Hotel is simply too expensive. Last time we were there, we walked to a resort my wife and I used to stay probably 10-15 years ago, the price was between $100 and $200 if our memories were right. My wife tried to book 2 rooms (with family) in the same resort, and she said the cheapest one is around $1500.
Hubs and I were seriously considering a HI vacation for this year because we want to see the NPs, but when we looked at hotel prices we realized that for a week in Hawaii we could take two weeks to visit Mt. Rainier, Seattle, and then a bunch of Alaska on a 9 day cruise with a balcony. Anyway the PNW was great. Highly recommend. S tier hiking.
We're already talking about more trips. We probably have enough stuff for at least 3-4 more before we hit everything we want to see in just AK and WA alone.
I highly recommend the Olympic peninsula/Olympic National Park! I’m from the PNW and yet Alaska is one of the 3 states I’ve never been to…I don’t live in North America anymore so it’s a “someday” trip.
We were at the Grand Wailea 6 years ago. Had an ocean view room at a cost of $300/night. We were just looking at going back and the same room was $1500-1800/night. That's a no for me dog. It's not even that I can't afford it, I just feel like I'm being taken advantage of and can do more with the money elsewhere.
Funny story: I went to an Oahu north shore resort and ended up seated next to Glenn Howerton and his family at Roy’s. I kept it cool enough to not ask for an autograph.
I used to work at one of the Waldorf Astoria properties back in the 2000s and Grand Wailea was one of our "premium" selections for employee rates. $59/not with free upgrade if available. Hawaiian Airlines "partner" rates with $100 flights round trip. Plus every restaurant would let me eat free. Took my parents to GW for their 25th and spent like $1,500 between everything, even the rental car.
Spoiled fucking rotten in that business. Can't afford that stuff now!
My dad worked for an airline and I flew to Hawaii for $30 round trip from the Midwest. I was too young and stupid to realize it wasn't going to last forever and didn't do enough on those trips.
Sound about right. Back in 2017 my family of 4 spent 2.5 weeks between two islands. Total for lodging and flights was in the teen-thousands and only bc I was able to find good deals. Shore homes were in the 3-6k per night back then, don't even wanna look now.
I spent half that to stay at the Belmond in Iguazu where you literally get exclusive sunrise and sunset access to the national park (since you're staying in the park).
People sometimes ask me how I'm able to travel internationally and vacation so often and it's like... you just spent the same amount or more on that Disney family vacation. I don't have kids and the only expense is really flights and hotels and if you spend more than a week anywhere, the cost gets outweighed by the savings from everything other than the flight being cheaper.
Literally take that money and fly a couple of hours more to Japan and have a much better time. A week for that much can get you a luxurious month elsewhere
At that price, you could fly comfort plus RT to Thailand and enjoy a fabulous $150/night hotel with a full breakfast and staff that pretend to like you.
That’s insane. I’m seeing Airbnb’s for $250-300 in ala wai, just blocks from the beach, or up on north shore — looking at flexible area mid-July. With inflation that feels reasonable but over a grand seems insane!
6 years ago, Hawaii was still recovering from the 2nd great depression. Effect of economic events on the mainland, show up in Hawaii usually after a few years. The grand wailea used to be $900 per night before the market crash
I guess it kind of depends which island you want to stay on. The Big Island is way cheaper, especially Hilo. We stayed there and then road-tripped across to the dry side. But I'm not asking for the lap of luxury, just a quiet beach.
For that price, you can genuinely stay in some of the nicest, most expensive hotels in the world. You can stay in the palaces of former princes of India. You can stay in the palace of an old Ottoman Prince (Ciragan Kempinski). You can stay in an authentic Ming dynasty villa in Shanghai (for just over half of that actually). There's a hotel in a national park with views of the Iguazu waterfalls (Belmond) that costs less than half that and it comes with exclusive access before and after hours for hotel guests for the damn national park.
Hell, add a few hundred dollars and you can stay in the Four Seasons in Paris (depending on season) or at Crillon.
Or you know, get maybe okay service at the Grand Wailea.
Went in 2018 next door to your hotel at the andaz Maui for our honeymoon. For the whole trip for an entire week it was sub 4k for upgraded ocean view room, direct flights and a rental convertible. Same exact trip is over 12k+ now. 800 dollar a night rooms which is insane.
i stayed here over the last year and ran up $50k here alone...tho it was my least favorite hotel of the islands. felt like an upscale marriott. svc and food meh
Its funny the media is very bipolar about this but if youd read anything from the tourism authority and similar adjacent departments, they've wanted to reduce visitor count but increase price per head. This was planned. Only problem is I think people will notice the amenities tripled in price but didnt necessarily triple in value unless you can convince the richer visitors they're getting more luxury somehow
Edit: didn't realize this wasnt the maui sub. Im literally from Maui lol. Born n raised. AMA but yeah this was intentional.
And most of that are profits shipped out of Hawaii, doesn't support local businesses, tries to keep people at the resort spending all their money there.
Yep. On one hand, our fragile ecosystem really did need to downsize the crowding. But it is a bit short sighted. Honestly our local government should be doing a lot more to support small business growth and giving them perks if they ever hope to actually rely on more than tourism
There was a post earlier this week on this sub talking about how wealth inequality has gotten so bad, businesses can maintain similar levels of profits just by catering to the rich and that the poor no longer have the power to vote with their wallets
I wonder if Hawaii tourism is going to pivot to just catering to the richest tourists instead of trying to cater to everyone
I will say that one thing people are also missing is that often times the luxury is the price. The country club has an insane initiation fee because the point is to put you in a place where everyone else could also pay that initiation fee. That is the function. It makes sense, if you somehow tripled revenue per tourist and decreased it by 67% the experience would be better for both the remaining tourists + the locals and you wouldn't lose any money.
I was mentioning in this sub that I stayed at a hotel called the Belmond in Brasil. One of the benefits is that it comes with exclusive before and after access to the waterfalls in the national park (Iguazu) because it is the only hotel located in the national park. While it's charming in its own right, that's what you're really paying for. Exclusive access to the falls without having to fight through crowds of people during the normal rush when it costs a few bucks to go. Is it worth it? Depends on who you ask but I totally see a market for that being "worth it" under the right conditions. The other problem though is Hawaii doesn't have enough people and the COL is too high to deliver the luxury experience that luxury travelers are accustomed to. Charing $1,500 for a hotel room is fine if you can deliver the service to match but having experienced American hospitality (not just Hawaiian) there's really no comparison. Asia does it so well because hospitality is a good career path and there are so many people that the cost of labour is comparatively lower. So you get really talented folks who can also get rich doing the work, which naturally results in much better hotels. We'll see how it shakes out for hawaii.
Even the wealthy Asian countries do hospitality a 100 times better then America/hawaii. I’ve payed 200$ for a hotel in Japan that gave me much better service then a 1000$ place in the states
Vegas and Hawaii both used to be very affordable for working class people. Just more things the rich are elbowing their way into and the rest of us out of it.
If you actually stay in a hotel it’s fine. Like I’m literally looking right now and there are a couple of hotels in Waikiki for under $100 a night. It’s not a resort, but beaches are all public…
Yeah I guess I'm fucking slumming it because I would never pay as much as people in this thread are talking about for a hotel but still had an insanely nice Hawaiian vacation a year ago for like 5K for two people. Including flights, hotels, food, activities.
Absolutely baffling to me as well. Why would anyone care about going to a resort in Hawaii? The point is to go around and actually experience the islands. There are drastically cheaper beach resort options with great amenities in other places. Unless you have so much money you’re willing to pay absurd prices to get both. And it’s hard to care about anyone in that spot having to pay more.
I’m not even saying anyone’s asking us to. I’m just still kinda reeling from the numbers people were throwing around hahaha
Yeah very true, Mexico is way cheaper if you are lounging at a single pool/beach for a whole vacation. We just rented a car and did a different beach/hike every day.
What's even crazier is the resorts aren't even that fancy. My wife's family has a timeshare in the Hilton and when we went last year it was literally an additional charge for everything.
They had hundreds of umbrellas on the beach, so we went to sit by one thinking it's part of the hotel package (which costs upwards of $3000 per year for like, 4 days, btw). We got yelled at that they are by reservation only. Umbrellas were $50 to rent, and each lounge chair was an extra $40. And that was like, not even for the whole day. Don't think it was only per hour, but it was definitely not a daily rate.
The hotel in Waikiki i stayed at 2 years ago was and still is under $200. You don't need a beachfront view if you can walk a few blocks and be at the public beaches, which ALL of them are. And how much time do you spend in a room? I'd rather get out and see the sights.
Stayed at Hilton Hawaiian in ‘23 for 10 days. It was around $1000 per night. Can’t imagine what it is now. On top of that, literally everything is really expensive. Food, drinks, gas, activities, etc.
We just came back from 10 nights in Waikiki and paid $350 a night for a suite at the Laylow. It was actually cheaper in 2026 compared to our same exact stay in 2024.
Hawaii can be expensive but with some creative planning, deals can be had. In fact, our airfare is normally 30-40k points per person, and we were able to book at 20k.
