Resolution 2008: Rent a MINI on my next vacation!

The first month of the new year has almost come to a close, which is a reminder to many of their new year's resolutions. Some people might want to eat better, work out more, work less, invest more, eat less, or call home more. Others might want to take a vacation sooner. And to those eager travelers, may I suggest a new resolution: Don't Rent Boring Cars On Vacation In '08.

Oahu is such a beautiful island, filled with scenic views, exotic foliage, and world-famous beaches. It is a shame to tarnish such an attractive vacation with an unattractive, boring rental car.

We, at Little Hawaii Car Rental Co., would like to help you keep this resolution by extending all of our January MINI Cooper rental specials through the end of February. These specials include $99/day 2-day rentals and $89/day 3-day rentals, which all include free delivery to your hotel and unlimited mileage. Our MINIs also arrive in a spectacular, detailed condition. To get these special prices, please call our reservation line at 808-347-2886.

Let's start the new year off on the right foot: the one that presses the gas pedal of a beautiful convertible MINI Cooper to the floor!

I'll trade you one of my MINIs for one of your........anything!

Our Hawaii MINI Cooper rentals are now available on trade to members of bartering networks around the world. We recently joined two bartering networks: PCX here on the island, and BizX on the west coast. Both companies have affiliates all around the world, so no matter what network you may be a part of, our MINIs are all revved up, ready for you to drop the top and drive away into the sunset.

Although we have been trading our services for only a few months, we have enjoyed both the professional services offered by these companies as well as the high caliber of customers they have referred to us. Tiki's Grill & Bar in Waikiki was our first PCX customer, purchasing gift certificates for their end-of-the-year party. Then no more than 24 hours after we received our welcome packet from BizX, Rich & Gloria cruised around sunny Oahu in a convertible MINI for 3 days using their BizX trade account.

One of our trade customers who is driving our Cooper cabrio for 6 days as I write this, came to Hawaii a year ago with a friend who paid for her entire vacation on trade. After her friend explained the bartering system to her, her exact words were "I've got to get on that!" And she did, and has traded her high-end hand-made jewelry for a week in paradise. Why isn't every small business owner part of a network like this? I have no idea.

So what do we spend our bartered currency on? You name it. But I can tell you what we DON'T spend it on: Hawaii vacations, obviously.

MINI vacation packages from Hawaii-Aloha.com

Little Hawaii Car Rental Co. has teamed up with Hawaii-Aloha.com to bring you 3-day vacation packages, which include a 3-night stay at the newly remodeled Hotel Renew in the heart of Waikiki, along with, of course, a 3-day MINI Cooper rental. You really can't beat their package prices, starting from just $503!

For more information, please visit the Hawaii Travel Vacation Packages page of Hawaii-Aloha.com, or call Tara at 1-800-843-8771 ext.36.

Maui MINI Cooper rentals now available (finally!)

Due to an overwhelming demand to rent our amazing little MINIs on Maui, we will be making MINI rentals available on Maui beginning January 31st, thanks to the new Hawaii Superferry. Our first Maui MINI rental customer will be renting our shiny hyper-blue Cooper S from Jan 31 - Feb 29. So after March 1, anyone is welcome to book the most sporty, cutest, most curve-hugging vehicle on the island.

This Maui-bound MINI will be complete with detachable luggage rack and cargo net for convenient airport pick-up, surf rack, full-length glass retractable moon roof, matching blue interior accents, mp3 input, and more horsepower than logically necessary. If you're ready to break out of the boring-rental-car mold and cruise Haleakala's volcanic paradise in a supercharged street-legal go-kart, give us a call at 808-347-2886 or email MINI@LittleHawaiiRentals.com.

Special offers for Hawaii.com/101 Things To Do subscribers

Welcome to the official blog of Little Hawaii Car Rental Co., Hawaii's exclusive MINI Cooper rental company. Sit back and enjoy cruising around our tropical spot on the blogosphere, where you can find all our hot new specials, read happy customers' reviews, and find out more about the only company to offer you convertible MINIs on Oahu!

For a limited time, all recipients of the email from Hawaii.com/101 Things To Do may receive 20% OFF ANY MINI RENTAL booked by Jan 31, 2008, for 2 or more days. Simply mention the subject of the email you received when making the reservation.

For more information, please call our reservation line at 808-347-2886 or email mini@littlehawaiirentals.com. You are also welcome to visit our company website at www.LittleHawaiiRentals.com.

Mahalo!

MINI rental GIFT CERTIFICATES now available from Little Hawaii

We've had so many requests to purchase Gift Certificates for MINI rentals, that we decided it's about time we start offering them officially. The make great birthday or anniversary presents, are perfect for honeymoons, and are the perfect gift for those people you know who can't stop talking about how cool MINIs are and how they wish they owned one.

