Destination: Hawaii!
- By Bette Johnson
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- 03 Jul, 2016
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As a travel professional and owner of Special Moments Travel in Northeast Tarrant County, it is my responsibility to learn as much as possible of a destination that I sell frequently. I have been to the 4 major Hawaiian Islands on a cruise, I’ve done my Hawaii Destination Specialist courses, and I have to admit, […]
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As a travel professional and owner of Special Moments Travel in Northeast Tarrant County, it is my responsibility to learn as much as possible of a destination that I sell frequently. I have been to the 4 major Hawaiian Islands on a cruise, I’ve done my Hawaii Destination Specialist courses, and I have to admit, I liked it but I wasn’t IN LOVE with it. When GOGO Vacations offered me an opportunity to go to Honolulu for a learning conference, I decided to give Hawaii another chance. Am I ever glad I did!
My trip there on Delta Airlines was an adventure with a 12-hour mechanical layover in Salt Lake City. To be fair to Delta, I appreciate their approach to safety and customer service. They were not about to fly over the Pacific with a possible mechanical failure. More importantly, they took care of all of us passengers waiting at the gate. They brought in snacks, sandwiches, water, pizza, blankets and pillows, even played Bingo with us to help while away the time. They did a great job with a difficult situation.
When I finally landed in Honolulu at 1:46am, I wasn’t sure if my ride to the hotel was going to be there, or even if my hotel room was still available when I arrived! I was so happy and instantly fell in love when I had a ride, a hug, and a beautiful lei greeting waiting for me at the Baggage Claim area by the representative from Diamondhead Tours. Immediately I had the Ohana feel (Ohana means family, and the Islanders mean it). I received my first official ALOHA, which is not only hello and good bye but a spirit of oneness with them.
Upon my arrival at the Marriott Waikiki Beach Resort, I was incredibly pleased to have a room. And it was a large one – 2 double beds AND a rollaway fit nicely. If I hadn’t been so tired, I would have had a Goldilocks moment trying out all of the beds, determining which one was just right. I chose the middle one and fell into a deep sleep for 4 hours.
At 6:30am when daylight was beginning to trickle past the curtains, I decided to peek out at the first window hoping to see some glimpse of water. Hooray! I had a partial Oceanview window. There was water! Since I had a second window, I was curious what the other view was. To my utter amazement, I also had a Diamondhead view as well! BONUS! I picked up my jaw from the floor then headed down to the conference.
GOGO is a great company to work with because they have a passion and commitment to quality service for their customers and they only work with travel professionals – which is huge in this industry. In fact, during the Paris attacks, GOGO had 700 passengers in Paris at the time. The 24 Hour Care Group reached out to each of them to make sure they were okay and asked if they needed anything. That’s customer service!!!
During the different sessions in the Conference, we were updated on travel trends; learned more of the Hawaiian culture and history; networked with 40 different local hoteliers and tour operators; did site inspections of various hotels; absorbed information in breakout sessions.
We were versed on the marketing trends for the Millennials, the Gen X’ers, the Yuppies, the Yummies, the Marpers, and the HENRYs (High Earners Not Rich Yet). We learned to tailor our marketing to the demographics we’re most trying to attract.
We had the pleasure of experiencing a luau at the Polynesian Cultural Center – informative and fun! A colleague and I did the Blue Hawaiian Helicopter tour around Oahu, seeing Diamondhead from above, going along the coast to the North Shore, zooming past Sacred Falls, and being awed by the site of Pearl Harbor. Very moving, very impressive. A must see!
One of my “Takeaways” from this conference was that many people have FOMO (Fear of missing out). I had it and didn’t even know it! I was missing out on the Ohana and the Aloha of Hawaii. But I won’t let it happen again! I will be back, with my husband in tow next time, and I expect to see all of my Cousins again, even meet new ones!
Please don’t have FOMO! Let’s book your vacation to this wonderful island chain as soon as possible. Call Special Moments Travel today for your next island experience!