Time to catch up on some national ink that our fair shores and the businesses herein have been getting the last couple of days.
The 2012 Fodor’s 100 Hotel Awards winners include one Hawaii R&R spot way off the beaten path: Puakea Ranch in Hawi, near Upolu Point, the northernmost tip of Hawaii island.
The internationally known travel guide refers to Puakea Ranch as a resort, but it’s not the typical Kona or Kohala Coast resort with sprawling concrete buildings and acres of landscaped swimming pools. Rather, it has ranch-style bungalows, one of which used to be an actual bunkhouse. Guests can laze on hammocks, go horseback riding, pluck veggies from organic gardens and thank the chickens for laying eggs freshly for breakfast. As it is not on the ocean, Puakea Ranch does offer its guests private swimming pools.
Puakea Ranch was listed in Fodor’s Local Experience category of its top 100.
The other categories, Global Icon, Trendsetter, Trip of a Lifetime, City Chic, Royal Pedigree and Fun for All Ages, ignored our isles’ hospitality offerings this time around.
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On the Net:
:» is.gd/Fodors2012 Hotel100
» www.puakearanch.com
LAHAINA GRILL LAUDED
Kudos are in order for chef-owner Jurg Munch of Lahaina Grill for making the top 100 OpenTable.com 2012 Best American Cuisine Winners.
Munch was not available, but the restaurant’s website describes its food as "New American cuisine," and nightly dinner service could include a warm pecan-crusted goat cheese and baby arugula salad, a sampler of Kona lobster crab cake, seared ahi cake and sweet Louisiana rock shrimp cake, with a range of entrees from meats, seafoods and pasta to vegetarian choices.
OpenTable is an online dining reservations and review system, and ratings were taken from diners’ experiences as shared on the site.
The alphabetical list doesn’t rank one over the other, but Lahaina Grill is the only Hawaii restaurant this year.
Last year’s list was called the "2011 Best Overall Winners — Top 100 Restaurant List" and included La Mer at Halekulani and Mama’s Fish House in Paia, Maui.
The OpenTable 2012 Most Romantic Winners — Top 100 Restaurant List included five Hawaii restaurants: Brown’s Beach House at The Fairmont Orchid on Hawaii island; Capische, in Wailea, Maui; Tidepools at the Grand Hyatt Kauai; and in Honolulu, La Mer; Michel’s at the Colony Surf and Sarento’s Top of the "I."
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On the Net:
» is.gd/OpenTable AmFare2012
» www.lahainagrill.com
MIAMI MUST BE STEAMING
Miami Beach has "by far" the most disappointing hotels among 30 destinations compared by CheapHotels.org.
Honolulu shouldn’t rub its hands with glee, however, as we were ranked No. 27 out of 30.
There’s a catch, though.
In the interest of making the "destinations as comparable as possible," CheapHotels.org considered only three-star hotels located centrally within each destination. Reviews were aggregated from Expedia.com and Priceline.com over the past 12 months and were characterized as either positive, neutral or negative. Percentages of each sentiment were measured for each destination.
Top-rated Quebec City got a 75 percent positive rating, 14 percent neutral and only 11 percent negative. Washington, D.C., was next with 73 percent, 15 percent and 12 percent, respectively, while Chicago rated a 72, 15 and 13.
From the bottom up, No. 30 Miami Beach rated a 54 percent positive, 22 percent neutral and 24 percent negative. No. 29 Atlantic City, N.J., was graded at 56, 23 and 21, respectively. No. 28 Ottawa rated a 57, 23 and 20, while Honolulu scored 59, 22 and 19.
Readers should keep in mind that upper-echelon and even higher-end hotels, with which Honolulu is rife, were not included in the rankings.
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On the Net:
» is.gd/CheapHotels Quality2012
