Longtime seller still enamored with Hawaii
Jay Johnson has been selling vacations to Hawaii for 30 years, and the president of Coastline Travel Advisors, a Virtuoso agency based in Garden Grove, Calif., still spends an average of six weeks each year in the Aloha State. Johnson spoke recently with Shane Nelson, Travel Weekly's contributing editor for Hawaii, about what sets the destination apart, new luxury developments of interest in 2016 and his favorite high-end property in the Islands.
Q: What makes the Hawaii luxury vacation market different? How is it unique?
A: First off, I love the cultural aspect of traveling to Hawaii. There are lots of great places you can go in this world, but Hawaii has a distinct culture that I find fascinating. There's also so much to do. You have beauty and a stunning array of sights. You also have fantastic five-star hotels, some of the best hotels in the world. You have great Pacific Rim food. You have easy access from the U.S. with nonstop flights from a ton of cities on the mainland.
And you've got year-round great weather. There's no bad time to go. You could go in January or you can go in June, and the weather is going to be nice either time.
Q: Are there some exciting new developments in Hawaii's luxury market for 2016?
A: I'm very excited about the new Four Seasons on Oahu opening. That's very, very exciting, and I cannot wait for that to happen. I have people that only stay at Four Seasons, and you'd always have to bypass Oahu for those people, because there just haven't been any really great properties on Oahu. It's not horrible; the Halekulani is probably the very best, but it's just not the same. It's very, very nice, and I do like it, and if you've got someone looking for a five-star property, that's usually where I send them. But one of the problems with Oahu for us has been just the lack of really nice hotels, and with the Four Seasons and the Ritz-Carlton coming [to Waikiki], I think that's going to change, and it's going to open up a lot of potential.
Q: What's your favorite luxury property in Hawaii?
A: The Four Seasons Resort Haualalai on the Big Island is probably the nicest hotel I've ever been to in my life anywhere. The setting of that property is probably the nicest I've ever seen; you truly feel removed. You're in Hawaii. You're obviously in a somewhat touristy area, but you get to that property, and you sit down and look out at the water, and you feel like you're in a completely different world. And the food, the service, it's just phenomenal. The two-bedroom suites they have are just like a house. You have so much room, and that's great for families. You just never want to leave that property. You can sit there at the little restaurant and bar out near the water, and it's just magical. And I have families that go back every single year for the holidays.
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