The state is run by the hotel industry and they’ve banned most vacation rentals which are the only affordable option. I live here and it’s literally cheaper to fly and spend a week in Japan than to drive to the Kona side of the island and stay in a hotel. Hotel prices are up over 50% since COVID largely because now they have little competition.
It's had zero impact. Even several years ago the best the hotel lobby could come with was one study, not in Hawaii, showed Airbnbs raised rents 10% more than without them, meaning if rent went up 10% it went up 11% where there were vacation rentals, and ignores what the community got back for that 1% difference.
I was in Maui two years ago. My cousin’s husband on a lark looked up the cheapest house for sale one the island. It was a fixer upper and was like 700k. Basically a ready to move in house was a million dollars
Airbnb was always a scapegoat for the housing problem. A few hundred single family units being reserved for short term rentals shouldn't be able to move the housing market in a market that is building enough housing for its populace. The only reason why they fuck with prices is because governments aren't building enough.
To be fair the hotels are owned by private equity and rich assholes who aren’t in the island. The milking of tourists is for some rich asshole in New York or LA.
Local Hawaiians are all dirt poor and exploited by them.
Depending on how hardcore the person is, they may not want any of that. The people advocating for sovereignty want the US to fuck off completely. Of course that has other geopolitical implications but yeah
Haha. Remember when it used to be cheaper for Japanese salary men to fly out to Hawaii to play few rounds of golf and fly back, than playing golf in a course in Japan itself (due to high membership fee/etc etc) ?
> The state is run by the hotel industry and they’ve banned most vacation rentals which are the only affordable option
So the tons of Hawaiians complaining about investors buying all the housing to use for Airbnb and how bad this was exacerbating the housing crisis had nothing to do with it?
A decade ago, the Airbnbs were run by locals just renting out part of their house to make extra money. But it soon became richer people buying out residential housing to rent them out illegally. The last Airbnb we used when we moved to Hawaii was owned by someone who also owned several car dealerships and many investment properties in one of the richest neighborhoods of Oahu.
The Hawaiians complaining about investors buying all the housing is literally the problem.
If you don’t want more housing, then you better be ready for the price of housing to skyrocket as people compete over the limited housing on the island.
If you don’t want more tourism, be prepared to only cater to a small group of people who can afford to support the tourism industry (I.e. wealthy luxury tourists and therefore only expensive hotels))
There’s definitely constraints (like how much infrastructure an island in the middle of the pacific can support) but those constraints are something nations much poorer than us still manage to fix.
I agree that way more housing should be built. Also there’s no reason for Oahu to have a god damn 10 lane highway. It’s a massive eyesore for such a beautiful place and a city that size has way better transportation options
Not sure how you would do this, but I think mandating that more hotels be owned by locals could help a lot. At the very least, it makes a much better experience as a tourist. I stayed at an independently owned hotel and it was fantastic. I can’t imagine I would get the warmth and customer service at a place ran by a penny pinching, international conglomerate
Yes, they were targeted for years by social media ads against them. There was never any evidence presented about exacerbating the housing crisis (in a state with extremely little or negative population growth). What they should be complaining about are the investors buying up rental housing, creating "housing" in resort areas which are completely for non-Hawaii residents and unaffordable to all but the 1%. This will also drive destroying more coastal properties to build more resorts. The developers also run the state.
gentleman just stated most vacation rentals are now banned, and hotels are now free to charge what they will due to lack of competition , pricing out most average people. how is this helpful? who let it happen?
We specifically chose not to go to Hawaii this month because flights were over 3k for three people in economy (and this was back in December). So, maybe that’s it.
Yeah, I am thinking this is pretty much related to cost. Costs more to get there than other destinations, and with inflation, less money is available for vacations.
This. I too live in a heavily visited area and I understand the frustration with travelers, but I also understand that the economy collapses if the tourists stop coming.
Hawaii has almost zero exports. The people would be absolutely fucked if tourists respected their wishes and stayed away.
The native Hawaiians never wanted us there in first place. We isolated their queen and bombed sacred land, never able to be used again. Quite frankly as a white dude, we kinda suck💁♂️
We did some shitty things, for sure, but what do you think the Japanese or the Russians would’ve done to them if the U.S. didn’t take the island?
Because a powerful nation was taking those islands. It was just a matter of time. They were too strategically important to be left alone.
The Russians would’ve completely stripped the Hawaiians of their culture and forced them into communism, and the Japanese would’ve raped and pillaged the island same as they did to the Philippines.
lol. Ask the Filipinos who were gang raped as comfort units if it was irrelevant.
Hawaii would’ve been taken in WW2 guaranteed, and if it was anyone other than the Americans the Hawaiian people would’ve been brutally oppressed and murdered.
When we visited in 2018, the tour bus driver himself complained about the tourists while he drove our bus....it's beautiful but I'm not going back to a place with THAT attitude!
I was going to say, oh, I stopped planning my return Hawaii trip after hearing in idk 2022 that Hawaii would prefer less tourism. To help the local environment/the locals not get pushed out of their neighborhoods.
Yes, now we are avoiding America but before then we thought about visiting Hawaii but saw an interview that said locals do not want tourists visiting, so we thought we should respect what the local population wanted.
It’s like a rite of passage to get hated on by locals when you go to Hawaii. Even if you respect the island and people it feels like you are still just trash to them.
You gotta show them a Mahalo rewards card so they know you are local. My family has been natives since the beginning when King Presley ruled the land many years ago.
I guess I always thought of "haole" in the same way I think of "gringo" (I have a Mexican gf, it's the easiest comparison). Not really derogatory, but based on the person saying it and their context it could be. If called gringo or haole I wouldn't be upset unless the context was around making it offensive
The ethnicity definitions in Hawaii are interesting since it’s an inverse than what you see on the Mainland. White is a majority race on the Mainland, and is the “default,” while White is a minority in Hawaii since a vast majority of Hawaii residents are Asian, Pacific Islander, or mixed ethnicity, which makes white people “stand” out.
I still remember this conversation about this with one of my teachers, and how she would be considered White in Hawaii, but people in the Mainland, like California, would think she was Mexican.
'Hapa haole' and 'Wasian' are mostly equivalent. 'Hapa' originally a meant part native hawaiian but it somehow morphed in to meaning any person with APAC and european decent.
Wasian is fairly new term-- I'm guessing it's a portmandu of White/Asian and usually implies a 1st generation asian / european mix. I've only really heard it from Gen Z kids.
Yes, the anti-tourist stuff is like anti-vaxxers. The loudest assholes get all the attention but the overwhelming majority don't feel that way and are welcoming.
It's not particularly offensive. I wouldn't even care. You just gotta embrace it, like embracing being a gaijin in Japan (which the USAF does very well).
I get it man. I’m .03% Cherokee. I know exactly what they are going through. No doubt. No doubt in my mind. If coach would had put me in 4th quarter we would’ve been state champions. You better believe things would have been different.
At this point that's every tourist town or location in the world. Even places that were lauded for being welcoming in decades past have that reputation now. There are way more tourists than ever before in most places and the locals have built up a resentment as the local governments prioritize tourism over the COL of the locals.
You see this a lot in Spain and Greece for example.
As a mainlander, we pay premium pricing to experience the Islands, and yet the locals still struggle. Where does all the money go? I’d guess, back to other mainlanders.
Thank you. Was going to say the same thing. I know they’ve been a handful of articles and TikTok videos on some of the damage that tourists are doing and they’re always some people who take things too far trying to outdo others.
I dropped and tourism from the West Coast is doing white to the economy, oil prices impacting flight prices, and other similar factors. I cannot imagine that a couple of mediocre TikTok videos accounts for more than 0.1% of the drop.
Yeah, like all tourisn destinations have locals with the attitude. This isn't unique to Hawaii and people aren't visiting for "the culture", they are going to get hammered near a beach
Why? I've been to Hawaii 5 time and never experienced anything like what some of these people are saying. It's paradise. Just don't be a guy who ruins paradise and they treat you fine.
For real. I got invited to a local’s tailgating party and they introduced me to all of their friends as we ate grilled steaks. I don’t think I’m super special or amazing, I was just polite to everyone I met. You’d be surprised who you meet with just a little kindness
Like hell, American tourists in places like Cuba or Syria find hospitable families and form great memories there. These are countries our shitty government has bombed or fucked over in a million ways but they still show basic human goodness to us. I think there’s a lot we can learn from that
new yorkers only gripe with tourists is them being a problem in the flow of pedestrian traffic. Dont stand in the middle of the sidewalk and we have no problem with you. Completely different then a lot of other tourist heavy spots.
my local minor league baseball team is ducking named The Tourists, we are that touristy. People hate on them a lot and i just wonder how much they realize we rely on them to keep things going
I'm an American living abroad in a country that also gets a fair amount of tourists and this is a big reason I wouldn't travel to Hawaii. I'd rather go somewhere where the locals don't hate me for being there. Not that I don't get it, I do, but I just don't want to add to the problem.
