Pahoa business need your help

[PaulW]

I joined and posted a rebuttal to her lies but my post was immediately deleted. Seems she's a Moderator there.
A guy emailed me and told me not to bother, everything she doesn't agree with gets deleted. I'll keep trying.
Hopefully TripAdvisor will notice.

[Wao nahele kane]

I'd imagine there's a direct contact to an administrator. It may take that to get that hysterical nonsense removed.
Maybe contact our local council representative (who ever it is at the moment) and have them contact the trip advisor administrator.

[PaulW]

If enough people join and say what they think about tourists coming to Puna then maybe TripAdvisor will take notice.
At least she'll be too busy deleting posts to make up any more lies.

KathyH, you do know that trade winds don't come from the South, right? So advising someone against coming to HPP because of lava in Pahoa is just ridiculous.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

quote:

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Originally posted by PaulW

I joined and posted a rebuttal to her lies but my post was immediately deleted. Seems she's a Moderator there.

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Maybe she's just clicking the "report inappropriate content" link listed after each post?

[PaulW]

Could be. Disagreeing with a "Destination Expert" is very inappropriate.

[missydog1]

Calm down guys, and maybe lower the pitchforks.
HPP residents were crying about the air quality yesterday due to wind switch, and if you read Punaweb yesterday, you would know that. And that is when the question was asked, was it something to consider, air quality, and I said yes it is something. The air was bad yesterday. I was worried myself if it is going to stay this bad, and I am not even close.

I do not run a rental. I do not drive traffic to Hamakua except for people who express an interest, which isn't all that many. None of my friends in my area have rentals either.

started posting on TA in 2006, because people helped me plan a trip to the Cooks. Registered to plan trips back in 2003. My posting had nothing to do with feathering my own nest, and people there know that.

Most regular posters on Tripadvisor drive traffic to Volcano Village, because they love it. I am about the only regular one on there who has offered up links to HPP for years now. I used to link Kelena's rental, for example, before he moved in. I have always been willing to offer up links if people let me know about a nice rental, and I never get anything out of it other than feeling good about helping people.

I don't think you guys understand Tripadvisor. It's not Lonely Planet. It's not an alternative travel site, and most of the people asking about lodging are first timers. Many of them want something like Maui. A lot of them don't know Kapoho from Kona, and they assume both of them are lined with white sand beaches and tourists downing umbrella drinks under the palms. They don't know, so it's necessary to explain it to them.

I posted a topic that said exactly what was going on with the new roads, where they were, which communities were predicted to be south of the flow. There are people coming on from hearing national news who don't think they should come to the island. They don't think they can come see VNP, or Hilo. They are map challenged.

Tripadvisor forums are a consumer-oriented site. Promoting merchants and lodgings is not allowed. (Helping someone who is navigating VRBO is allowed, as long as it isn't your own listing.) The site is all about people getting candid information, not the kind of information written by the BIVA or Mainstreet Pahoa or a Chamber of Commerce or HVA. Any regular who tries to be a promoter has no credibility whatsoever. So don't expect me to be a promoter. The people on there can't abide promoters, and will get dead set against anything where they sense it is being pushed by someone with a financial agenda.

The worst thing that happened for Puna rentals was this last week when a new poster called RodneyYoung from Kea'au started a bunch of topics encouraging people to break rental contracts and ignore the lava issue completely. He was the epitome of the guy who only cares about his bottom line.

Right now, a lot of people on there feel that property managers in Puna don't give a crap about visitors, won't return money or deposits if people are really unhappy, and so they don't want to come with that attitude, and I won't tell them they should.

These people plan a vacation a year in advance. You want them to hand over a thousand dollars on deposit that won't get returned if the lava becomes an issue, when they could spend that money somewhere else with no risk. You have a problem. I did not create your problem. Put on your thinking caps.

If you want people to trust in renting SOTF, then get the property managers together to offer some flexibility on refunds and deposits based on the unforeseen. You guys are killing your own business by trying to act like nothing has changed.

These visitor coming for the first time have saved and scrimped and are using their precious vacation time to come to Hawai'i, and they can choose from Kaua'i, Maui, Oahu, Big Island, and so forth. But you expect lower Puna to compete on an equal footing with Ka'anapali or Hanalei or Poipu or Wailea or South Kohala or Kailua Kona. Well, that's not the case. And if it did, it would ruin what you love about Puna.

The target demographic for most of Puna isn't your typical Tripadvisor newbie; it's more like repeat visitors who have seen the big sights and want something different.

