Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Friday, January 9, 1998
Kauai Marriott worker gets group's top honor
Jenni Saguid, executive secretary at the Kauai Marriott Resort & Beach Club, today was honored as outstanding lodging employee of the year at the Hawaii Hotel Association's eighth annual awards luncheon.Other award winners, by category, included: Donn Takahashi, of the Hawaii Prince Hotel & Maui Prince Hotel, as general manager of the year; Fred Ing, Hilton Hawaiian Village, hotel manager; Donna Kualii, Royal Kona Resort, bellperson; Milton Serrano, Hilton Hawaiian Village, security officer; Eduardo Cabuldo, Hawaiian Waikiki Beach Hotel, food and beverage employee; Adelia Ularte, Keauhou Beach Hotel, roomkeeper; and Randy Encarnacion, Halekulani Hotel, concierge.
S. Frank Nacino, a Honolulu Police Department reserve officer, and Perry Sorenson, chief operating officer of Outrigger Hotels & Resorts, received the Visitor Industry Charity Walk Mahalo award.
Winners received engraved koa boxes and cash awards at today's ceremony at the Sheraton Waikiki hotel.
Investor relations firm to help isle company
Hawaiian Natural Water Co. has hired a Massachusetts firm to bolster awareness of the bottled water company in the investment community.OTC Communications of Needham, Mass. will develop a shareholder relations and investor awareness campaign for Hawaiian Natural, which went public in May. The Honolulu-based company bottles water from a well at the base of Mauna Loa volcano on the Big Island.
Two meetings to focus on Hawaii real estate
Forecasts for Hawaii's soft real estate markets will be featured at two upcoming meetings.Four industry executives are scheduled to discuss Hawaii's development future and efforts to boost the economy when the Institute of Real Estate Management and Certified Commercial Investment Members hold their fifth annual forecast breakfast next Friday.
The breakfast at the Pacific Club begins at 7:30 a.m. For information, call 524-6441.
Another panel will present a forecast for this year's commercial real estate leasing market when the Hawaii chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties meets on Jan. 22. Breakfast begins at 7:30 a.m. at the Pacific Club. For information call 262-0909.
GTE warns customers about telephone scam
GTE Hawaiian Tel yesterday issued a warning to customers of a scam that could result in a change in their long distance phone service and also lead to higher rates.A GTE spokesman said telemarketers claiming to represent GTE are offering 20 percent to 25 percent discounts through a "Least Cost Routing Plan" by claiming the call is required by the Federal Communications Commission. After a sales pitch, the call is passed to a "supervisor" who asks for personal information from the customer.
When customers asks for a call-back number, the telemarketer does not provide a number, provides a wrong number or refers to the number listed on the customer's telephone bill.
Hawaiian Tel believes the calls are used to validate changes in the consumer's preferred long distance phone company without authorization, which could result in higher phone bills.
Computer work safe for pregnant women
WASHINGTON - Women who work at computer terminals do not have any higher risk of giving birth prematurely than other women, government researchers said yesterday.The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health said a three-year study of 2,400 telephone operators showed no differences in the rate of premature births between those who worked with video display terminals and those who did not.
"NIOSH's landmark findings have helped alleviate many concerns and uncertainties once raised about working with VDTs," NIOSH director Dr. Linda Rosenstock said in a statement.
The researchers earlier said VDT workers did not have a higher risk of miscarriages, either.