BUSINESS BRIEFS
Hotel Hana-Maui has new ownership
Advertiser Staff
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Passport Resorts LLC said it has sold its ownership interest in the Hotel Hana-Maui & Honua Spa to Arden Grove Hospitality LLC.
California-based Passport Resorts had owned the luxury resort since 2001 when it bought the 66-unit hotel from Meridian Financial Resources and launched an extensive renovation project.
Since the reopening in 2002, the hotel has garnered more than 22 industry awards. It made Travel + Leisure magazine's list of World's Best Hotels 2008, was ranked among the Top 25 Hawai'i Resorts in the 2008 Condé Nast Traveler Readers' Choice poll, and was honored with a AAA Four Diamond rating.
Passport Resorts and its affiliated companies manage Cavallo Point-the Lodge at the Golden Gate, the Post Ranch Inn, and the Sea Ranch Lodge, all in California; and the Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort.
The hotel dates to 1946, when San Francisco entrepreneur Paul Fagan established the six-room Ka'uiki Inn. Fagan also purchased Hana sugar plantation lands that he turned into the Hana Ranch. Ka'uiki Inn, later known as the Hana Ranch Hotel, gradually expanded through the years, with extensive remodeling in the 1980s.
KSSK PARENT FIRM CUTTING 1,850 JOBS
Clear Channel Communications Inc., the nation's largest owner of radio stations whose holdings include KSSK radio, told workers yesterday it is cutting 1,850 jobs as it grapples with the economic meltdown.
Seven employees in Hawai'i will lose their jobs, a Clear Channel employee said.
The cuts represent about 9 percent of the company's total workforce and will affect staff throughout the company, in radio, outdoor advertising and corporate offices.
In the third quarter, the company lost $86.1 million before discontinued operations, compared with a profit of $253.4 million the year before.
Revenue fell by 4 percent to $1.7 billion. The steepest drop was in radio advertising, down 7 percent to $844 million.
Private equity firms Bain Capital Partners LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP formed CC Media Holdings to acquire Clear Channel in July for $17.9 billion. Clear Channel operates more than 800 radio stations reaching more than 110 million listeners in 50 states.
FARM EXPORTS DROPPED 3% IN 2007
Hawai'i's farms in 2007 exported $504 million in goods, down 3 percent from $518 million in the prior year, according to the local field office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Most of the exports — about $416 million worth — went to the Mainland. Another $88 million was exported to foreign countries.
The largest single export was raw sugar, which fell to $71 million in 2007 from $75 million in 2006. The next largest category, ornamental floriculture and nursery products, grew to $53 million from $48 million.
