October 2009
Aerial Photos Show off Hawaii’s Spectacular Beaches and Attractions
Honolulu, Oct. 29, 2009 -- When it comes to vacation planning, Hawaii visitors have a massive appetite for beach information. Now HawaiiGaga.com, one of Hawaii’s premier travel web sites, has partnered with Hawaiian Images Photography and Video to supplement its panoramic beach and attraction pictures with aerial photographs.
HawaiiGaga.com displays panoramic photos of Hawaii’s 150 most popular beaches and attractions. The beach information pages are popular among visitors researching Hawaii, receiving over 25,000 page views per month. Aerial photos reveal the beautiful surroundings that many Hawaiian beaches enjoy, and the added perspective gives holiday planners more information about their size and location.
HawaiiGaga.com also makes use of aerial photos to show tourists the location of many of Hawaii’s condo resorts. This is especially useful for vacationers utilizing HawaiiGaga’s rental directory to research vacation rentals. Aerial photos reveal details about a resort’s location and surroundings that are often important considerations in deciding where to stay.
Aerial photographs are taken at a height of 500ft. HawaiiGaga’s interactive maps precisely pinpoint the location of Hawaii’s beaches and attractions. The interactive maps, based on Yahoo’s mapping technology, can also show satellite images, and include panoramic ground photo overlays. This gives vacationers an unprecedented amount of information with which to plan their holiday.
About Hawaiian Images Photography and Video
Hawaiian Images Photography and Video has photographed every section of Hawaii’s coastline. The catalog includes over 10,000 photographs. In addition to being used in the tourism industry, the images have many environmental applications, from surveying erosion damage and coral reefs to providing a historic snapshot of Hawaii’s coastal development. The images are also used by residents wishing to explore some of the inaccessible areas of the islands. The company also provides a wide range of photography services, including wedding and real estate photography.
October 2009
New Google Gadget Delivers a Daily Dose of Hawaii
Nothing lifts the spirits like a daily dose of Hawaii. Now Google users can get a daily fix of Hawaii delivered straight to their iGoogle home page. My Daily Hawaii is a Google gadget featuring beautiful Hawaii pictures, trivia, history, travel tips, airfare alerts, a weather synopsis, and information on Hawaii vacation rentals.
My Daily Hawaii presents Hawaii lovers and travelers with an assortment of interesting Hawaii information. Every day a new picture is presented, often showing off one of Hawaii's beautiful beaches. By clicking on the photo, users can get more detailed information about that attraction from the HawaiiGaga web site including additional panoramic photos.
A daily trivia question tests one's knowledge of the Hawaiian Islands, while the history section presents an interesting Hawaii fact. Correct answers to the trivia questions are rewarded with "super cute puppy picture prizes."
My Daily Hawaii also contains hundreds of Hawaii travel tips. From recommendations on how to rent a car or enjoying a more comfortable flight, to tips specific to Hawaii such as ocean safety information and sight seeing suggestions. The travel tips section helps prepare vacationers for an upcoming holiday.
The island weather forecast section reminds travelers of the warm weather Hawaii enjoys year round, while also giving them an idea of how weather varies among each of the islands. The forecast shows the current weather, and what is expected for the rest of the week.
The Flights section of My Daily Hawaii shows the best prices people are currently paying on airfare to Hawaii, and can be customized to show information from a specific airport. This allows people to discover great rates with little effort. Finally, the Diggs section gives people suggestions on some of Hawaii's excellent vacation rentals.
My Daily Hawaii is hosted in
Google's gadget directory, and installation onto one's Google home page is a simple one click process. More information about
My Daily Hawaii can be found here.
September 2009
HawaiiGaga.com Publishes Vacation Rental Statistics
Honolulu, Sept. 23, 2009 -- HawaiiGaga.com, the search engine for Hawaii vacation rentals, has concluded a year long study of vacation rental occupancy rates. Occupancy rates for Maui, Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island were 62%, 61%, 57% and 50% respectively.
The study was based on 2373 vacation homes and condos with both professionally managed and owner operated rentals included.
State wide, September had the lowest occupancy rate at 40% while February was the busiest time of year for rentals with an 81% occupancy rate. From a regional perspective, Waikiki had the highest occupancy in the state at 66%, followed closely by Poipu, Kihei and East Oahu (Waimanalo and Kailua) at 65%. The two poorest performing regions were Kapalua with a rate of 46% and the Big Island’s Kohala coast and Puna regions, both averaging 49%.
Data was collected from owners and agents who publish availability calendars online, including availability data from real time reservation systems. The study included 983 properties from Maui, 565 from Oahu, 396 from Kauai and 429 from the Big Island. The average rental price and number of bedrooms of rentals included in the study was $225 and 1.8.
As the first broad based study of its kind, it’s unknown how these rates compare to years past. More
rental statistics can be found here.
March 2009
HawaiiGaga.com Announces Vacation Rental Review Contest
(Honolulu) March 4, 2009 --
Hawaiigaga.com, the Hawaii vacation rental search engine, is running a monthly contest for vacationers who submit reviews of their vacation rental experience. Each month a contestant will win a beautiful 14” by 11” print by renowned Hawaii artists Patrick Ching or Lynne Boyer.
Reviews bring credibility and confidence to the rental market and are a great asset to vacationers searching for a place to stay. By offering an easy and fun way to submit reviews, HawaiiGaga.com hopes to encourage past visitors to share their experiences with fellow travelers.
For more details see
www.hawaiigaga.com/Contest.aspx
July 2008
New Search Engine Focuses Exclusively on Hawaii Vacation Rentals
(Victoria, B.C.) July 11, 2008 -- Pretorius & McGrath Ltd. today announced the opening of HawaiiGaga.com,
the world’s first search engine designed specifically for Hawaii vacation rentals.
By making it easy for vacationers to discover all of Hawaii’s vacation properties,
the company believes it can stimulate the rental industry and Hawaii tourism in general.
Hawaii’s vacation rentals are scattered across thousands of web sites. Most properties are
listed in multiple locations but often don’t include a name or unit number,
making them difficult to identify. Rentals can be listed by both agents and owners but not
always at the same price. For vacationers, searching and sifting through all the choices is a
daunting and time consuming task. HawaiiGaga.com finds, organizes, and catalogs Hawaii’s
vacation rentals, indexing only the single most relevant source for each property.
To assist with vacation planning the web site showcases Hawaii’s natural attractions with
hundreds of panoramic photos. Interactive maps show the location of rentals relative to
Hawaii’s best attractions. Guides and articles, including a guide to Hawaii’s Top Beaches,
further aid tourists in discovering Hawaii.
HawaiiGaga.com also hosts discussion forums and allows users to write rental reviews.
For the first time an independent web site will collect reviews of Hawaii’s individual
condo units as well as vacation homes.
Founder James Pretorius believes HawaiiGaga.com represents the future of search engines.
"A search engine that services a small niche can be customized to suit the information it
deals with – from the way it organizes data, to the way people interact with it.
The end result is a better user experience, where search results are always relevant and people
can easily find the information they’re looking for." HawaiiGaga.com features many search tools
to help people find rentals that match their preference.
Search results are presented in a unique style that includes property photos, allowing
vacationers to quickly shortlist rentals of interest.
About:
Pretorius & McGrath Ltd. is a software development company based in Victoria, B.C. Canada.
