Expedia rolls out Hawaii deals

Although times are tough, Hawaii remains one of the top 10 destinations for travelers who are looking for good deals, according to global online travel site Expedia.com.

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM

Expedia has nearly 50 desks in Hawaii, the majority of them on Maui and Oahu. Above, Tommy Hanuna, an Expedia Local Expert concierge, waits to help guests at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki. Expedia has a total of 191 staff statewide.

View more photos >>

Among some of the deals that are most popular in these tough times: Expedia's Half Off Hotel sale, a Book Early and Save promotion and, most recently, a West Coast fare sale starting at $296.

The Half-Off Hotel sale was launched in August, with more than 20 Hawaii hotel properties participating. It comes just in time - given that the number of August visitors to Hawaii plummeted 17.4 percent.

"Expedia is one of the most popular sites where consumers go to book travel deals, especially during tough economic times," said Julie Takeguchi, director of Expedia's market management. "We don't take that lightly. We consider ourselves to be consultants to the industry."

Expedia considers itself a sales and marketing partner, besides a distribution channel.

For Hawaii, it has a portal at www.expedia.com/hawaii. Hawaii also pops up on expedia.com through pages targeting travelers searching for a beach destination, golf & spa destination, or family trip.

Today, the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau also begins its sale of travel packages at below 2007 prices as part of a $4.5 million marketing campaign to boost travel during the U.S. economic crisis.

It will be working with travel wholesalers, as well as online travel sites like expedia, travelocity, orbitz, and travelzoo, which always have catered to value shoppers.

Online travel sites have become a major force for providing visitors to Hawaii over the last few years, according to Jay Talwar, HVCB's senior vice president of marketing.

He says the bureau is targeting people who value travel - up and down the income strata.

"There are people who have more expensive cars than they should, but they love cars," said Talwar.

"There are also people who love to travel because they seek experiences in new, unique and authentic destinations. They tend to travel regardless of the economy."

Those are the travelers that the state needs to reach.

Talwar, however, declined to give specifics of the HVCB contract with Expedia due to a confidentiality clause and competition.

An online traveler-user typically shops for the best deals on the Web, whether it is through competing travel sites or direct from the provider.

Ramon Calhoun of San Francisco, who used Expedia to book a trip to Kauai last year, said he isn't loyal to any one particular travel Web site.

Calhoun said he surfs all of the sites (expedia, travelocity, orbitz, kayak, priceline) to see which ones offer the best deal. He also checks the airlines directly because many now also offer travel packages, as was the case for a trip to the Big Island this year.

"It's really easy to do comparison shopping online by putting in the same dates of travel, and then seeing which sites have the best deals," he said.

Expedia's airline partners include all of Hawaii's carriers, including Hawaiian Airlines, go!, Pacific Wings and Island Air, as well U.S. carriers serving Hawaii. Expedia also was partners with Aloha Airlines and ATA Airlines before they shut down.

More travelers are planning trips to Hawaii and booking them online.

PhoCusWright, a travel research industry firm based in Sherman, Conn., projected that 56 percent of all U.S. travel this year will be booked online, up from 41 percent in 2005. That number is projected to reach up to 60 percent by 2009.

Worldwide, PhoCusWright projects that more than 40 percent of all travel will be booked online, up from 22 percent in 2005.

HVCB has for years reached out to potential visitors online, said Talwar.

Hawaii's own www.gohawaii.com site offers streaming videos showcasing Hawaii's chefs, hula, whales, surfing, and history through a series called "Stories of Hawaii."

HVCB also has posted its stories on YouTube: www. youtube.com/gohawaiitv and will be offering its new value packages on twitter and other blog sites.

"We want to make sure we're showing up in the right places with the right offers," said Talwar. "We're currently working with a double figure of wholesalers that all have surprising values for Hawaii packages."

The challenge now, according to Talwar, is to show people Hawaii is more affordable than they think despite higher airfares.

Greg Kaufman, president of the Pacific Whale Foundation, which offers whale-watching excursions, said Expedia has brought a whole new level of marketing to Hawaii.

Whereas activity tours used to get business through mom and pops hawking luaus and excursions to the tourist walking by, being on Expedia now means reaching the customer sitting at their desk in Kansas or Shanghai, he said.

"They bring the ability to market Hawaii as a destination," he said.

"If you go to Expedia.com and try to book a trip to Maui, you're exposed to a dinner cruise, a variety of luaus and helicopter tours. It's marketing with a very international player."

As far as hits go, Expedia says more than 730,000 people shop for flights on its Web site per day, and nearly 475,000 people shop for hotels per day.

Expedia Inc. began offering online travel services as a spinoff of Microsoft Network in the late '90s. In 2002, it was sold to InterActiveCorp and expanded - from selling mostly airline tickets to hotel rooms, activities, and packaged travel plans.

Today, Expedia is global, with separate Web sites for Canada, European countries, China, Japan and most recently, New Zealand.

Its corporate travel arm, Egencia, serves the business travel needs for Bank of Hawaii employees.

Tomorrow: Where Hawaii's hotels rank on TripAdvisor.