• Tourism • Alexander & Baldwin • Kauai Coffee • Legislature Tourism For the week of May 30 to June 5, average room rates were highest on Kauai at $184.90, a 11.4 percent increase from 2003. Maui was a close
• Tourism
• Alexander & Baldwin
• Kauai Coffee
• Legislature
Tourism
For the week of May 30 to June 5, average room rates were highest on Kauai at $184.90, a 11.4 percent increase from 2003. Maui was a close second at $180.44. Big Island hotels charged an average of $142.47 and Oahu hotels remained the cheapest at $125.55.
A steady steam of visitors from Japan and the U.S. mainland boosted hotel occupancy to 73.4 percent — that was a 20.7 percentage- point increase from 2003, according to the Hawaii Hotel Flash Report from Hospitality Advisors LLC and Smith Travel Research, released Friday.
Room rates on average were at $157.02, up 5.4 percent from last year.
Maui again led the islands in occupancy with 75.1 percent. Oahu reported 73.9 percent, Kauai 71.9 percent, and the Big Island 59.5 percent.
Alexander & Baldwin
Adam Kimberly has joined Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. (A&B) as director, corporate development and planning. He will be responsible for identifying, analyzing and recommending investment opportunities for the company, in addition to managing business development projects. Previously, Kimberly was senior vice president, finance and strategic development for netLibrary, Inc., a software company based in Boulder, Colorado. Prior to netLibrary, he was vice president with National City Equity Partners, a private equity and venture capital investment firm located in Cleveland, Ohio.
Kimberly was born and raised in New Canaan, Connecticut and graduated from Williams College with a BA in English literature. Subsequently, he earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Kauai Coffee
Donn A. Soares has been promoted to vice-president of Kaua‘i Coffee Company, Inc., the largest coffee estate in Hawaii and the United States. Soares retains his responsibility as general manager of all operating and marketing functions.
Soares joined the company in 1996 as manager, eastern sales, and held increasingly responsible positions. In March of this year, he was promoted to general manager. A native of Oahu, Soares earned a BA in international affairs from Lewis & Clark College and is a graduate of Maryknoll High School. The Kaua‘i Coffee Company in 2003 produced more than 3.3 million pounds of coffee on a 3,400-acre estate stretching from Koloa to Ele‘ele accounting for sixty percent of Hawaii’s statewide production. Kaua‘i Coffee is a subsidiary of Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.
Legislature
The future of energy looks so bright, we’ll all be wearing shades. The governor signed a few bills into law recently that calls for greater use of alternative fuel sources. Here are the details: Act 95 requires electric utilities to meet a renewable portfolio standard of 15 per cent for 2015 and 20 per cent for 2020. As it turns out, the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative already produces some 8 percent of their energy through alternative fuels and expects no problem meeting all the deadlines. Meanwhile, Act 99 increases the maximum allowable generating capacity from ten kilowatts to fifty kilowatts for companies and individuals who generate their own power and sell their excess power back to the local utility.
Cheaper gas? Act 96 will reduce fuel taxes by 50 percent for ethanol, methanol, biodiesel, and other alternative fuels — other than liquefied petroleum gas — starting in calendar year 2004.
