#AlohaLaterHLTA is proud to announce the official kick-off event for the Stay Home Now, Aloha Later campaign. Tomorrow evening at 9 p.m., KHON will be hosting our official benefit concert that will feature local and mainland celebrities who have recorded personal messages and performances that we cannot wait to share with you. Tomorrow night, you can catch the show on TV and on KHON's website. If you miss it, don't worry. The concert will be aired again on KHII next week as well as on KHON's mainland syndicate stations at later dates.  HLTA is proud to announce the official kick-off event for the Stay Home Now, Aloha Later campaign. Tomorrow evening at 9 p.m., KHON will be hosting our official benefit concert that will feature local and mainland celebrities who have recorded personal messages and performances that we cannot wait to share with you. Tomorrow night, you can catch the show on TV and on KHON's website. If you miss it, don't worry. The concert will be aired again on KHII next week as well as on KHON's mainland syndicate stations at later dates.
Mahalo, Mufi
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COVID-19 UpdateAloha, During times like these, it is all too easy to become overwhelmed by our current situation and struggle to see the positives in our every day lives. We start to dwell on how different our lives have become, and it begins to feel like nothing will ever be the same. At HLTA, we've been keeping a list of what we call "feel-good updates" that tracks all the uplifting stories that we hear on a day-to-day basis. I've shared a handful of these as part of my latest Island Matters column in this week's edition of MidWeek. You can read the article by clicking here. Another bright side that we should consider is that the void of people and traffic created by State and county Work from home/Stay at home mandates has made it possible for a variety of construction projects to commence and make significant progress. As was recently reported in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, current lockdown measures have made it possible for important conservation projects in Waikiki to begin. Perhaps most notable of these is the $2 million Royal Hawaiian groin replacement which was funded through a partnership between the State DLNR and the Waikiki Beach Special Improvement District, which all businesses in Waikiki, including hotels and resorts, contribute to on an annual basis. Resorts around the state are also taking advantage of this time. Major renovation projects are underway at hotel properties including the Ka'anapali Beach Hotel on Maui and the Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort. The benefits of these projects are myriad. Not only will these properties be able to offer a new and updated experience to their customers sooner rather than later, but they are also able to help keep our local construction industry, which ranks among the top five contributors to our local GDP, at work. All this being said, things may seem dire right now. It may be hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But there are positive things happening all around us, all the time. More than anything, it is a reminder that we are all in this together, and we that will outlast the COVID-19 outbreak as a community. Hotels For Heroes UpdateHotels For Heroes has continued to grow both in use and in demand. As the program nears the end of its second week, we have been able to provide 1,005 room nights to those in need and have received many wonderful reports from grateful medical professionals and first responders who have been able to take advantage of this opportunity. "'It means a lot,' programs to help local heroes expanding," KHON2, April 16, 2020 KHON ran a great piece last night about one doctor in particular from Maui Memorial Medical Center who, until Hotels For Heroes started, had been sleeping on a mattress in his office to protect his family from possible exposure to COVID-19. To read more about his story and Hotels For Heroes, please click the link above. Kau Kau Kokua Kits HLTA, in partnership with Y. Hata & Co., is pleased to announce Kau Kau Kokua Kits, an event that will offer specially-priced food bundles for O'ahu's hospitality workers and their families. We have set up distribution sites at Residence Inn Kapolei and Embassy Suites by Hilton Waikiki Beach Walk. Kau Kau Kokua Kits will be available for pick-up on Friday, April 24. Orders must be placed no later than 10 a.m. on Wednesday, April 23. If you are interested in having your own Kau Kau Kokua activity, please let Ashley Yonamine of our HLTA staff know. PICK-UP TIMES & LOCATIONS Embassy Suites by Hilton Waikiki Beach Walk - 9 a.m. Residence Inn by Marriott Oahu Kapolei - 1 p.m. Bundle A: $45 (Feeds 8-10)
HLTA Board of Directors MeetingYesterday, we held our bi-monthly Board of Directors meeting remotely via teleconference. Mahalo to all who were able to "attend" and participate. Conducting board business over Zoom was certainly different than our normal board meetings, but I appreciated everybody's patience and flexibility.