The widespread “don’t come here” messaging in the wake of the Maui fire seems to have had some influence. Alongside the unbridled pillaging of the average American’s spending power since day one of Trump 2.0 while the Federal government makes enemies of every international visitor things really are just peachy.
The general trend of increased hostility towards tourists pretty much everywhere is going to be interesting to follow as oil perhaps becomes much shorter in supply in 60-90 days. Maybe when the tourist dollars dry up, they can tax Zuckerburg's property to help make up the difference.
Just one data point but I can say it definitely has impacted my wife's and my vacation planning. We visited Maui once, in 2019, and loved it. I would be delighted to go back but she was very sensitive to the messaging that it hurt locals for us to go there and said no when I suggested a return. We pivoted to PR as an alternative for our winter weather escapes.
It has only gotten worse among young people cosplaying as revolutionaries on social media. Random teenagers treating people who vacation there like they’re going to apartheid South Africa or the West Bank.
The funny thing is that that messaging will only keep away the people who care if their tourism has an impact or not. Joe Sunburn will keep showing up and calling the locals lazy.
i guess it depends on where you pay attention? i’m friends with a lot of hawaiians and they posted a bunch of stuff like that when Hawaii need to recover but i haven’t seen anything like that for quite a while. seems like it’s just a very specific slice if you’re still on twitter or something
You can’t forget about Trump’s radioactive effect on foreign tourism.
Canadians and Europeans don’t want to travel to the UsA because of the “51st state” comments and the Greenland annexation threats.
The “hospitality” expert has been abysmally terrible for the tourism industry just because of his words. Sure the economy sucks and it’s too expensive to travel, but that aside, people outside the UsA really hate Trump. He’s such a disrespectful turd to all other countries and the travel boycott is a real phenomenon.
Yeah, people were straight up telling my wife and I they hate Mainlanders and wish they wouldnt come. We visited a few beaches and had people openly talking shit within earshot.
We are both quiet introverts who keep to ourselves so it was a shock.
FWIW I have been a few times since 2020 and haven’t had any issues, and we usually spend most of our time off the resorts. I do however get a lot of “tsk-tsk”ing from some people at home when I say where I’m going on vacation.
To add an anecdote, I never experienced any of this when I went to Oahu this year. And I’m like 10 shades lighter than even the white people there so I was obviously a tourist. I just did my best to be polite and the people there were incredibly kind. I also didn’t rent a car and was still able to do a lot. I didn’t want to contribute to the awful traffic on the island
Same thing happened to me and Waikiki, sitting with a friend of mine on the beach minding our own business and just enjoying the view and some local guy talk shit about us to his friend on the phone for no apparent reason.
Well there's your problem Waikiki is trashville. The sand there literally isn't even from Hawaii and wouldn't exist if it were not for constant importation and regular multi-million dollar projects to put more sand there.
Maybe I just got lucky then, but I’ve been twice and never had anyone be hostile towards me. I feel like it’s no worse than any other place that complains about tourists (i.e., most of them).
Depends on what you want out of your vacations. If you're just staying on a resort and doing tourist things you'll have a great time. If your idea of a vacation includes mingling with locals, probably very different.
Edit: Talking shit on tourists is a pastime for anyone who lives near a tourist destination, this is by no means something unique to Hawaii. If you have thin skin or think you're entitled to experience the local secrets by spending 1-2 weeks in any given destination, you're going to have a bad time traveling anywhere.
I had a great time with locals. They key is to show reverence and respect for the land. I did the Paliku hike in Haleakala and when natives learned that, they immediately lit up. I wasn't just there to do touristy things; I was there to interact with the land.
I also got cursed out on the road to Hana by a local for not pulling over, so there was that too.
The locals who run shops and food trucks were nice, at least.
>Talking shit on tourists is a pastime for anyone who lives near a tourist destination, this is by no means something unique to Hawaii. If you have thin skin or think you're entitled to experience the local secrets by spending 1-2 weeks in any given destination, you're going to have a bad time traveling anywhere.
Yeah idk I've traveled lots of places and not had the experience of people talking shit to me, I don't think that's actually normal at all
I spent three months in Spain last year and basically everyone was chill. Maybe a grumpy person or two, but nobody telling me off
Yeah Im not as well traveled as some here but I’ve been to like a dozen countries. Never felt the need to have “thick skin” around the residents of those countries. Not sure why Hawaii would be different but it is according to posts here.
Ahh yeah fair lol. I totally agree. I try to not be entitled, stay out of the way and I speak fluent Spanish so I think I would have avoided any direct comments haha
You might ask yourself why you experienced hostility when most of us don’t. But it is probably a good call to move on to someplace that suits you better.
Idk that sitting on a public beach with my wife reading our books shoulf have have elicted a group of locals talking shit. I suspect you think we were wasted and being loud and blasting music - we werent.
Besides, your argument is basically "Well she wouldnt have been assaulted if she didnt dress that way".
Might be helpful if the dipshits got called out and got shunned instead of being silent on it. Look up Hawaii on TikTok, YouTube, X, Facebook and you'll see hundreds of people saying don't come and very very few Hawaiians saying come
I believe you 100%. As a mainlander with no ties to Hawaii whatsoever I’m only expressing that something in the cultural zeitgeist from the last 15/20 years made that decision for me.
Hawaiʻi is part of the United States, and American citizenship can’t mean that some citizens are morally ‘at home’ in the country while others are merely tolerated guests. Just because I am not entitled to exploit Hawaiʻi, I am also not a foreign intruder in my own country either.
You could go to Southeast Asia, South America, or the Caribbean for 1/2 the price or less and you’d get more of a cultural experience. Hawaii is beautiful and poke is great but the value proposition isn’t exactly insane
For people who are rich enough that time and money aren’t an issue, I can definitely see the appeal
When I was in Kauai everyone seemed nice enough. Definitely got what felt like some dirty looks at the off the beaten path beaches, didn’t stay long at those for fear of rental car damage. Maybe it was all in my head, but we were trying to explore the whole island so moving on was fine.
Not in your head. I have a friend that lives there and he still gets shit from the locals when he surfs there. Super nice guy and great respectful surfer.
Yeah I’ve been to Hawaii and was just there like 8 months ago and I agree with you. BUT the messaging in the internet and even in person form some graffiti and other things is different than that. It has an impact.
Spending power has gone down for the average American, that's for sure. But what's driving hotel prices so high? Less demand should mean lower prices. I'd argue that average people are being priced out by the upper tier everywhere - people who can and will pay $1500 a night for something worth a quarter of that. If not, who's doing it?
The PGA Tour decided to nope out of Hawaii for next season. It’s crazy to think of the economic hurt hotels and restaurants will take during those two weeks.
Well when people keep spreading “tourists are destroying our island” combined with hotels that raise prices to unaffordable levels this is what you get.
Hawaiian hotels have to raise their prices to insane levels for what they offer because their cost of labor is insane. There is a huge high end hospitality labor shortage there.
It's easy to offer high end service and huge staff to guest ratios when your cost of living in low like in Asia, not so much when your employees need to be paid $30-40/hour to afford rent.
Meh, I’ve lived in an economically disadvantaged place my whole life where words like “city budget crisis” and “managed decline” have become so common place that they’ve lost all meaning. I have 0 faith in the current system that rewards workers by making their paychecks smaller every year and having their savings shrink. If the stock market has to take a haircut to put more money in everyone’s pocket then so be it. The economists and MBAs of the world gave up on my community long ago so I don’t really trust anything they say.
Being force fed the poisoned medicine of capitalism but only seeing rust and decline in my lifetime are a surefire way to make me doubt the whole system.
Hawaii will never, ever be cheap because living there is limited supply due to zoning laws and the fact that it's an island. Honolulu is super dense, and the locals bitch and moan about traffic. Other islands have intense zoning laws by it's own government.
It's a genuinely incredible place to live for various reasons, which makes land and building costs expensive. In a world where we have extremely high paid remote workers/business owners/retirees, it's a recipe for disaster.
On top of it being an island that has to have everything barged in.
Uh, international has to be way down, probably more than domestic tourism. That's one of the costs of having a fascist lunatic running the country. There are many more, unfortunately.
The “stay away” outsiders vibe has definitely impacted our vacation choices. I love Hawaii but being somewhere where the locals do not like you or want you matters to me. We no longer visit.
Tells everyone not to come, labels them colonizers, says horrible shit to them in person and online, then charges up the ass for everything tourist related it's no wonder they are seeing a steep decline they explicitly don't want people there and don't even make it affordable to come.
I disagree, the hotels didn’t put everyone on blast after the fires, the locals did. The whole don’t come here we hate you movement was heard loud and clear. The Bahamas are closer, more friendly, great beaches and I don’t have to hear “fucking haoulie “ all day. I totally understand why they feel the way they do and they’re not wrong. But this is the way they wanted it, so they got it.
