Note from agency owner Stacey Rishel:
I usually monitor travel industry news on a daily basis. The stories included below are not necessarily the latest or most important, but they are items from the past couple of weeks I found interesting, helpful, or just plain entertaining. For more news and commentary, join me on my new blog, Latitude 21. Also, if you use the Flipboard app, you can follow one or more of my news magazines HERE.

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Hawaii
Oahu and Waikiki Beach

Where to Go in Oahu Beyond Waikiki Beach
March 31 - by Marty Wentzel, TravelAge West
Waikiki is Oahu’s most famous neighborhood, hands down. But as more and more island travelers look outside of Waikiki, they’re discovering thriving communities with undeniable visitor appeal. full story

Hawaii: '60s beach vibe inside and out at Honolulu's Suarfjack Hotel  
March 31 - by Jay Jones, Los Angeles Times 
Honolulu's newest renovated hotel may be nearly a mile from Waikiki Beach, but it draws its inspiration from the beach culture of the 1960s. The message painted at the bottom of the pool at the Surfjack Hotel & Swim Club says it all: “Wish you were here." full story

Kauai, Hawaii Island, and the islands of Maui Nui

Refresh wrapping up at Kauai's Waimea Plantations Cottages
March 11 - by Shane Nelson, Travel Weekly
Work on a $1.1 million refresh to the Waimea Plantation Cottages resort on Kauai’s southwestern coast has entered its final phase, with a range of improvements already complete in many of the property’s more than 60 historical small homes. full story

Hawaii: Here's a rare chance to trek inside a lava tube at Kilauea volcano
April 4 - by Jay Jones, Los Angeles Times
What does the inside of a lava tube look like? Find out on a trek that goes deep within the cave-like structure of hardened lava formed centuries ago by Hawaii's Kilauea volcano. full story


Maui’s Makena Beach resort will close permanently July 1
April 4 - by Shane Nelson, Travel Weekly
The Makena Beach & Golf Resort, located on Maui’s southern coast, will close July 1, according to a statement released by the property’s owners March 29. 

The resort’s 385 employees, many of whom have been working at the 310-room property for more than 20 years, will all be laid off. full story

Mexico & the Caribbean

What Today's Exchange Rate Means for Mexico Travel
April 04, 2016 - by Mark Chestnut, TravelAge West
The U.S. dollar has been especially strong in recent months. It also buys more Mexican pesos than in the past. But does that mean that now is the perfect time to travel to Mexico? full story

Unfinished Baha Mar resort, amid stalemate, put up for sale
March 31 - by Danny King, Travel Weekly
The unfinished Baha Mar resort complex has officially been put on the block after the financial interests involved were unable to reach an agreement that would have resulted in the completion of the $3.5 billion Bahamas project. full story

Air Travel, Cruises and Other News

Travel Rewards Programs You May Not Know About - but Should
March 29 - by Stephanie Rosenbloom, New York Times
Practically every major airline and hotel loyalty program has recently changed or is on the road to being upended, be it the new American Airlines award chart, which went into effect on March 22, or a potential merger of the Starwood Preferred Guest and Marriott Rewards programs. full story

Travel Zen: Avoiding FOMO & Being Happier On The Road
by Marek Bron, Indie Traveller blog  (www.indietraveller.co)
Recently a fellow backpacker told me she hadn’t enjoyed much of her journey because she had been massively affected by FOMO.

FOMO? I hadn’t heard of this before. It turned out she was talking about Fear of Missing Out. It’s a recent acronym for a phenomenon that has always existed, but which has become much more common in our hyper-connected age… full post