First time visitors who come to the east side want to see VNP, Punalu'u, the HTBG botanical gardens, Akaka Falls as the big four things they ask for over and over again. They look at lower Puna as a base because it is cheap. But they want to stay in Kapoho and run up to VNP for the day and come back, or run up to Hamakua or Hilo. They're not going to want to spend 4 hours round trip doing it.

Be realistic. Just for a moment. Think about what you are selling people. And they will have to break their rental contracts to come here. No unpaved roads or damages and loss of use is out of pocket. How ethical to sell people without mentioning the roads will be gravel soon.

I'm kind of disgusted with the way Pahoa merchants are complaining about lack of business as if tourists are cows they are used to milking and the milk production is poor right now.

You guys are on here brainstorming how much life will change south of the flow, but you're mad because I'm not telling people who trust me that nothing at all will change. Seriously?

When there is a legal lava viewing site, people will flock to Pahoa, that's for sure. No one on there will promote illegal lava tours or sneaking up to look at the lava, sorry, not going to happen just to get people to come to Pahoa.

Also, I have been one of the few who have said go to Pahoa. My friend who is a DE who has choke friends and family in the area is saying no because they are all super upset by the tourists coming around. None of them own businesses, so they get nothing out of the hordes of people.

I have been encouraging people to come eat in the restaurants and so forth.
I posted a topic here when the lava was imminent and opinion was split. Opihikao said not to come. She told me not to come down from Hilo. So I relayed that just for that period of time. Then I said it was fine to come, just not to go congest the area the National Guard is sitting on.

If you want me to help out and spread the word, you have someone willing to help. Or at least you did until you all started dog-piling. You have someone in me whom people trust because I don't sugarcoat things, and instead of using that to your advantage, you attack me.

Tripadvisor is not like Punaweb; personal attacks of any kind are against the guidelines and will cause a post deletion. Any kind of selling a product or service will be deleted by the moderators. I don't make their rules. They delete my posts too if I fire back, no preferential treatment.

I'm so disappointed with the mentality I see in these posts.
Obie posted this. Obie got the information from Tom Lackey, who put it in one of his cartoons ... and Obie has been harassing me over it since spring of 2011, because he got some bee in his bonnet, about some rental that he didn't think I was selling for him or his wife or neighbor, even though I didn't know anything about the rental. Obie has been persecuting and calling names ever since, copying my posts and putting them on Puna Online and griping. I guess Punaweb is the new Puna Online.

Thank you so much for assisting him ... good job.

Kathy

[steve1]

As always, it's really just ALL ABOUT YOU, KATHY.
steve

[missydog1]

In answer to the last several posts:

I am not a Moderator at Tripadvisor.

I do not choose the title Destination Expert. Tripadvisor likes it and there is nothing I can do about it or I would.

I cannot remove posts. If your posts disappear, then you broke a guideline, and probably at least ten different members reported your post. They have it set up so the report is tied to the member ID, and each ID can only make one report on one given post.

Like it or not, if your posts were deleted, it's because you stomped into a strange living room and broke the host's rules, not because of me.

In fact, I didn't even see those removed posts, so I don't know what they said. I was doing something else when they went up. All I see now is that posts went up and were deleted as inappropriate.

Read the guidelines if you wish to post there.

Kathy

[missydog1]

quote:

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Originally posted by steve1

As always, it's really just ALL ABOUT YOU, KATHY.
steve

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Oh please. Obie made it about me.

You guys don't seem to understand. It is much better for Puna if the situation is laid out honestly. The worst thing that could happen to rental business in Puna, is a bunch of visitors coming back from vacations and saying they were unhappy, and that no one told them there could be vog, or smoke, or traffic, etc..

If business is dropping, it's not because of Tripadvisor. It's a small niche, even though it may seem big to you. Hysteria? -- look at mainland news stories. Those are reaching millions of people.

Kathy

[PaulW]

I was one of the people who mentioned the smell of smoke in HPP here. Yes, it was there - because there was a freakish wind from the South for a day or two. Why on Earth would you take it upon yourself to tell an overseas tourist that because of that they should avoid HPP?

Even the Civil Defense Update now reminds people that Pahoa is open for business yet you, the "Destination Expert" who lives nowhere near here tells people to stay away? Thanks a lot. Sorry, but this is a Puna-based forum, don't expect applause from me.

I do agree with you about the vacation rental people though - they should offer money back if the lava seriously disrupts the area. But that hasn't happened yet and isn't likely to happen now that they have had so much time to get the roads prepared. Time will tell.