Hawaiian Air - Saving Money the Right Way
Many businesses are looking to save money by cutting in areas that will negativly impact their service level. We have all seen enough adding fees for food, checking bags, and anything else thay can think of to add revenue without appearing to raise ticket prices. These forms of not so subtle gouging have led to major dissatisfaction with the airline industry.

Clean Mo Bettah
Hawaiian Air has announced some creative, if not revolutionary changes that we as passengers will barely (if at all) notice.
For example, they will be power washing their jet engines more frequently, reducing the cruising speed on its long-haul flights, and towing planes to the airport runways instead of using the jet engines. Hawaiian said these fuel conservation efforts are expected to save about $4 million this year. While that’s a small portion of their revenue, it is still a lot of money.
Hawaiian reportedly spent $291.6 million on fuel last year, so some may call this just a “drop in the bucket.”

Cool Looking Too!
The airline announced two weeks ago that it plans to invest $10 million to purchase eight winglets for its long-haul aircraft, in a move that will save more than 2 million gallons of jet fuel each year. The 11-foot-tall fin-like attachments, which could be installed by September 2009, will pay for themselves in four years, the airline said.
They are ordering lighter seats at a cost of about $1.5 million, which they say will pay for themselves in less than two years.
The have also purchased portable air-conditioning units for the interisland gates to cool planes in between flights. These will be used instead of the plane’s internal AC system, which is powered by the aircraft’s engines.

“Those who know how to think need no teachers.”
-Mahatma Gandhi

The Playoffs Begin
Watching this year’s political antics has been a side show perhaps like no other. Tonight’s debate will go down in history as one of the most watched TV events of all time.

Ali vs. Liston
This event conjurs up images of Muhamad Ali and Sonny Liston. I’m not saying who’s who here.

Celebrities and Politics
It has all of the ingredients we saw in the OJ Simpson murder trial and the Richard Nixon Watergate expose. I’m not saying who’s who here.
People root for their favorite football, baseball and basketball teams. We have the World Series, The Super Bowl and the NBA Playoffs.

Tyson vs. Spinks
We saw ”Iron Mike” Tyson and Michael Spinks. There are “TV Debate Parties” being held all across the country this evening, and the sports bars will be packed with “fans” just waiting to see their favorite candidate throw the knock out punch.

I have stated in previous posts that I am not a fan of the two party system. My problem with it, is that it insures division. Regardless of the outcome, roughly half of the people in the United States will be unhappy with the result and begin finding faults with our new leader. Having half of the country disagree with anything you do must make for the toughest job in the world, and unfortunately it may just keep the best, most qualified people out of the race entirely.

Get a Full Jar
We see tip jars on the counter at a lot of places where nothing is being done to earn a tip. My favorite example of this is the coffee shop where they hand you an empty paper cup, with a tip jar right there in front of you. When this happens I point to the tip jar and ask, “What’s that for?”

Do It Yourself
After paying for the coffee, and maybe leaving a tip, you have to walk across the room and fill your own cup from some pump pot, which sometimes is empty or even cold.

Service Pays
People working for tips must be of service first, and then smart enough to get tipped for doing so.
I recently saw two examples of things some employees do that hurt the tip total. I was in a coffee shop and the tab was $3.03. Would someone be likely to give a 97 cent tip on $3 ticket? Most people would not, but I might. I don’t like carrying change in my pocket. As I reached into my pocket the clerk reached into the tip jar and dug out 3 cents and handed it to me. Was I grateful? Was that the thing to do? No! NOT! She not only robbed her co-workers of the 3 cents, but also of the 97 cents I would have put into the jar. I was not going to reward this stupidity, so I left without tipping.