Give us a call at 808-347-2886 and you can place an order over the phone. You can request the certificate to be either mailed or emailed to you as a PDF or JPEG. In the near future they will be available for purchase either on our website or through Paypal.

O Come All Ye Faithful MINI Fans in Georgia

Murry over at murmini.com has invited MINI motorists there in Savannah to come out to Hawaii and soak up some rays in our MINI ragtop rentals. As a special thanks for the great plug, we'll offer all murmini viewers 20% off any rental over 2 days, as well as all the other standard free stuff.

And since you're reading this, check out their sweet MINI shirts. That's got to be one of the coolest designs I've seen in a while, and they're only $18 and shipping is free.

These guys broke my MINI, and had a blast!

Rich and his wife, Gloria, decided to rent a non-boring car on this trip to Waikiki. And a hot chili red Cooper Cabrio with black bonnet stripes is definitely a non-boring rental car. Two days into their rental they called me to say the rag-top is broken and will not retract. So I drove down to Waikiki and swapped out that MINI for a Cooper S Convertible, and even though it was bright outside, I swear I saw Rich's eyes light up. At the end of the rental, I could tell from their slicked back hair, wind-tattered leis and toothy grins that they appreciated the swap.

Funny thing is, after I picked up the "broken" MINI, I pulled into a parking lot, inspected a few things and the rag-top worked just fine. I've never had someone sabotage one of our MINIs just to drive the Cooper S. I'll keep an eye out for that in the future.

By the way, Rich and Gloria were our first customers that were BizX members. BizX is a business bartering company that assists businesses to trade their goods or services for other stuff. So now I could go spend my trade currency on something exciting like a trip to Bahamas, diamond earings for the Mrs., or a new plasma TV. I got my teeth cleaned instead.

This Mini video almost made me cry

When we started our MINI rental company out here in Hawaii earlier this year, we wanted our initial fleet to consist of 2 MINI cabrios and 1 classic Austin Mini. However, because of insurance reasons, we had to get a Cooper S hardtop instead (which is still an incredible drive!). Then today I find this nostalgic video on http://www.motoringfun.com/, and almost needed a tissue. At the end of the video, we swore to add a classic Austin Mini to our fleet by the end of next year.

So find your box of tissues, turn up your volume, and check out the video

Mini Cooper en action
Uploaded by Minno02

WARNING: Driving MINI Coopers may be habit forming

Driving around Oahu in a rented Convertible Cooper S might result in an additional vehicle being parked in Nolan & Denise's snowy driveway when they return home from vacation next week. They have been considering purchasing a MINI Cooper for some time, and have even spent some time on MINI's official webisite building their dream MINI. Now, after cruising around Kailua and Laie behind the wheel of a supercharged go-cart for a few days, they might be ready to take the leap into ownership. And Denise may have even warmed up to bonnet stripes.

Nolan and Denise, we look forward to welcoming you into the MINI family soon!

It's never too late for a honeymoon in Hawaii

Simon and Sarah were stoked to find out they could rent a convertible MINI Cooper on their belated honeymoon this week in Waikiki. I am so glad we were able to rescue them from having to rent a boring Mustang. And also a special congratulations to them for being the first customers to book a MINI rental using our new online reservation system.

Although they tied the knot a year ago, this smart couple from Australia knows it's never too late to go on a honeymoon. And we look forward on seeing them on their next honeymoon in 2008, as well as the next one in 2009, and 2010....

And for those of you planning a little getaway to Australia, be sure to check out the many MINI rental companies on their little continent by visiting the MINI Cooper Rental Portal.

MINI or Harley? Tough decision on a Hawaii vacation

Sheldon and Claire from British Columbia were trying to decide between renting a Harley Davidson motorcycle or one of our MINI Cooper S Convertibles for a cruise to the North Shore of Oahu. They made the right decision and went with our MINI. Lindsay definitely got the sweet end of the deal, since she spent the majority of the time behind the wheel of our supercharged street-legal go-cart. And having done some scientific research in the past, I would have to say their smile factor had increased by approximately 250% upon returning the MINI at the end of the day.

Little Hawaii customers don't have to smell like gasoline

Little Hawaii Car Rental Co. has decided to add yet another free service to our arsenal of pamperings: free gas! OK, the gas isn't exactly free, but the service to put the gas in the car won't cost our customers a cent.

We used to charge customers the industry standard rate of 150% of the going gas price to fill up the tank at the end of a rental, which was discouraging to those not willing to pay over $5.00/gal for gas on vacation. So we decided to throw out the 150% policy. We now fill up the tank of our MINIs after the rental at no extra cost, and the exact price of the gasoline is simply charged to the customer's credit card on file.

While other Oahu car rental companies want you to wander around Waikiki's maze of one-way streets looking for a gas station, we think you should spend that time at the beach instead.

Mini Cooper + Hawaii = Winter Amnesia

Although Victoria, British Columbia, is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, it still gets cold there. Really cold. And come December when the beauty of spring, summer & fall are long forgotten, each Victorian must ask them self, "Do I want to stay here and stick it out until spring, or do I want to...


