3 tons of pet food and cat litter donated

The Oahu Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Hawaiian Humane Society have received 3.25 tons of dog and cat food and cat litter, valued at $8,200, from PetSmart Corp. The two animal welfare organizations each received 3,250 pounds of pet food and cat litter from PetSmart’s first Hawaii store, located at Town Center of Mililani. The donation is part of the PetSmart Gives Back program.

The Oahu SPCA and Hawaiian Humane Society, which serve as PetSmart’s local adoption partners, make cats available daily for in-store adoptions in space donated by PetSmart. In addition, the two partners bring dogs to the store each weekend for adoptions. Since the store opened in February, this in-store adoption effort has found homes for 337 pets: 151 dogs and 186 cats.

Honolulu housing recovery tops nation

Home price recovery in Honolulu has gained the most in the U.S., according to Homes.com.

The real estate website’s new Local Market Index for mid-size markets shows year-over-year recovery in the Honolulu market with a 23.67 index point increase.

Honolulu’s index tops several California markets, including Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana at 21.43; San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont at 20.52; and San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos at 19.44 index points. The California markets were among the top five.

Homes.com calculates the Local Market Index using sales data on the same houses over time, enabling side-by-side comparison on the same property.

Waikiki among top 5 Labor Day sites

World-famous Waikiki Beach is the fourth-ranking destination chosen by travelers for Labor Day weekend, according to tracking by the Priceline Group.

While cities top the Labor Day weekend destinations — specifically New York City, Chicago and Las Vegas — Oahu’s Waikiki Beach area is ranked fourth.

Maui’s Kaanapali just made the Top 20 at No. 19 and was the only other Hawaii destination among the Priceline Top 50 Labor Day destinations.

The ranking is based on more than 30,000 credit card-backed hotel room booking requests using priceline.com.

Grand Hyatt Kauai rated best hotel pool

Smart Meetings magazine, an industry publication for meetings professionals, singled out the pool at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa as the best hotel pool among its inaugural 2013 Smart Stars Awards. The Grand Hyatt Kauai was the only Hawaii property on the list.

ON THE MOVE

Hawaiian Airlines has appointed Matthew Chang to the position of director of loyalty marketing. He has 18 years of direct and loyalty marketing experience, including serving in senior marketing management positions at Toys R Us and Babies R Us, Williams-Sonoma, Time Warner and the Simon PropertyGroup.

Colleen I. Wong, Esq., Kamehameha Schools’ general counsel and vice president for legal services, has announced she will retire on Oct. 18, 2013. She joined Kamehameha’s legal staff in 1986 and was named the estate’s first chief legal officer in 2000. In May 2003, Wong served as an acting chief executive officer of Kamehameha Schools for nine months.