Be Smart
On another occassion recently my check was $14.85. I paid with a $20 bill. The clerk handed me 15 cents and a $5 bill. I was in a generous mood, so I called her over and said, “Never do that.” She said, “Do what?” I said, “Take this $5 and give me five $1 bills, and I will show you.” As she did, I asked her if she knows why I wanted her to do that. She said, “No.” I dropped the 15 cents and two of the $1 bills into her tip jar and said, “See, I wouldn’t have given you the $5.” Did she appreciate the “tip” or the tip? No and nope, she said, “I wouldn’t want someone to give me five $1 bills instead of a $5 bill, just to get a tip.” I explained to her that it was not for her to get the tip, but to enable me the opportunity to give her one. Did she appreciate the advice? Apparently not, I returned a couple of days later and the tab was the same. I have her $20 and sure enough, got back 15 cents and a $5 bill. I said, “Don’t you remember what I showed you the other day?” She said, “I’m a supervisor and don’t get any of the tip money anyway.” What does that tell you?

Stay Away From Joe

Andy Capp
Cartoonist, Reg Smythe, who created the working class comic strip hero Andy Capp, died of cancer at 81 in 1998. He drew the Andy Capp comic strip for the Daily Mirror for more than 40 years.

Another character in the series was called Joe Btfsplk, a name that is next to impossible to pronounce. Joe served to illustrate how some people are. He walked around with his own private rain cloud over his head, and anyone coming close to him would have some terrible form of bad luck. Because of his reputation Joe was a very lonely and feared little man.
The “Joe’s” in our society today are those people that always have a bad news story to share with you. They are the first ones to tell you about a coming storm, accident on the freeway, problem in their life or, YES the downside of any economical time. And they can bring you “bad luck” if you listen, even worse if you buy in to their negativity.
Someone once told me, “An unwelcome visitor soon departs.” When you run into “Joe”, let him know how unwelcome his tales of woe are and he and his cloud will go rain on someone else.

Total 1st Class Remembered
When selecting the airline to fly to Atlanta I chose Delta. This was the longest non-stop flight I have had since moving to Hawaii 28 years ago; 9 1/2 hours. I am admittedly spoiled, and only fly 1st Class. Hawaiian Air has always been my airline of choice, but they do not fly any further east than Phoenix. United by way of Chicago was an option, but the last time I flew them I was turned off by both the lack of leg room and the surly flight attendants.
I had not flown Delta before, so I gave them a shot, and I’m glad that I did. The 1st Class cabin was very roomy, even more so than Hawaiian. When the woman in front of me chose to put her seat all of the way back I still had room for my laptop.
The crew was personable, and the individual TV sets were cool. I watched one of the most bizarre movies of all time; Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It was absolutely ridiculous yet entertaining in some weird way.
I forgot my Bose noise canceling earphones, but found the ones Delta provided to be comfortable on my ears. And, as a real surprise, they even allow special meals. As a vegetarian I have missed that perk since Hawaiian Air eliminated it sometime back, about the same time that Aloha Airlines eliminated 1st Class altogether. We saw where that one went.
My mainland client was thoughtful enough to order me a vegetarian meal, and when the flight attendant described the options, I asked if I could have the pasta rather than the veggie special. She said that she would try. The pasta was so desirous that it was “sold out” leaving me with the veggie dish. I told her that was fine, when she said that she would swap her pasta meal for my veggie one. Wow, I was impressed, and the pasta was great.

Return to Honolulu - No Empty Seats
As I got onto the plane to return to Honolulu I read today’s Honolulu Advertiser where beach boys and other Waikiki retailers were citing how bad business is with so few people coming to Hawaii because of the latest Wall Street news. Here they go again. My flight was full, and that included 24 seats in 1st Class at about $3,000 round trip from Atlanta to Honolulu. Maybe they just didn’t see the paper.

Tight Fit!
My seat mate on the way back to Honolulu reminded me of one of the (biggest) reasons I insist on 1st Class. When flying alone it’s always a game of “Seating Roulette” as to whom you might be seated next to. I lost the gamble this time, as my seat mate coughed, choked, snored, drank and ate throughout the entire 9 and 1/2 hour flight. I was stuck; the flight was fully booked. To add insult to injury, she was traveling with two look alike friends in the seats in front of us, and she carried on loud conversations with them for a good part of the flight. She was very unhappy about the lack of leg room, complaining that she wasn’t getting her 1st class money’s worth. She was expecting a cross continental plane with sleeper beds.