This is big corp 101 to suck the resources from their sectors and make sure it’s the people against themselves at the end of the day. I think we can see that big corps are causing intense strain on every part of Hawaii by their greedy practices and their mere existence. Hawaiians have been forced out of much of their housing, businesses, and left with corporations. It’s plain to see that locals will have strong resentment towards tourists as tourists represent much of what has been taken from them. We really have to dig deeper than moaning on about “locals hate us”. I haven’t even touched the subject of tourist’s behaviors while on the island. Behaviors that are tough to manage with local businesses and emboldened by mega corps.
Well these aren't the same people. The first group are largely uneducated, and when they are, our education is up there with Mississippi, along with high levels of unemployment and dependence on benefits (which are quickly going away). The extreme charges come from corporate assholes who have never even set foot here but own the resorts and hotels.
I agree with you but that first group has an oversized voice for the minority it is. Hawaii is economically better off than pretty much every other South Pacific island because it’s a state with a large tourism base. If that weren’t the case would would it end up like Tuvalu or something. Whether one considers that good or bad, independence or not is up to option but something to consider
It does and agreed, having been to Tahiti and a few other of their islands I was shocked how impoverished it was and how there was so little tourism. I thought France would take better care of their people. And French Polynesia is way better off than most Pacific island nations.
I wonder if the bots are out in strength here because Hawaii just recently started fighting against Citizens United? Isn't it funny how so many comments here are anecdotes from people saying they felt locals were hostile and they'd rather visit somewhere else, but the article is actually about the state of the economy and poor weather due to storms.
I’m a rando who regularly contributes to this sub.
I came to comment an anecdote of mine. I’ve been to all 50 states. I travel a lot. Hawaii was my 50th last year. It’s way too expensive for what it is. I’ll just fly to Central America or the Caribbean for the same experience for half the price.
I mean when most of their economy is based on tourists I think it makes sense that people will bring up tourism.
The amount of hate I remember directed at tourists at the time of the north shore fire was the last time Hawaii tourism was really brought so it makes sense to me.
Cool story. The article is about how tourism is down because of the economy, but most of the comments are random anecdotes about how they feel hate from locals - so it must be the culprit. It's easy to use bots to push a narrative, even if the data/reporting tells a different story.
Exactly. I was literally about to post the same sentiment.
Love how locals feelings on this thread are all extrapolated from the title of post sitting on the Economics subreddit.
This entire thread is a dumpster fire, not an Economics forum. The hate filled comments for Hawaii locals are getting over 200 up votes and the educating ones are getting down voted.
I hope Hawaii wins their CU case and there’s unreal hostility from Hawaiians towards tourists (read some of Haunani-Kay Trask’s statements about it). Not everything is a conspiracy.
It is a verifiable fact that there are a thousands of bots on Reddit and other social media sites pushing all sorts of narratives to influence people. I'm not going to review every account that posts/comments, but more often than not you can identify a trend related to comments and the timing of events in the (more often than not) political landscape. So when I see the majority of comments on here spouting the same line about how people don't travel to Hawaii because Hawaiians are hostile - despite the posted article discussing a completely different reason - then it leads me to think there's a reason behind the random anecdotes that happen to coincide.
I’ve been to all the islands over the years and don’t recall ever getting any shit from a local. But then again, I just eat rice plates, chill on the beach, or go for a hike. The malasada lady was never mean to me either.
Also been to Japan multiple times and had an awesome experience. Hear the same stuff going there and if anything, I had to give tourists shit about being stupid.
Blending in with your surroundings and not being an obvious tourist go a long way. Dress a little muted and leave the USA themed apparel at home guys.
I agree. Had the same experience whenever Ive been to Hawaii. I and the people I travel with are very mindful and respectful and have never encountered any issue. I believe most of the people commenting about bad experiences must be some obnoxious and inconsiderate travelers because believe me I have seen many on my trips.
Flight costs from Seattle have doubled after Alaska Air bought Hawaiian air (typical monopoly). How many families of 4 can afford $10,000 for just the flight?!?
I'd say visit the 'ninth island', but Las Vegas is stupidly expensive these days too, and rapidly losing its tourist allure. (plus, the international travelers, especially Canada, are generally not showing up either.)
If everything didn’t cost a billion dollars we’d go there more. My best friend from college lives there and I used to visit her often, now it’s so expensive we’d rather use the tickets to go to South America.
Exactly. My wife and I spent 2 weeks in greece last year. People would comment at how expensive it is. Come on- I live in the US, almost anywhere is cheaper by comparison. Shit, Greece was half the price of 8 days in Hawaii. And so much more to do too.
I was in Hawai two years ago. On Maui there were zero Japanese tourists and one of the taxis I used in Oahu said that the Japanese tourists have dropped off. The hen is now weak, so I doubt many Japanese will come
I’d love to go to Hawaii.. but seeing how the president of that nation is a seditious, pedophilic, annex happy anal polyp, I’ll have to pass for the foreseeable future.
Visited Hawaii, all prices are Hawaii expensive except jacked the fuck up, but on top of all the jackups youre expected to tip %20 and it's getting kinda crazy.
The US, and HI, used to be good destinations for holidays when you come from other places (I'm Aussie). Now, though, it's just too expensive. Back when it was cheap it was fun and you didn't mind the bits that weren't great. At current prices there are much better places to go.
The chronics and the Zombies make so it attractive. Ala Moana Beach Park is a homeless camp After living there for 30 yrs I finally had enough. Life is much better now
fkna i live on Maui and the only tourons that get any sideeye from the local community are those showing disrespectful behavior. whether that is throwing rocks at monk seals, drunk in public, cranking garbage music at the beach or littering, to name a few, it’s easy to be kind. Hawai’i is an inclusive State and that includes our appreciation for the industry that revolves around tourism.
Exactly. We have nothing here. The only profitable agriculture are high end things like coffee and chocolate and such which none of us here can actually afford. Even macadamia nuts have suffered because they can be grown for much less elsewhere. Anything else depends on shipping stuff out and we simply can't compete with the rest of the world. The military and tourism is all we have and all we'll ever have.
Hawaii is poor in economic tangible resources so tourism is pretty much what they have to offer to bring money in. Remote location and limited size also works against them. The islands are absolutely majestic though so thats what the state has to offer.
Because thats not how the modern economy works. Thats an idealist situation but frankly isnt reality. The world has been globalized and the US runs on capitalism. If you really want to understand then read up on micro and macro economics. Its too complex of a topic to try and explain over a reddit comment and I havent the time for it. Hawaii can totally cut out tourism. Those related jobs disappear. The cost of living isnt going to change. You just see houselessness increase and desperation rise and government resources dwindle.
I mean they've also spent years telling people not to travel there? I have friends who have friends in Hawaii and even they feel morally weird about going to visit. I understand their reasoning why they don't want over tourism, but you can't have it both ways. Paired with high travel costs now, there's two main reasons people won't go.
I had a guy in a work van throw a milkshake at my car for 'following too close' to him in Maui when he was going 10 under the speed limit and I myself had no shit 15 cars tailgating me.
He pulled over to a light next to me, said some extremely vulgar things then threw a milkshake at my car window. My girlfriend reported him to his job and the police.
Never going to Hawaii again. I've been to all the islands before already. You need to walk on eggshells to not insult locals. Your prescense just feels like an insult to them. Don't even get me started on the locals FB group for Hawaiian islands and the subreddit.
I go to French Polynesia and Fiji instead, for half the price, and locals will invite you to dinner and actually want you business. $1,000/night anywhere else in the Pacific gets you excellent boutique luxury, but in Hawaii, you barely get a 4 star hotel that is usually a mega hotel.
Fiji is amazing!!! I think it’s probably how Hawaii was in the 40s. I’d always stay on a island resort there and it’s all included and it is very affordable and amazing.
a trip for my family of 4 , from LAX was going to end up costing me $8k+, and nothing we chose was luxury. Oregon will be half that even with high gas prices.
We went to Honolulu and just the price of tickets alone was wild, then the price of our rental car was eye watering and everything there was just insanely priced
But it was so gorgeous, felt like being back in Japan in a lot of ways, well more it looked like Shikoku rather than felt like being there
I would have loved to stay
But the price of the hotel practically gave me a heart attack
It’s too expensive and a lot of natives there are a click short of openly hostile towards nonnatives. I’d rather spend my money somewhere I at least feel welcome.
I went in 2024. Not my choice, my dad had a ticket booked and he got hospitalized shortly before it was planned, so he gave it to me. Back then, it was expensive but not exorbitantly so...and I knew it would be a once-in-a-lifetime trip, so I didn't mind spending a bit more than usual. You can save a lot of money by buying groceries and alcohol rather than eating out all the time. I did feel a bit weird about going because of the history of colonialism and because of how damaging tourism is to their unique ecosystem, but I had fun and their culture is so cool. I would never go back again, even if I could afford it, because there are just so many other places that are equally cool and cost less.
I went to Hawaii twice, and the first time was back when SARS meant people from Asia could not go. Great snorkeling. I am glad they wanted tourists back then.
Im surprised that anyone who read the article actually thinks that exorbitantly expensive hotel costs and flights has anything to do with declining tourism. It’s OBVIOUSLY because Hawaiiguy52 made a TikTok calling tourists meanie weenie’s that went viral. That caused Kevin, 45 year old investment banker with 3 kids, to cancel his reservation. The guilt just got to him y’know?