During the meeting, I provided updates in the following areas: current HLTA operations; COVID-19 response; updated HLTA calendar; ongoing HLTA initiatives; and our upcoming legislative priorities. I hope that you have a great weekend. If I can be of assistance, please feel free to contact me at any time. Mahalo, -Mufi COVID-19 UpdateAloha,
Yesterday afternoon, Mayor Caldwell and Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard announced a pilot program that will establish a night-time curfew for the Easter holiday weekend. Under the program, Honolulu residents must remain in their homes between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. from this evening through Monday night. While you may leave your home in the case of an emergency, going out to eat or to pick up food will not be allowed during the curfew. The neighbor islands have also instituted new policies. Maui Mayor Mike Victorino has established curfew hours for the Easter weekend similar to O'ahu. Meanwhile on Kaua'i, Mayor Derek Kawakami amended the Mayor's Emergency Rule #5 to close all vacation rental operations and golf courses, and to require food service, grocery, and pharmacy employees to wear cloth masks beginning on Saturday, and Hawai'i Island Mayor Harry Kim has announced that all vacation rentals, bed and breakfasts and time shares must shut down and stop advertising beginning Monday. In other news, Hotels for Heroes is wrapping up its first week. While there have certainly been challenges, the overall response has been wonderful. In addition to more and more people signing up to participate - over 650 reservations were made in four days, we have also had numerous people, organizations, and businesses offer their services to the program. Mahalo to Hawaiian Paradise Coffee, Domino's Pizza, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car, each of whom contacted us this week with offers on how they could help support Hotels for Heroes. I am also pleased to report that we were able to secure an additional 500 room nights thanks - thanks to HTA, which were provided to the Healthcare Association of Hawaii (HAH) to support Maui Memorial Medical Center. Moreover, we were notified by HAH today that an organization has returned unneeded rooms which we were able to make available to Kaiser Permanente, the only hospital that was not a participant in Hotels for Heroes from the outset because they missed the deadline. In closing, my best wishes to you and your family as we head into the Easter weekend. I hope that you are able to spend a safe, relaxing weekend together. As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to me or my staff if we can be of assistance in any way. Happy Easter! Mahalo, Mufi COVID-19 UpdateAloha, Yesterday afternoon, Mayor Caldwell and Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard announced a pilot program that will establish a night-time curfew for the Easter holiday weekend. Under the program, Honolulu residents must remain in their homes between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. from this evening through Monday night. While you may leave your home in the case of an emergency, going out to eat or to pick up food will not be allowed during the curfew. The neighbor islands have also instituted new policies. Maui Mayor Mike Victorino has established curfew hours for the Easter weekend similar to O'ahu. Meanwhile on Kaua'i, Mayor Derek Kawakami amended the Mayor's Emergency Rule #5 to close all vacation rental operations and golf courses, and to require food service, grocery, and pharmacy employees to wear cloth masks beginning on Saturday, and Hawai'i Island Mayor Harry Kim has announced that all vacation rentals, bed and breakfasts and time shares must shut down and stop advertising beginning Monday. In other news, Hotels for Heroes is wrapping up its first week. While there have certainly been challenges, the overall response has been wonderful. In addition to more and more people signing up to participate - over 650 reservations were made in four days, we have also had numerous people, organizations, and businesses offer their services to the program. Mahalo to Hawaiian Paradise Coffee, Domino's Pizza, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car, each of whom contacted us this week with offers on how they could help support Hotels for Heroes. I am also pleased to report that we were able to secure an additional 500 room nights thanks - thanks to HTA, which were provided to the Healthcare Association of Hawaii (HAH) to support Maui Memorial Medical Center. Moreover, we were notified by HAH today that an organization has returned unneeded rooms which we were able to make available to Kaiser Permanente, the only hospital that was not a participant in Hotels for Heroes from the outset because they missed the deadline. In closing, my best wishes to you and your family as we head into the Easter weekend. I hope that you are able to spend a safe, relaxing weekend together. As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to me or my staff if we can be of assistance in any way. Happy Easter! Mahalo, Mufi Hannemann President & CEO Hawai'i Lodging & Tourism Association Links:This Week's Media Items
