Mufi's Message - February 5, 2021

Government Affairs

​Aloha,

This week, Lieutenant Governor Josh Green met with members of HLTA's Board of Directors and Government Affairs Committee to discuss his latest proposal that would loosen travel restrictions as more of our local populace is vaccinated against COVID-19. The plan was met with strong support among our members, and we will be actively supportive of it.

During the meeting, Lt. Gov. Green also discussed the State's vaccination efforts and was supportive of our request that the State move hospitality workers to the 1B designation in its schedule in order to get our people safely back to work sooner rather than later.

At the State Legislature, we have been extremely busy advocating for our industry and our community on a variety of fronts. 

House Bill 1286 has been scheduled to be heard by the Pandemic & Disaster Preparedness and Labor & Tourism Committees in a joint hearing on Tuesday, February 9 at 8:30 a.m. This measure, which would codify statewide travel, testing, and quarantine rules was submitted by Speaker Scott Saiki and has widespread support in the House. Besides clarifying and simplifying rules for prospective travelers, this measure would also allow travelers who "[submit] to and [obtain] a negative test result from a state-approved rapid COVID-19 test upon arrival" to be exempt from the mandatory 10-day quarantine. As you may remember, this is one of the possible amendments to the Safe Travels program that HLTA had asked Gov. David Ige to consider.

The Outrigger Promise

Yesterday, Outrigger Hotels and Resorts announced a new program under the #OutriggerPromise which guarantees that Outrigger guests will love their stays at Outrigger. If, for some reason they do not, Outrigger has promised to credit the guest for a future stay, on the house. 

I cannot think of a single instance where a resort has offered a guarantee like this. It truly speaks to Outrigger President & CEO Jeff Wagoner's confidence in Outrigger's level of customer service and the quality of their product overall. Kudos to Outrigger EVP and Chief Marketing Officer Sean Dee for the creativity and boldness to enact this plan!

Have a great weekend, 
​Mufi