So I’ve posted a lot of posts on my blog about the Hilton Waikoloa Village, and I have had a couple people question my intentions on my posts.
Just another view from my lanai at the Hilton Waikoloa
Any of you that live in Hawaii know that the economy is tanking. I myself have had a problem finding full time employment after working nearly 10 years at a State office over on Oahu.
Inside the cave pool
My family has always been a priority to me, even if it means being broke ass and working at jobs for less pay then what I was making on Oahu, I know that for the benefit of my son’s future, that it was important for me to move back home and be closer to him.
Playing Checkers on Giant Board
If you have followed my blog, you will know that my wife and I lived on Oahu but a year after my son was born, my wife got a job with the USDA on the Big Island and childcare was going to be a problem for us as we did not feel comfortable leaving our one year old son with someone outside of our family while we both worked during the days.
Hammock over looking the ocean
I understand that Hawaii’s economy is tanking right now and that we as bloggers can make a difference in the economy.
Just a casual cruise
By spreading the word about how good things are here in Hawaii despite how tough things can be at times, we can all benefit in the future.
Just kicking back and reading a book, what more can you ask for?
Hawaii will always be looked upon as the Tourist destination of the world. Oahu is called the gathering place for a reason. Many tourist dollars don’t ever leave Waikiki.
Did you know the Waikoloa has a concierge desk just for the Japanese Tourists?
Even though the economy is tanking right now… I don’t think it will always be tanking. I also don’t see my blog going away anytime soon.
One of the three towers at the Waikoloa
By marking and tagging posts on my blogs about good things that happen in Hawaii, and hotels that have been really nice to me, hopefully these places will benefit in 2-3 years when people are doing their google searches on places to visit in Hawaii.
Lots of Exotic Birds all over the Waikoloa
My blog is visited by nearly 30,000 visits a month. You can watch the live feed of visitors on the bottom right. People from throughout the world use google to find things on the internet.
Seaside Mini Golf Putting Green
I was very fortunate through some twitter friends and my blog that I was able to get a “Complimentary Room” at the Hilton Waikoloa the night that the mainland bloggers came in.
Bridge over Koi Pond
Not only was I able to meet with the bloggers personally, I will continue to discuss things and just entertain eachother with thoughts about random life for the rest of our lives.
Shade Cover by the Ocean
About a week before the bloggers even arrived on the Big Island I through out the question on Twitter: Does anyone know of a cheap hotel on the Big Island.
Karma?
Within minutes I had responses coming from not only the Kona side of the island, but Hilo side, as well as a couple people from Oahu with suggestions on sites to visit for cheap places to stay.
Mirrored Corner
My goal was to find a cheap hotel so that I wouldn’t have to drive so far after meeting with them because I knew they would be on Hawaii Time by the time they got to the planned Tweet up and I knew I wasn’t going to be in any mood to drive back across the island again after the tweet up.
Waikoloa View
I had pretty much given up hopes about any reasonably priced hotel when someone tweeted me and said… do you know that the Waikoloa is only $40.00 more then Uncle Billys for Kama’aina.
No, I didn't take flipper home with me
I thought wow… that’s a pretty good deal… but it’s still a bit out of my range, and I was just content to follow the Bloggers trip to the Big Island via many different sites. So I prayed of a way to do this… j/k.
Nice statue figures
Next thing I know about 3:00 on Monday, the day the bloggers were to arrive on the Big Island, I got a message from someone at the Big Island Visitors Bureau telling me that they weren’t able to make the trip and that they would talk to the the public relations people at the Hilton Waikoloa and switch the name to my name.
Heck, I was stoked… and I wasn’t going to turn this down.
Car parked at the Waikoloa
Guess where I’m going next? I’ll keep that a secret for now.
Filed under: Announcements, Big Island, Blogs, Community, Economy, Entertainment, Food & Drink, Hawaii, Something New?, State Affairs, Sustainable Living, Technology, Tourism Tagged: | Big Island Visitors Bureau, Hilton Waikoloa Village, Lucky We Live in Hawaii, Mini Golf in Hawaii
I just mentioned to someone in Bellingham, Washington state that now is the time to go to Hawaii because there are so many great deals. They acted surprised and said they would look into it. It’s great that you can get the word out. Keep at it. You might twitter too. It’s one more way to let people know.
HI Damon
I just read more about you. Great stuff. Please visit my Honolulu Advertiser.com
blog on front page, below Metro Mix. IT’s also free but can help to promote.
I find your approach very interesting. Send me video that would catch
attenttion and allow me to mention you and a very creative way to find work.
The subject matter is all over the place so… keep in touch if you’re interested.
The value of these blogs is quite substantial. They do something like 1.4 million readers on line (not sure if this is weekly or monthly). but a lot of people.
We have stayed at the Hilton 3 times over the last 6 years. It is an amazing place, extremely kid-friendly. My 3 boys absolutely love it and would have no problem actually falling asleep every night after a full day of activities. My wife, who is afraid of the “critters’ in the ocean, actually went snorkeling in the lagoon (she had never done anything like that) and liked it so much, she stayed in the water for 4 hours! The turtles and other marine life is simply beautiful.
I don’t think that the Hilton does enough to advertise itself on the mainland. The only way we initially heard about it was because I was getting a free stay via Hilton Honours points and it popped up on a list of Hawaii resorts available only for the highest level of members. We almost went to Maui instead. We are so glad we went to the Big Island instead of Maui.
Oh, yeah, and did you know that the Hilton has an above average number of spy cams. There is one in the “cave” at the pool, just so you be careful what you do in there. They love to watch it in Security. TRUE!!
Damon – I wouldn’t call them spy cams… I’d call them security cams. I know that when I’m on vacation, I’d prefer to have someone watching for something to go down… and if someone is “doing something” in the cave pool… I just hope they are just “snuggling” while on vacation.
Just think if I could get a live stream feed to that cave pool cam on my blog!!! ;)
Hi, glad you made it over here and got a nice night at the Hilton. It is called “the Hilton” as differentiated from the Marriott as differentiated from my house. I don’t live at the Waikoloa. I live IN Waikoloa. This would be like saying I stayed at “the Hilo” when I stayed at the Hilo Seaside. whatever. Just glad you came over and played tourist.
Do you know people try to steal those multiple-ton statues? Weird, huh? How was occupancy.
(I hear) The Mauna Lani has notified it’s employees they will not be working in October or November, even if they decide NOT to upgrade the rooms, as previously planned. ML needs a new roof and room upgrades. ML has already laid off one chef. I don’t know if any restaurants will remain open during the closure, but my guess is no.
Also, The Kona Village Resort has postponed their closure from this fall to after the New Year. Their closure will include major infrastructure upgrades (water lines, electrical) as well as fixing up the “hales”, which sorely need it.
The ML, Orchid, and other hotels did well with the 70.3 Ironman last week, but it is dead dead dead down there now.
I used to work for a property management firm on Maui. They manage a very nice place on Maui in Ka’anapali. They did not have miniature golf! What a great idea! The oversized checkerboard is quite cool too. They have chess?
Sorry Vern, no chess… but I might make a recommendation! On second thought… chess takes too much brain work… if your on vacation… my as well just relax!
I love this place… more to come in a future blog posting!