CRUISE HAWAII IN A MINI COOPER!?"

Claire & Sheldon chose NOT to stick it out and had a blast, as you can see. After just a few minutes of cruising in the MINI with the top down, I'm sure all their woes of Canadian wintertime were long gone.

Come marathon season next year, I look forward to more of their enthusiastic MINI rental pictures. Although, maybe next time Claire could give Sheldon the wheel for a few minutes. Or they could just rent two.

Sweet 16 in a Chili Red Convertible MINI

Flying her daughters from the shivering cold of western Canada to the sunny sands of Waikiki, Hawaii, Bonnie decided that wasn't enough for her daughter's once-in-a-lifetime Sweet 16. She surprised both Jordan, the birthday girl, and Kelsi, her younger sister, by spicing up the event with our chili red supercharged convertible MINI rental to cruise the island for a few days. Talk about setting the bar for all other mom's!

Here's what Bonnie-the-Supermom had to say: "My daughter Jordan has a dream of owning a Mini and now she has had her first ride, we thank you for our experience. The car attracted much attention, made us feel like "movie stars" The car was so fun to drive. What an experience and thrill it was to drive your car, definitely on our list of fun cars to drive. We, the three of us, have to say the convertible is definitely the way to go."

MC2 Magazine thinks we're pretty cool

A few months ago I accidentally emailed Barry Brazier, the publisher of MC2 Magazine. He called me up a few days later and asked me about our new MINI rental business out here in Hawaii. He thought MC2 readers would love to hear about us, and asked me to send over some pics of our cars and a little info about us for their next issue. The timing couldn't have been any better. A few days earlier, another Barry (the amazing Hawaiian wedding photographer), had followed us around the south shore of Oahu taking pictures of our MINIs at a bunch of amazing locations. I emailed some of those awesome pics (which will eventually make it to our company website) to Barry #1, and a few weeks later and they gave us a nice little feature article on page 16 of their Nov/Dec issue. Although they put that we were on the Big Island instead of Oahu (don't worry, I won't hold it against you Barry!), we greatly appreciated our first Little Hawaii spread in a magazine.

If you like reading about MINIs, which you probably do since you're reading this, I would recommend you get yourself a subscription to MC2. I've been an avid reader since contacting Barry a few months ago, and am sure to make time for this mag. Their latest issue features the world debut of the long-awaited 2008 MINI Clubman. Talk about one cool car. Give us a year or so, and we hope to have one of these on our fleet (or at least in my garage!)

Pump some iron, win a free MINI rental

Not only do the local residents of Hawaii Kai get in better shape when they come to 24 Hour Fitness, they also get a chance to win a free MINI Cooper rental from Little Hawaii Car Rental Co. every time they work out! That's right, we teamed up with Jason, the manager at the Hawaii Kai location (7120 Kalanianaole Hwy), to offer a free MINI rental drawing every two weeks, a $120 value. And besides being the only gym on the island to offer their members such cool prizes, just for coming to work out. We'll be offering free rentals every two weeks for a long time, so come on over, burn some calories, and enter for your chance to win a day in a convertible MINI Cooper.

They escaped the Canadian cold with a Hawaiian MINI

We had the pleasure of renting our chili red Cooper convertible to Pat and his wife this weekend who flew all the way from the far side of Canada: Quebec. They had a blast cruising up to the north shore with the top down, not to mention putting over 150 miles on my car! We hope to see you both again soon.

Shootin' pics of MINIs at the beach; it's a tough job

Feeling that we were not quite doing our hot new MINI Cooper rentals justice with the pics we had up on our site and blog, we decided to have another photoshoot. Darrel at MINI of Hawaii supplied two of the convertibles and Barry Maier of iLoveWeddings.com took the shots. I positioned the MINIs and

worked on my tan while Barry worked his magic. Even though we

couldn't shoot these hot convertible MINIs early in the morning when the lightingis optimal, Mr. Maier's skills more than made up for it. Besides, he shoots many of his weddings at the beaches we went to, so he knows the backdrop very well.

At the end of the shoot we walked away with some great new pics, as you can see.

Free MINI rental given away at Hawaii Chamber of Commerce event

Last Thursday at the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce after-hours event, we gave away a free MINI Cooper rental gift certificate. The event was sponsored by the local Sprint store and took place at the Tower Grill (now Don Ho's Island Grill) in the Aloha Tower Marketplace. As usual, the pupus were delicious, and more than enough to take the place of dinner. The purpose of these monthly meetings is to network with other local businesses while sampling some food at a potentially new location.

Allen Young of Shred-It introduced me to a few new contacts, and I threw a couple his way as well. Licking the teryaki buffalo wing sauce off my fingers while watching the orange sun set into the harbor, I decided to cruise home with the top down and call it a night.