloha Airlines' first class expansion. HA is reconfiguring its DC-9 inter-island aircraft from 139 coach class seats to 125 coach and eight first class seats. The carrier acquired two additional DC-9s late last year, which already are configured with first class seating. The rest of its fleet will be transformed to the new seating standards during normal maintenance checks that are expected to be completed in April.
At about the same time that Hawaiian Airlines inaugurates its new inter-island, first class product, Aloha Airlines will double the number of first class seats on its 18-B737 aircraft to 10 to 12 seats per plane. This expansion will "give us another way to aggressively back up our recently announced Aloha Guarantee--which was initiated in December, and promises dissatisfied customers a free one-way ticket on Aloha--and allows us to focus on providing our incentives passengers with the best level of service and comfort in the inter-island air transportation market," said Glenn Zander, Aloha Airlines president and CEO.
The addition of several new venues also will give planners more options in planning events in Maui.
Cove Entertainment will open Maui's Myth and Magic Theater in June in the Old Lahaina Shopping Center. The 15,000-sq.-ft., state-of-the-art theater will seat 640 people, be available for meeting and incentive groups and feature hour-long performances highlighting the myths and legends of Maui.
Another theater with a slightly different bent will open on Front Street in mid-April. The developers have transformed the former World Café into a piano bar and 78-seat magic theater that will be known as Warren & Annabelle's. Open every evening except Sunday for buyouts by groups, the theater also will be available for afternoon performances.
Meanwhile, Lahaina-based Trilogy Excursions, which operates five catamarans for up to 90 people, has expanded its offerings to the meetings and incentives market. The company has created a pavilion, called Hale O Manele at Manele Bay on Lanai, for use as a venue for land-based theme parties, with guests transported from Lahaina by one of the company's catamarans. The pavilion measures 2,500 square feet and can accommodate up to 500 people.
Trilogy has created a series of theme parties for its new pavilion, including the Pirates of the Pacific, which incorporates a treasure hunt and sea shanties; Legends of Lanai, a program of local Lanai hula and chants; and Paniolo Roundup, a Hawaiian cowboy cookout.
Maui will join the Big Island, Kauai and Aloha Airlines to launch an advertising campaign and host a series of seminars aimed at the meetings and incentives trade. Details of the campaign will be announced in the coming weeks.