Business Wrap: Kohala Resorts Rank for Best in the World

Here’s a look at business news around the island this week. As we rapidly approach the new year, things look good for the tourism industry. The Big Island had the distinction of having two west side resorts named among the best of the best.

Big Island Resorts Win Multiple Awards

Two Big Island resorts have recently received national recognition as being among the best in the world.

The Fairmont Orchid Resort was named to Conde Nast Traveler’s Gold List for 2013 in its annual reader’s choice poll. The Kohala coast resort was recognized for its pristine location, outstanding service, unique Hui Holokai Beach Ambassador program, and its cuisine at the AAA Four Diamond award-winning Brown’s Beach House.

The Four Seasons Resort Hualalai also received honors recently. It was named top hotel in Hawaii, as part of Travel + Leisure magazine’s annual list of 500 best hotels in the world for 2013. Winning properties were selected by the magazine’s readers.

The Four Seasons Resort Hualalai is the only hotel in Hawaii among the top 50 in the world. Two other Big Island hotels were included in the list, including the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. The complete list is online now and will be included in the January issue of the magazine, available on newsstands Dec. 21.

Big Island Nurse Deployed to Support Superstorm Sandy Relief

North Hawaii Community Hospital RN and Infection Prevention Coordinator, Jennifer Rabalais, recently returned from a 10-day deployment with the Hawaii Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) to assist in relief efforts related to Superstorm Sandy.

Rabalais and 24 fellow Hawaii DMAT members were deployed to New York on November 12. She was assigned to a shelter called Park Slope in Brooklyn, New York, that housed around 150 people.

The majority of shelter occupants had been residents of an assisted-living facility that was destroyed by flood waters. Rabalais and other team members provided acute medical care for shelter occupants and volunteers who had developed illnesses or injuries.

Kona Jet Ski For Sale

Kona Jet Ski, the only personal watercraft business on the Big Island is for sale for $695,000. The company provides rentals of jet skis, stand up paddle boards, and other watercraft near the Kailua Pier. The business also includes a 2,000 square-foot platform offshore used for viewing and snorkeling with manta rays.

Owner Mark Chesler bought the 10-year-old business in 2010 when it went by the name of Aloha Jet Ski Rentals. He revamped the company by renaming it, adding the platform dock, and upgrading the equipment. Real Estate Consultants of Kona has the exclusive rights to broker the sale.

Chesler is also the founder of Neptune Charlies Ocean Safaris, a dive charter company, and its sister company Manta Ray Dives of Hawaii.