The first annual Orbitz Best In Stay Awards have been announced and the winners for Hawaii include some of my personal favorite hotels and resorts in the islands. These awards are significant in that they reflect the opinions of thousands of guests who have stayed at these hotels and resorts over the past year.

It is great to see that the Hawaii "winners" reflect a diverse range of average room cost, this showing that it's not always the most expensive places that provide the best guest experience.

Orbitz Best In Stay winners were selected based on the overall numeric score they received by Orbitz customers. Reviews and scores for each hotel are collected only from Orbitz customers who have booked and stayed at the hotel. Reviewers are asked to rate a variety of hotel attributes on a scale of 1 to 5, including amenities, maintenance, hotel staff, room comfort, location, and value. The "overall score" is an average of all reviewer scores submitted.

Awards are given in four categories based on the type of traveler who submitted reviews -- families, couples, leisure vacationers and business travelers.

The top rated Hawaii hotels and resorts are:

Best Hawaii Hotel for Leisure

• Outrigger Maui Eldorado, Lahaina, Maui with a score of 4.9/5.0

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As fall approaches it's time for Aloha Festivals, Hawaii's annual celebration of Hawaiian culture, integrating the traditions and cultures of the Islands through music, dance, cuisine and art. This year's Festival theme is Hula - The Art of Hawaiian Dance.

The theme was chosen carefully and is focused on "celebrating hula and presenting Hawaii's history and culture through this unique art form."

I'm really excited about this year's events since for the first time I'll be on O'ahu for several of the big events including the Waikiki Ho'olaule'a (Hawaii's largest block party) and the always beautiful annual Aloha Festivals Floral Parade.

The parade was in doubt with the pull-out of the title sponsor, but private and public funding eventually assured that it would go on as it has for the past 61 years!

If you plan on being on O'ahu in September, be sure to take in some of the Aloha Festivals events. Find out all about them in our feature on Aloha Festivals 2008.

Congratulations to the Waipi'o Little League Team from Waipahu, in central O'ahu, who today defeated Matamoros, Mexico by the score of 12-3, Sunday to win the championship of the Little League World Series. Waipi'o advanced to the championship game by defeating Lake Charles, Louisiana on Saturday in a come-from-behind 7-5 victory.

In a time where the state can use all of the press it receives to keep Hawaii in the mind of mainland US vacationers and combined with Barack Obama's recent vacation and Bryan Clay's win in the Olympic decathlon, this makes a nice trio of positive news stories for the 50th state.

This was the fourth straight Little League World Series title for the United States and the second for Hawaii in that timeframe. The Hawaii Little League team from from Ewa Beach, O'ahu began the U.S. winning streak in 2005.

Waipi'o scored in all six innings of today's game, never trailing the team from Mexico.

Hawaii's Bryan Clay opened a lead over his closest competitor in today’s first four of five final events and then held on with a disappointing 13th place finish in the final event, the 1500 meters, to win the Olympic decathlon with 8791 points.

Clay wasn't able to pick up enough points to break Roman Sebrle's 2004 Olympic record of 8893 points, but Clay fulfilled all expectations by winning the event in which he took home a silver medal from Athens in 2004.

In winning the decathlon Clay finished first in four of the competition’s ten events - the 100 meter, long jump, 110 meter hurdles and discus throw. He finished second in the shot put and pole vault. Read more...