Watch Out!
She moved around a lot and I was constantly protecting my computer from the close calls with beverages between us. And; imagine the inconvenience as she made several trips to the restroom.

Home Sweet Home
It’s always heavenly to land in Honolulu, but the completion of this trip was especially welcome.
Whew!

“They say that Maui…”
I have always loved the words to that song. Personally it’s hard for me to say which island is the best, for they each have their own intrinsic beauty. I love the wide open spaces on the Big Island, the variety of Oahu, the mystery of Molokai, the fun of Maui, and I have often said that I could spend the rest of my life as a rock if you planted me in Hanalei Bay on Kauai.

When I read in the local papers this week that Hawaii hotel occupancy is the lowest that it has been in 10 years, and that the hardest hit were the neighbor islands, with the worst being the high end properties on Maui, I thought, “Oh no, here they go again.”
If you have been following this Blog, you have noticed my irritation by the negative spin the press likes to put on things. In some ways (like O.J. Simpson) I don’t mind it, but when it comes to minimizing one’s chances for success, my blood boils. The last thing we need in tough times is to highlight the downside, thus justifying poor results for one seeking an excuse (too many).
I say, “Look for evidence that opportunity for success is still here, and make that the spin.” I was heading to Maui the day of this news anyway, so I decided to look for some evidence contrary to what the media is telling us. I set out to see if I could find people on Maui spending money. Here’s what I saw:

Full flight to West Maui
Many times in the past my small Island Air jet has been only partially full. Today all seats were full, and everyone on the plane was going to Maui.

93% Booked
Next was my shuttle to Alamo Rental Cars. I asked the driver about business. He said, “Were real busy; 28 of 30 cars are going out every day.” I’m feeling good already.

Westin Aloha Welcome
Thad has been the door greeter at the Westin Hotel in Kaanapali more years than he would want me to say, He always has a warm “Aloha” for me. Today I asked him how business is, and he said, “Were doing better than anyone else. September is always a little down, but we are 80% booked.” I don’t know if that’s completely true or not, but it sure made me feel good about things.

Check In Line
Next was the check in. I hate lines, but today I was pleased to see them lining up to check in at this very high end hotel. In case you do not know how high, I got a special Kamaaina rate; $255 plus “resort fees.” I asked the front desk clerk how many rooms in the hotel and what visitors are paying. He said, “780 rooms at about $400 a night, some much higher.” I did some quick arithmatic, at 80% that’s about $250,000 bucks a night. My evidence that people are spending money is piling up already.

Lahaina Town
I checked in, caught up on my e-mail and headed into Lahaina Town at about 4 PM. That’s a pretty dead time as a lot of people are in their rooms resting up or dressing up for a night on the town. In spite of that, I saw plenty of “evidence” of people on the sidewalks.

Red Lights
I also looked into the stores and galleries, and as always it was feast or famine. In Retail Selling Made Easy I talk about Red Light - Green Light, referring to the physical positioning of salespeople, and whether they are attracting customers or not. Unfortunately I saw more red lights than green lights. I saw things like this:

For some, working for business was just too much!

Green Lights
In those cases where people were staying busy the green lights were drawing people into their businesses. People will stop outside to decide if to go inside. What they see in there makes the decision. To be busy; get busy!

Almost Dinner Time
It was now getting close to dinner time so I peeked into a few Lahaina bars to see how they were doing. I was pleased to see a lot of people having a good time eating and drinking before dinner.

There was a waiting line already at Bubba Gumps on Front Street.

Show Time
I decided to head back to Kaanapali before dark to see how things looked at Whalers Village. As I was passing by Lahaina Cannery Mall I saw a lot of people gathering across the street, so I parked to check it out.

Old Lahaina Luau
People were lining up in large numbers to see the Old Lahaina Luau. I asked someone at the reservation desk how many people they have tonight, and she said, “280 so far, but there will be more walk-ins.” I aked the price and she said, “$93 per person.” Again I did the arithmatic; $26,040!