I guess this strong anti tourism sentiment started when some rich karens moved to hawaii and decided tourists are annoying. Yes tourists can be annoying but when it’s your main economic driver, you just have to live with it.
Yeah sure blame the suburban soccer mom over the people being assholes for just setting foot on their land. Except it’s not their land anymore and they need to learn to get along with others
> Except it’s not their land anymore and they need to learn to get along with others
I mean can you blame them? The same shit that happened to the Tibetans and the Uyghurs happened to the Hawaiians, with the whole being annexed thing, and then the occupying country shipping in a bunch of people to drastically change the local demographics, and then economic inactivity causing natives to go outward... but instead of sympathy, the western world is just telling them to deal with it. Like it Tibetans or Uyghurs were complaining about Han Chinese people in their historic countries, I doubt you would just say "it's not your land anymore, learn to deal with it."
I went to Kona in 2023? Maybe 2022…Had to book an air B&B with 3 friends to afford the place. Could not afford the hotel right next to us. Won’t be going back because I can’t afford it now.
I can't afford to go to Ono Hawaiian BBQ let alone Hawaii. And with the energy crisis starting to finally emerge, pretty soon I'm not sure I can even drive to Ono.
As a Canadian, Maui has become just too expensive with the exchange rate. It would be hard to enjoy ourselves and we just can't justify the cost. Even Mexico has gotten crazy, but it's more affordable generally.
dennis-w220 | 19 hours ago
Hotel is simply too expensive. Last time we were there, we walked to a resort my wife and I used to stay probably 10-15 years ago, the price was between $100 and $200 if our memories were right. My wife tried to book 2 rooms (with family) in the same resort, and she said the cheapest one is around $1500.
MountainFee8756 | 18 hours ago
Hubs and I were seriously considering a HI vacation for this year because we want to see the NPs, but when we looked at hotel prices we realized that for a week in Hawaii we could take two weeks to visit Mt. Rainier, Seattle, and then a bunch of Alaska on a 9 day cruise with a balcony. Anyway the PNW was great. Highly recommend. S tier hiking.
InnerLeather68 | 17 hours ago
Absolutely. PNW is seriously underrated.
MountainFee8756 | 17 hours ago
We're already talking about more trips. We probably have enough stuff for at least 3-4 more before we hit everything we want to see in just AK and WA alone.
ledger_man | 13 hours ago
I highly recommend the Olympic peninsula/Olympic National Park! I’m from the PNW and yet Alaska is one of the 3 states I’ve never been to…I don’t live in North America anymore so it’s a “someday” trip.
MountainFee8756 | 12 hours ago
Olympic would likely be it's own trip! It is on the list.
markhachman | 11 hours ago
I'm the great great nephew of Lt. J.P. O'Neil, who scouted the area and formally recommended it become a national park. I hope to visit some day!
northernlights2222 | an hour ago
Love that the land is saved for all of us to enjoy!
northernlights2222 | an hour ago
We just got back from Olympic peninsula - it is beautiful and so much to do!
Hawaii hotels are way too expensive for the properties’ physical condition and low service standards. We aren’t going back.
Rhinologist | 11 hours ago
Highly recommend southern Oregon coast
the_ai_wizard | an hour ago
Our family vacation, granted staying at places like Four Seasons Maui, cost me about $300k
Though we loved that it was White Lotus filming location
ThursdaysMeeting | 13 hours ago
I live in Seattle and my parents asked me what they can do when they visit and I said seriously there's nothing here.
lachalacha | 7 hours ago
It's true
MountainFee8756 | an hour ago
Bro you have THREE national parks in driving distance.
whatiftheyrewrong | 11 hours ago
That’s utterly ridiculous.
BaronVonTitties | 19 hours ago
We were at the Grand Wailea 6 years ago. Had an ocean view room at a cost of $300/night. We were just looking at going back and the same room was $1500-1800/night. That's a no for me dog. It's not even that I can't afford it, I just feel like I'm being taken advantage of and can do more with the money elsewhere.
ModPolSucks | 18 hours ago
It's Always Sunny was joking with the Timeshare episode where they said that it's not inconceivable that a hotel would cost 20k for a weekend.
We're not quite there yet but holy moly they were closer than I'd have liked to think
External_Koala971 | 18 hours ago
Funny story: I went to an Oahu north shore resort and ended up seated next to Glenn Howerton and his family at Roy’s. I kept it cool enough to not ask for an autograph.
BaronVonTitties | 18 hours ago
Well, you can't really ask him in good conscience... because of the implication.
External_Koala971 | 18 hours ago
I should have said “Hi. I'm a recovering crack head. This is my retarded sister that I take care of. I'd like some welfare, please.”
BaronVonTitties | 17 hours ago
You should have asked him how his milk steak was. You already know the only way to order it is boiled over hard.
vicelordjohn | 17 hours ago
I used to work at one of the Waldorf Astoria properties back in the 2000s and Grand Wailea was one of our "premium" selections for employee rates. $59/not with free upgrade if available. Hawaiian Airlines "partner" rates with $100 flights round trip. Plus every restaurant would let me eat free. Took my parents to GW for their 25th and spent like $1,500 between everything, even the rental car.
Spoiled fucking rotten in that business. Can't afford that stuff now!
After_Preference_885 | an hour ago
My dad worked for an airline and I flew to Hawaii for $30 round trip from the Midwest. I was too young and stupid to realize it wasn't going to last forever and didn't do enough on those trips.
Waste_Worker6122 | 17 hours ago
This! The prices have been jacked up so high it's just taking the piss.
nooby_goober | 19 hours ago
Sound about right. Back in 2017 my family of 4 spent 2.5 weeks between two islands. Total for lodging and flights was in the teen-thousands and only bc I was able to find good deals. Shore homes were in the 3-6k per night back then, don't even wanna look now.
todayiwillthrowitawa | 17 hours ago
That’s the same price I’m paying for a historic ryokan with two kaiseki meals for two people and an in-suite onsen on Miyajima.
Now that international travel is so popular it’s hard for me to spend anything on domestic travel when the money goes so much further abroad.
Such_Radio_9152 | 16 hours ago
Japan is crazy cheap right now
quyksilver | 13 hours ago
I could effectively get 25% off high end camera lenses if I go there
Such_Radio_9152 | 12 hours ago
Might be worth going just for that lol
BaronVonTitties | 17 hours ago
I understood like 85% of what you said.... BUT I AGREE!
Remote_Volume_3609 | 14 hours ago
I spent half that to stay at the Belmond in Iguazu where you literally get exclusive sunrise and sunset access to the national park (since you're staying in the park).
People sometimes ask me how I'm able to travel internationally and vacation so often and it's like... you just spent the same amount or more on that Disney family vacation. I don't have kids and the only expense is really flights and hotels and if you spend more than a week anywhere, the cost gets outweighed by the savings from everything other than the flight being cheaper.
158cm_Otaku | 14 hours ago
Literally take that money and fly a couple of hours more to Japan and have a much better time. A week for that much can get you a luxurious month elsewhere
BaronVonTitties | 13 hours ago
Japan, Thailand (cheaper), Bali (way cheaper)... you're right.
Vegetable-Board-5547 | 15 hours ago
At that price, you could fly comfort plus RT to Thailand and enjoy a fabulous $150/night hotel with a full breakfast and staff that pretend to like you.
wbruce098 | 16 hours ago
That’s insane. I’m seeing Airbnb’s for $250-300 in ala wai, just blocks from the beach, or up on north shore — looking at flexible area mid-July. With inflation that feels reasonable but over a grand seems insane!
Pitiful_Jump2996 | 17 hours ago
6 years ago, Hawaii was still recovering from the 2nd great depression. Effect of economic events on the mainland, show up in Hawaii usually after a few years. The grand wailea used to be $900 per night before the market crash
punarob | 15 hours ago
I think 2019 was actually the peak of tourism and hasn't recovered and maybe never will.
markhachman | 11 hours ago
I guess it kind of depends which island you want to stay on. The Big Island is way cheaper, especially Hilo. We stayed there and then road-tripped across to the dry side. But I'm not asking for the lap of luxury, just a quiet beach.
Salesman88 | 13 hours ago
$300 a night at the Wailea for ocean View??? The rooms with garden view were going for $1k a night 20 years ago. Maybe those were Covid prices
best_never_rests | 16 hours ago
Just stay somewhere else. I just went for a week and it was $2000 for the week.
JellyfishNo3810 | 14 hours ago
You could AirBnB across Italy for one Hawaii trip at a fuckass resort hotel
Remote_Volume_3609 | 14 hours ago
For that price, you can genuinely stay in some of the nicest, most expensive hotels in the world. You can stay in the palaces of former princes of India. You can stay in the palace of an old Ottoman Prince (Ciragan Kempinski). You can stay in an authentic Ming dynasty villa in Shanghai (for just over half of that actually). There's a hotel in a national park with views of the Iguazu waterfalls (Belmond) that costs less than half that and it comes with exclusive access before and after hours for hotel guests for the damn national park.
