I have a Waikoloa Beach Resort blog. I was curious about submitting it to places such as blogcatalog, technorati, etc. If you submit your blogs to areas such as this I know it will generate more traffic, but do you risk the chance of google counting the content for them rather than you? Are there any other downsides?
No, there is no downsides as long as it links back to your site. Google will not penalize your site for adding it to directories and such.
What do you mean "as long as it links back to your site"? The only one I have used to this point is blogcatalog and from what I can tell all it is doing is reposting whatever you put on your blog.
Wait until your blog is established enough. I wouldn't be very aggressive on promoting brand new sites/blogs. Don't expect much traffic from technorati, but blogcatalog will get you some more visitors.