Hyatt Luau
On my way to Whalers Village I decided to drop by the Maui Hyatt Regency to see if they have a luau happening as well. They did; 480 people at $99 each. Added up that’s another $47,520! Are you keeping track? Are you feeling good about the opportunity yet? If not, there’s more.

Leilani’s on the Beach
As I arrived at Whalers Village I peered into Leilani’s on the Beach and saw a packed house having dinner. I looked across the sidewalk at Hula Grill and saw another packed house.

The Sunset
I looked around the other way and saw more people snapping memerable photos of the West Maui Sunset.

And as I headed into Whalers Village I was confronted by even more people on their way to the restaurants.
I really hope that these photos and stories will serve to boost your confidence in our Hawaiian opportunity. No doubt that there are people on the mainland deep in depression over this so called recession, but I must say they are not the ones making the trip to Maui, so you do not need to worry about how to sell to them. The people traveling to Hawaii are not the ones affected by high airfares and or gas prices. Those people are staying home. We are blessed to have a clientelle that is still coming to Hawaii and spending a lot of money to have a good time. Do NOT let the press or anyone bring you down by talking about what is NOT here. Stay focused on what IS here. Help these visitors enjoy their vacation and they will reward you with their business.
Remember this Proverb:
“When the wind doesn’t blow; row!”
Mahalo for putting up with my positive spin; it’s for you.

Cute?
I have refused to publicly offer a political opinion in this race for president, but must admit that recent stories of Sarah Palin rising up from nowhere to national stardom has been exciting enough to get me thinking that she might be better suited for president than her running mate or opponent. Sadly that’s all we have to pick from.
I made that statement to a colleague today, who then sent me this link (CLICK HERE) showing just who she is. I’m quiet no more. Take a good look through here, all the way through, if you can stomach it, be sure to watch the video, and then tell me how cool you think she is. This needs to be shown in all of the papers and on national television. It’s a story not likely to be told or shown during the campaign.

Feeling Sandwiched In?

Reuters has compiled a long list of “winners and losers” as a result of the goverment bailout of Fannie and Freddie. I guess that there are always winners and losers at most anything. The old “win-win” concept is a tough one to bring about. As noted, the list on both sides is a long one; in case you missed it you can see the entire list by clicking here. Topping the two lists were:

LIKELY WINNERS
- Major Banks, which would benefit from any increased stability in the credit markets.

PROBABLE LOSERS
- Taxpayers; who have to foot the bill for bailing out the companies.

Any Opinions?

19th Annual Memory Walk/5k Run
I was pleased to join a fun loving group of people who gathered this morning to supprt the Hawaii Alzheimers Association.

Peter Skaaning
The Honolulu Design Center and Peter Skaaning sponsored a team of about 30 people to walk the 3.1 mile course around the scenic Ala Moana Beach Park. We were blessed with good vibes and warm weather.

Ready, Set…
Hundreds of people lined up and took off at the sound of the cannon at 7 AM sharp, and then crossed the finish line in 40 minutes to one and a half hour later to enjoy music and food.

Yes It Is!
Doug Smoyer of Retail Strategies and I have parked many new cars side by side, but have always kept our licence plates (Retail and Easy) as reminders that retail success can be easy, even when things get tough.
I am proud to call Doug a friend. We started our companies at the same time 18 years ago, and against great odds at times have enjoyed great success by helping others succeed. We have seen the success of our clients in the face of many changes and challenges, including two hurricanes, a couple of wars and other setbacks.
In the begining of our companies, Doug did the “back room” while I did the “front room.” He advised retailers on how much to buy, and I did all I could to help them sell it all and more.
Today Doug helps them find the right locations, and I help them find and keep the right people. We have always been a team working completely independent of each other, with the same goals: the success of our clients.
Mahalo Doug for all that you do and have done. You have indeed earned the title that the belated and beloved Jan Berman and her Retail Merchants of Hawaii bestowed upon you many years ago. You are Mr. Retail!