Hell, add a few hundred dollars and you can stay in the Four Seasons in Paris (depending on season) or at Crillon.
Or you know, get maybe okay service at the Grand Wailea.
Siedrah | 14 hours ago
I just got back from Grand Wailea and spent half that on my room. I booked through Costco Travel though.
westcoastbmx | 13 hours ago
You don’t even get service as well at the GW
Intrikate | 10 hours ago
Went in 2018 next door to your hotel at the andaz Maui for our honeymoon. For the whole trip for an entire week it was sub 4k for upgraded ocean view room, direct flights and a rental convertible. Same exact trip is over 12k+ now. 800 dollar a night rooms which is insane.
the_ai_wizard | an hour ago
i stayed here over the last year and ran up $50k here alone...tho it was my least favorite hotel of the islands. felt like an upscale marriott. svc and food meh
timothy53 | 17 hours ago
I stayed there. That hotel was fucking awesome. But yeah 2k a night is steep.
bloodphoenix90 | 17 hours ago
Its funny the media is very bipolar about this but if youd read anything from the tourism authority and similar adjacent departments, they've wanted to reduce visitor count but increase price per head. This was planned. Only problem is I think people will notice the amenities tripled in price but didnt necessarily triple in value unless you can convince the richer visitors they're getting more luxury somehow
Edit: didn't realize this wasnt the maui sub. Im literally from Maui lol. Born n raised. AMA but yeah this was intentional.
punarob | 15 hours ago
And most of that are profits shipped out of Hawaii, doesn't support local businesses, tries to keep people at the resort spending all their money there.
bloodphoenix90 | 15 hours ago
Yep. On one hand, our fragile ecosystem really did need to downsize the crowding. But it is a bit short sighted. Honestly our local government should be doing a lot more to support small business growth and giving them perks if they ever hope to actually rely on more than tourism
Senior-Friend-6414 | 15 hours ago
There was a post earlier this week on this sub talking about how wealth inequality has gotten so bad, businesses can maintain similar levels of profits just by catering to the rich and that the poor no longer have the power to vote with their wallets
I wonder if Hawaii tourism is going to pivot to just catering to the richest tourists instead of trying to cater to everyone
riceshakedown | 12 hours ago
This. I was in Vegas a couple weekends ago, it’s happening already there.
Remote_Volume_3609 | 14 hours ago
I will say that one thing people are also missing is that often times the luxury is the price. The country club has an insane initiation fee because the point is to put you in a place where everyone else could also pay that initiation fee. That is the function. It makes sense, if you somehow tripled revenue per tourist and decreased it by 67% the experience would be better for both the remaining tourists + the locals and you wouldn't lose any money.
I was mentioning in this sub that I stayed at a hotel called the Belmond in Brasil. One of the benefits is that it comes with exclusive before and after access to the waterfalls in the national park (Iguazu) because it is the only hotel located in the national park. While it's charming in its own right, that's what you're really paying for. Exclusive access to the falls without having to fight through crowds of people during the normal rush when it costs a few bucks to go. Is it worth it? Depends on who you ask but I totally see a market for that being "worth it" under the right conditions. The other problem though is Hawaii doesn't have enough people and the COL is too high to deliver the luxury experience that luxury travelers are accustomed to. Charing $1,500 for a hotel room is fine if you can deliver the service to match but having experienced American hospitality (not just Hawaiian) there's really no comparison. Asia does it so well because hospitality is a good career path and there are so many people that the cost of labour is comparatively lower. So you get really talented folks who can also get rich doing the work, which naturally results in much better hotels. We'll see how it shakes out for hawaii.
Rhinologist | 11 hours ago
Even the wealthy Asian countries do hospitality a 100 times better then America/hawaii. I’ve payed 200$ for a hotel in Japan that gave me much better service then a 1000$ place in the states
outer--monologue | 15 hours ago
Vegas and Hawaii both used to be very affordable for working class people. Just more things the rich are elbowing their way into and the rest of us out of it.
A_Stickperson | 17 hours ago
If you actually stay in a hotel it’s fine. Like I’m literally looking right now and there are a couple of hotels in Waikiki for under $100 a night. It’s not a resort, but beaches are all public…
googleduck | 15 hours ago
Yeah I guess I'm fucking slumming it because I would never pay as much as people in this thread are talking about for a hotel but still had an insanely nice Hawaiian vacation a year ago for like 5K for two people. Including flights, hotels, food, activities.
Levitlame | 12 hours ago
Absolutely baffling to me as well. Why would anyone care about going to a resort in Hawaii? The point is to go around and actually experience the islands. There are drastically cheaper beach resort options with great amenities in other places. Unless you have so much money you’re willing to pay absurd prices to get both. And it’s hard to care about anyone in that spot having to pay more.
I’m not even saying anyone’s asking us to. I’m just still kinda reeling from the numbers people were throwing around hahaha
googleduck | 12 hours ago
Yeah very true, Mexico is way cheaper if you are lounging at a single pool/beach for a whole vacation. We just rented a car and did a different beach/hike every day.
Abradolf1948 | 10 hours ago
What's even crazier is the resorts aren't even that fancy. My wife's family has a timeshare in the Hilton and when we went last year it was literally an additional charge for everything.
They had hundreds of umbrellas on the beach, so we went to sit by one thinking it's part of the hotel package (which costs upwards of $3000 per year for like, 4 days, btw). We got yelled at that they are by reservation only. Umbrellas were $50 to rent, and each lounge chair was an extra $40. And that was like, not even for the whole day. Don't think it was only per hour, but it was definitely not a daily rate.
Absolutely insane prices.
phillyvinylfiend | 15 hours ago
Where are you staying??!!!??
The hotel in Waikiki i stayed at 2 years ago was and still is under $200. You don't need a beachfront view if you can walk a few blocks and be at the public beaches, which ALL of them are. And how much time do you spend in a room? I'd rather get out and see the sights.
size0618 | 17 hours ago
Stayed at Hilton Hawaiian in ‘23 for 10 days. It was around $1000 per night. Can’t imagine what it is now. On top of that, literally everything is really expensive. Food, drinks, gas, activities, etc.
bearsdidit | 16 hours ago
We just came back from 10 nights in Waikiki and paid $350 a night for a suite at the Laylow. It was actually cheaper in 2026 compared to our same exact stay in 2024.
Hawaii can be expensive but with some creative planning, deals can be had. In fact, our airfare is normally 30-40k points per person, and we were able to book at 20k.
Normill | 6 hours ago
Plus resort fees
thejodiefostermuseum | 6 hours ago
But who gets all the money because it certainly isn't little staff people.
Toasted_Waffle99 | 15 hours ago
Yeah it’s a joke
punarob | 19 hours ago
The state is run by the hotel industry and they’ve banned most vacation rentals which are the only affordable option. I live here and it’s literally cheaper to fly and spend a week in Japan than to drive to the Kona side of the island and stay in a hotel. Hotel prices are up over 50% since COVID largely because now they have little competition.
banditweird | 19 hours ago
Since the rule came into effect, has any data been released on availability/prices of housing?
punarob | 16 hours ago
It's had zero impact. Even several years ago the best the hotel lobby could come with was one study, not in Hawaii, showed Airbnbs raised rents 10% more than without them, meaning if rent went up 10% it went up 11% where there were vacation rentals, and ignores what the community got back for that 1% difference.
Oddisredit | 11 hours ago
I was in Maui two years ago. My cousin’s husband on a lark looked up the cheapest house for sale one the island. It was a fixer upper and was like 700k. Basically a ready to move in house was a million dollars
CQC_EXE | 4 hours ago
Yeah but fuck the locals who live there I want a cheaper hotel!!
Dependent-Juice5361 | 12 hours ago
Has banning Airbnb’s made housing prices cheaper anywhere where it’s been tried? Hawaii has little to no population growth in the first place.
punarob | 9 hours ago
Of course not. It's never been anything other than the hotel industry fighting and winning based on lies.
Cybertronian10 | 4 hours ago
Airbnb was always a scapegoat for the housing problem. A few hundred single family units being reserved for short term rentals shouldn't be able to move the housing market in a market that is building enough housing for its populace. The only reason why they fuck with prices is because governments aren't building enough.
kryx | 18 hours ago
Hotel prices are a real racket in Hawaii.
taygo0o | 18 hours ago
I mean - you allow Airbnbs and suddenly locals (in general, not just specific to Hawaii) are up in arms about them.
Not sure what the right answer is.
DarkExecutor | 17 hours ago
Build more/build higher. You want cheaper houses and cheaper hotels? You need more of them.
AggravatingBuyee | 17 hours ago
It’s quite a bit more complicated than that since a lot of Hawaiians not only want affordable housing, but also want Hawaii to be less crowded.
RandomTunes | 16 hours ago
I want to eat my cake but it looks too pretty to cut.
R7F | 15 hours ago
Embodiment of the "No take. Only throw" meme.
We want tourists, because of money. But not too many. So the only solution is to milk the tourists you get for every nickel they have.
