Embassy closes office; lays off 45

Friday, May 19, 2000 - The Honolulu Star Bulletin

The Embassy Vacation Resorts time-share business closed the Waikiki sales office for its Embassy Vacation Resort Poipu Wednesday, laying off about 45 workers.

They received severance benefits and a few were kept on to operate an activities center elsewhere in the building at 2155 Kalakaua Ave., said Steve Busch, the company's vice president of operations for the Hawaii region.

Busch said sales at the Waikiki office, the off-site headquarters for the 219-unit Kauai resort, had fallen and in the first four months of this year were only half the 1998 level. Sales operations are now centered at the Kauai property.

Waikiki has become more of a budget destination and does not attract enough visitors willing to invest in vacation properties, Busch said.

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