"'Hotels for Heroes' program kicks off today," The Garden Island, April 6, 2020 "Hotels for Heroes kicks off across the state," KITV4, April 6, 2020 "Hotels across the state offer free rooms to health care workers, first responders," Pacific Business News, April 7, 2020 "New program helps visitors go back home if they can't quarantine for 14 days in Hawaii," KHON2, April 7, 2020 HLTA Communications From This Week Mufi's Message - April 3, 2020 COVID-19 Update - April 6, 2020 COVID-19 Update - April 7, 2020 Government AffairsAloha, In this week's message, I want to share with you a brief update on several issues on which HLTA has been focusing. Yesterday afternoon, I had an extremely productive conversation with U.S. Representative Ed Case who shed light on a variety of issues that have recently been raised by the passage of the CARES Act. One of the critical topics that came up was the Paycheck Protection Program which is meant to help small businesses keep their employees on payroll as long as possible. These funds are now available and more than 10,000 applications have already been submitted. If your business is eligible for this program, you need to submit an application as soon as possible. For more information, visit the U.S. Small Business Administration’s website here. Since its enactment, I have sent out multiple updates about the CARES Act and its provisions. Currently in the works is another stimulus package which is another opportunity to receive additional assistance from the Federal government. Rep. Case is a longtime member of our local hotel and lodging community and it is encouraging to know that he is looking out, in particular, for our industry. On Thursday night, I was invited by House Minority Leader Gene Ward to speak to his constituents at his district Summit. What was originally scheduled to be a talk story session at Kona Brewing Company was rescheduled as a virtual Zoom meeting. During our session, I shared my outlook on the COVID-19 outbreak, highlighted some of the ways that the visitor industry has responded to the recent crisis, and referenced other disasters that I personally had to face while Mayor of the City & County of Honolulu. Mahalo to Representative Ward for inviting me, and a special shout out to all those who joined us from the Hawai'i Kai area to share their mana'o. Over the next week, I will also be attending two other meetings aimed at our recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak. On Monday, House Speaker Scott Saiki will convene the third meeting of the Select House Committee on COVID-19 Economic & Financial Preparedness. The committee has 26 representatives from different sectors of our economy, and the tourism industry is represented by myself, HTA President & CEO Chris Tatum, and Hawaiian Airlines President Peter Ingram. Moreover, I am organizing a meeting next week for industry stakeholders to come together and discuss a strategy to seek relief from local and state government. I’ll be inviting representatives from our HLTA neighbor island chapters to join us. HLTA InitiativesHawai'i's visitor industry has a long history of community service and charitable efforts. The businesses and people that make up our tourism sector truly embody the aloha spirit, and it has been uplifting to see these traditions carried on, especially in the face of COVID-19. Hotels For Heroes Earlier this week, we announced our Hotels for Heroes initiative. This program, which offers complimentary hotel rooms for individuals on the front lines of the COVID-19 outbreak, was made possible through the partnership between HLTA, HTA, and HVCB. Through this program, which is funded by state tourism dollars, we have established points-of-contact with the Healthcare Association of Hawaii, the Hawaii Medical Association, police and fire departments in all counties, State law enforcement with the Attorney General’s Office, DLNR, DPS, and DOT, as well as EMTs and paramedics on all major islands. Each of the sectors was personally contacted by HLTA and will book reservations for their participants through HVCB. To date, we have had 35 hotels sign up to participate in this program and continue to add to our list of participating hotels on a daily basis. The positive reaction from the aforementioned organizations that we are working with to enable individuals to participate in this program has been overwhelming! "'Hotel for Heroes' safe stay for essential personnel," KHON 2, April 2, 2020 "Interisland quarantine order empties Hawaii airports," Honolulu Star-Advertiser, April 2, 2020  Mahalo to the crew from Hawaii Nautical! HLTA & Hawaii Nautical Donation Collection Behind the scenes, HLTA has also partnered with Hawaii Nautical to collect donations of essential items like linens, towels, toiletries, cleaning supplies, and furniture for our homeless population. Hawaii Nautical and their crew have been picking-up these items from hotel properties and businesses around O'ahu and delivering them to us so we can sort, clean, and distribute them to various projects including the COVID-19 Temporary Quarantine Center that was established through a partnership with the State Department of Health, City and County of Honolulu, Institute for Human Services, Local 5, and the Hawai'i Homeless Healthcare Hui. "Oahu hotels donate items large and small for COVID relief," KHON2, April 2, 2020 These are just two of the ways that HLTA has continued our work to advocate not only for our industry, but for our community as a whole. Please have a good weekend. Stay safe, keep washing your hands, and take care of yourself and your family. Mahalo, Mufi  Mahalo to all those who donated items this week!
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