Odd_Perspective_2487 | 14 hours ago
To be fair the hotels are owned by private equity and rich assholes who aren’t in the island. The milking of tourists is for some rich asshole in New York or LA.
Local Hawaiians are all dirt poor and exploited by them.
neuro_space_explorer | 12 hours ago
The Disney model
KhonMan | 12 hours ago
Depending on how hardcore the person is, they may not want any of that. The people advocating for sovereignty want the US to fuck off completely. Of course that has other geopolitical implications but yeah
T-MoneyAllDey | 11 hours ago
If they got what they want, they would most likely collapse like many other island countries
CydeWeys | 16 hours ago
Literally not possible to have housing be both simultaneously scarce and also affordable.
DarkExecutor | 15 hours ago
Guys I want a 3bd/4ba house in Manhattan for 200k.
What do you mean that's impossible?
taygo0o | 17 hours ago
True - that’s one solution
DarkExecutor | 15 hours ago
That's the only solution.
no_talent_ass_clown | 12 hours ago
I stayed at a couple of BnBs in Hawaii 1993. That's when they were literally BnB! That was lovely and a good deal.
Scurro | an hour ago
> Not sure what the right answer is.
What about restricting home ownership to only one property per owner in the state?
edelweiss_pirates_no | 16 hours ago
Lots of locals finally getting what they wanted (fewer tourists).
Lots of locals getting what they feared (fewer tourists).
AstralElement | 19 hours ago
Technically now they’re competing with everywhere else.
peace2calm | 17 hours ago
Haha. Remember when it used to be cheaper for Japanese salary men to fly out to Hawaii to play few rounds of golf and fly back, than playing golf in a course in Japan itself (due to high membership fee/etc etc) ?
AggravatingBuyee | 18 hours ago
> The state is run by the hotel industry and they’ve banned most vacation rentals which are the only affordable option
So the tons of Hawaiians complaining about investors buying all the housing to use for Airbnb and how bad this was exacerbating the housing crisis had nothing to do with it?
MyPasswordIsMyCat | 16 hours ago
A decade ago, the Airbnbs were run by locals just renting out part of their house to make extra money. But it soon became richer people buying out residential housing to rent them out illegally. The last Airbnb we used when we moved to Hawaii was owned by someone who also owned several car dealerships and many investment properties in one of the richest neighborhoods of Oahu.
punarob | 16 hours ago
So they lived in Hawaii at least. All that hotel and resort profit leaves the islands.
PublicMandate | 14 hours ago
The Hawaiians complaining about investors buying all the housing is literally the problem.
If you don’t want more housing, then you better be ready for the price of housing to skyrocket as people compete over the limited housing on the island.
If you don’t want more tourism, be prepared to only cater to a small group of people who can afford to support the tourism industry (I.e. wealthy luxury tourists and therefore only expensive hotels))
There’s definitely constraints (like how much infrastructure an island in the middle of the pacific can support) but those constraints are something nations much poorer than us still manage to fix.
Tacky-Terangreal | 13 hours ago
I agree that way more housing should be built. Also there’s no reason for Oahu to have a god damn 10 lane highway. It’s a massive eyesore for such a beautiful place and a city that size has way better transportation options
Not sure how you would do this, but I think mandating that more hotels be owned by locals could help a lot. At the very least, it makes a much better experience as a tourist. I stayed at an independently owned hotel and it was fantastic. I can’t imagine I would get the warmth and customer service at a place ran by a penny pinching, international conglomerate
punarob | 16 hours ago
Yes, they were targeted for years by social media ads against them. There was never any evidence presented about exacerbating the housing crisis (in a state with extremely little or negative population growth). What they should be complaining about are the investors buying up rental housing, creating "housing" in resort areas which are completely for non-Hawaii residents and unaffordable to all but the 1%. This will also drive destroying more coastal properties to build more resorts. The developers also run the state.
Similar_Eagle2358 | 19 hours ago
Mazie let that happen?
thatredditdude101 | 19 hours ago
low effort maga type response.
now i'm just putting more words into this response so it doesn't get auto deleted for being too short.
andrew2018022 | 18 hours ago
I think only original comments have that limit, replies can be as short as you so desire
Similar_Eagle2358 | 17 hours ago
gentleman just stated most vacation rentals are now banned, and hotels are now free to charge what they will due to lack of competition , pricing out most average people. how is this helpful? who let it happen?
thatredditdude101 | 16 hours ago
and what does the jr senator from hawaii have anything to do with property and zoning laws?
Similar_Eagle2358 | 16 hours ago
Gallup Poll has ranked Hawaii in the top ten most Democratic states. She is the most well known.
Average people can't afford to vacation there any more, as per the rest of this thread.
calling someone maga, because you don't agree, is actually low effort.
thatredditdude101 | 15 hours ago
what does the jr senator from hawaii have to do with zoning laws and the cost of hotels?
hmmm a 3 month old account posting maga drivel. not suspicious at all.
Similar_Eagle2358 | 15 hours ago
low effort.
Same_Presentation692 | 14 hours ago
Do you just not understand his question or what?
thatredditdude101 | 14 hours ago
he does. he just wanted to chant a maga joke talking point.
Striking-Cricket-724 | 19 hours ago
We specifically chose not to go to Hawaii this month because flights were over 3k for three people in economy (and this was back in December). So, maybe that’s it.
nbx909 | 19 hours ago
Yeah, I am thinking this is pretty much related to cost. Costs more to get there than other destinations, and with inflation, less money is available for vacations.
Marijuana_Miler | 19 hours ago
Also Canadian travel to the US is down as well. So even money that is being spent on travel is being purposefully spent elsewhere.
punarob | 15 hours ago
Yeah, and lots of Canadian snow birds used to come to Hawaii and Palm Springs. Now they go to Mexico.
Tacky-Terangreal | 13 hours ago
I’ve wondered if the Canadian tourist boycott is the cause of Portland and PNW tourism dropping off a cliff. PDX-Calgary flights are pretty cheap
rhaegal82 | 10 hours ago
Yes. Same thing happening in New England.
aurora-_ | 8 hours ago
It was quieter during snowbird season across Florida too. Noticeably less crowded at the beaches by me.
lemonylol | 19 hours ago
Well that's literally what the article says, so yes.
Striking-Cricket-724 | 18 hours ago
I’m saying the flight prices were exorbitantly high before the oil crisis.
futuredrake | 4 hours ago
December is also peak season.
TheRealCabbageJack | 19 hours ago
Living in a tourist-based economy area myself, I get that hating tourists is fun for locals, but if you get too loud about it...it can cause issues.
Sharticus123 | 19 hours ago
This. I too live in a heavily visited area and I understand the frustration with travelers, but I also understand that the economy collapses if the tourists stop coming.
Hawaii has almost zero exports. The people would be absolutely fucked if tourists respected their wishes and stayed away.
Senior-Friend-6414 | 19 hours ago
It’s called biting the hand that feeds you
If Hawaii keeps up their attitudes, then they will reap the consequences they’ve sown for themselves
WeatherAdventurous61 | 14 hours ago
The native Hawaiians never wanted us there in first place. We isolated their queen and bombed sacred land, never able to be used again. Quite frankly as a white dude, we kinda suck💁♂️
Sharticus123 | 5 hours ago
We did some shitty things, for sure, but what do you think the Japanese or the Russians would’ve done to them if the U.S. didn’t take the island?
Because a powerful nation was taking those islands. It was just a matter of time. They were too strategically important to be left alone.
The Russians would’ve completely stripped the Hawaiians of their culture and forced them into communism, and the Japanese would’ve raped and pillaged the island same as they did to the Philippines.
ChickenOver1339 | 4 hours ago
All of that is irrelevant man. That’s what happened vs a what if. Also, I too, am priced out of Hawaii. But that’s been the case since birth.
Sharticus123 | an hour ago
lol. Ask the Filipinos who were gang raped as comfort units if it was irrelevant.
Hawaii would’ve been taken in WW2 guaranteed, and if it was anyone other than the Americans the Hawaiian people would’ve been brutally oppressed and murdered.
bfhurricane | 7 hours ago
What does race have to do with this?
ChickenOver1339 | 5 hours ago
Let me help you. A white-led nation bombed a non white nation. I mean this is American history we’re talking about.
SectorSanFrancisco | 16 hours ago
It would help if tourists were become less assholish instead of more.
neo_sporin | 4 hours ago
My local minor league baseball team is The Tourists....
southernfirefly13 | 13 hours ago
I have a sneaking suspicion that cites and states will do fine without tourism.
zelazny | 19 hours ago
We have stopped going to Hawaii and switched our vacations to other places. I don't want to be a part of the problem or resented for being there.
MurdahMurdah187 | 17 hours ago
same.
clownsx2 | 4 hours ago
Hearing locals on social talk about the impact and hating tourists, it was an easy “ok I’m never going to Hawaii” for me.
Raskal37 | an hour ago
When we visited in 2018, the tour bus driver himself complained about the tourists while he drove our bus....it's beautiful but I'm not going back to a place with THAT attitude!
wahwahwashbear | 17 hours ago
I was going to say, oh, I stopped planning my return Hawaii trip after hearing in idk 2022 that Hawaii would prefer less tourism. To help the local environment/the locals not get pushed out of their neighborhoods.
ImmediateArtSky | 15 hours ago
Yes, now we are avoiding America but before then we thought about visiting Hawaii but saw an interview that said locals do not want tourists visiting, so we thought we should respect what the local population wanted.
TheNotoriousWD | 19 hours ago
It’s like a rite of passage to get hated on by locals when you go to Hawaii. Even if you respect the island and people it feels like you are still just trash to them.
BipolarMeHeHe | 19 hours ago
Got called a Haole by an employee at a business I was purchasing something in. Hawaii is wild
TheNotoriousWD | 19 hours ago
You gotta show them a Mahalo rewards card so they know you are local. My family has been natives since the beginning when King Presley ruled the land many years ago.
IMakeBaconAtHome | 15 hours ago
Do they have chi chi?
SleepingDragonSmiles | 18 hours ago
“Natives”
badmonbuddha | 19 hours ago
Based on this response you deserved to be disrespected. Awfully haole thing to say
TheNotoriousWD | 19 hours ago
Woooosh
tehZambrah | 19 hours ago
They were deprived of a good episode of South Park
TheNotoriousWD | 19 hours ago
He’s not my buddy, guy.
zelazny | 19 hours ago
He's not your guy bud!
lordofblack23 | 17 hours ago
He’s not your guyfriend.
DontCallmeFrancis42 | 19 hours ago
Watch South Park. You will understand it. Went way over your head.
kryx | 18 hours ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_Native
MaapuSeeSore | 15 hours ago
You aren’t not millennial for sure
Gen X or boomer ?
es-ganso | 19 hours ago
I guess I always thought of "haole" in the same way I think of "gringo" (I have a Mexican gf, it's the easiest comparison). Not really derogatory, but based on the person saying it and their context it could be. If called gringo or haole I wouldn't be upset unless the context was around making it offensive
no_rest_for_the | 19 hours ago
EXACTLY. That is exactly right.
Source: He kanaka 'ōiwi au. Also, my mother is haole. Why? She moved there from another place and is not Poly. These people are wild.
Alldakine_moodz104 | 18 hours ago
The ethnicity definitions in Hawaii are interesting since it’s an inverse than what you see on the Mainland. White is a majority race on the Mainland, and is the “default,” while White is a minority in Hawaii since a vast majority of Hawaii residents are Asian, Pacific Islander, or mixed ethnicity, which makes white people “stand” out.
I still remember this conversation about this with one of my teachers, and how she would be considered White in Hawaii, but people in the Mainland, like California, would think she was Mexican.
ilikedota5 | 18 hours ago
Interestingly, in my area, (Los Angeles County), the term "Hapa" means half Asian, disconnected from the original "hapa haole."
SectorSanFrancisco | 16 hours ago
I thought it meant the same in both places. What's the difference?
And how is it different from Wasian, which I'm hearing a lot lately?
Automatic_Table_660 | 5 hours ago
'Hapa haole' and 'Wasian' are mostly equivalent. 'Hapa' originally a meant part native hawaiian but it somehow morphed in to meaning any person with APAC and european decent.
Wasian is fairly new term-- I'm guessing it's a portmandu of White/Asian and usually implies a 1st generation asian / european mix. I've only really heard it from Gen Z kids.
andrew2018022 | 18 hours ago
Or Mỹ trắng for the Vietnamese
weedsmokingscientist | 14 hours ago
Yeah I'm a haole but I'm not a fuckin donkey haole, you know what I'm saying
KhonMan | 12 hours ago
There are so many cultures in hawaii that these words can be identifiers, or as you say, in context slurs. Podagee, pake, popolo, haole etc.
Mattjhkerr | 19 hours ago
That's prett wild. Ive been going to Hawaii pretty regularly since the 90s and this has never happened to me.
punarob | 15 hours ago
Yes, the anti-tourist stuff is like anti-vaxxers. The loudest assholes get all the attention but the overwhelming majority don't feel that way and are welcoming.
Coldsmoke888 | 19 hours ago
Get a load of shark bait over here.
BipolarMeHeHe | 18 hours ago
Good one bro
Electrifying2017 | 19 hours ago
If I understood that, I’d be very offended!
CydeWeys | 16 hours ago
It's not particularly offensive. I wouldn't even care. You just gotta embrace it, like embracing being a gaijin in Japan (which the USAF does very well).
SectorSanFrancisco | 16 hours ago
I never minded being called haole unless it's in an insulting tone. Is it an insult?
no_rest_for_the | 5 hours ago
No, it means foreginer. Some weaponize it that way.
petit_cochon | 18 hours ago
I don't think that's a slur, just a description.
Designdiligence | 2 hours ago
uhh tone is everything here.
BipolarMeHeHe | 2 hours ago
Wasn't friendly
Educational_Exam_225 | 17 hours ago
? It isn't a slur
Bodoblock | 16 hours ago
To be honest, if my country was conquered and turned into tropical Disneyland, I'd resent the "mainlanders" too.
TheNotoriousWD | 16 hours ago
I get it man. I’m .03% Cherokee. I know exactly what they are going through. No doubt. No doubt in my mind. If coach would had put me in 4th quarter we would’ve been state champions. You better believe things would have been different.
subcrazy12 | 17 hours ago
one of my biggest personal flexes ever is getting the shaka from a local for just some decent common sense while driving road to hana.
OrangeJr36 | 15 hours ago
At this point that's every tourist town or location in the world. Even places that were lauded for being welcoming in decades past have that reputation now. There are way more tourists than ever before in most places and the locals have built up a resentment as the local governments prioritize tourism over the COL of the locals.
You see this a lot in Spain and Greece for example.
Spectrum1523 | 7 hours ago
Spain isn't really like that at all except in Barcelona
badmonbuddha | 19 hours ago
Voluntary hardships are the worst aren’t they
TheNotoriousWD | 19 hours ago
Toets me goats bro
Darkmayday | 19 hours ago
Just like how Maga have been treating Canadians
TheNotoriousWD | 19 hours ago
Don’t listen to them. Us Americans love your gross domestic products of poutine and Keanu Reeves.
NorCalJason75 | 16 hours ago
I get it.
Paradise was stolen from these people.
As a mainlander, we pay premium pricing to experience the Islands, and yet the locals still struggle. Where does all the money go? I’d guess, back to other mainlanders.
How does that not inherently create conflict?
TheDude-Esquire | 19 hours ago
I think this has more to do with oil prices and the economy overall than it does locals hating tourists…
Sptsjunkie | 18 hours ago
Thank you. Was going to say the same thing. I know they’ve been a handful of articles and TikTok videos on some of the damage that tourists are doing and they’re always some people who take things too far trying to outdo others.
I dropped and tourism from the West Coast is doing white to the economy, oil prices impacting flight prices, and other similar factors. I cannot imagine that a couple of mediocre TikTok videos accounts for more than 0.1% of the drop.
Rodot | 16 hours ago
Yeah, like all tourisn destinations have locals with the attitude. This isn't unique to Hawaii and people aren't visiting for "the culture", they are going to get hammered near a beach
astro-dog-78 | 19 hours ago
Live in nyc, we aren’t asscats to tourists or gatekeep bc they are a huge economic force. Also it’s just not our culture to do that
Lexguin513 | 17 hours ago
I think it’s fair to say that we do have a loud minority that hates people who actually move here because they aren’t “real New Yorkers.”
Panelak_Cadillac | 18 hours ago
Dated a Hawaiian woman, all the experience taught me is that I would rather step foot in North Korea before I ever step foot in Hawaii.
jamiecarl09 | 18 hours ago
Why? I've been to Hawaii 5 time and never experienced anything like what some of these people are saying. It's paradise. Just don't be a guy who ruins paradise and they treat you fine.
Tacky-Terangreal | 13 hours ago
For real. I got invited to a local’s tailgating party and they introduced me to all of their friends as we ate grilled steaks. I don’t think I’m super special or amazing, I was just polite to everyone I met. You’d be surprised who you meet with just a little kindness
Like hell, American tourists in places like Cuba or Syria find hospitable families and form great memories there. These are countries our shitty government has bombed or fucked over in a million ways but they still show basic human goodness to us. I think there’s a lot we can learn from that
candyspelling01 | 16 hours ago
Same. I live in Los Angeles and I would never think of being rude to Tourists for no reason like locals have been rude to me in Hawaii.
KhonMan | 12 hours ago
Yeah famously New York is full of non-assholes
SafeMargins | 7 hours ago
new yorkers only gripe with tourists is them being a problem in the flow of pedestrian traffic. Dont stand in the middle of the sidewalk and we have no problem with you. Completely different then a lot of other tourist heavy spots.
astro-dog-78 | 5 hours ago
We are working to make $ and the time we have left to see friends, the people who waste their time berating tourists are losers
DrPoooooole | 4 hours ago
Most tourists flock to places New Yorkers don't really care to go so it's kind of a non issue
All the airbnbs were definitely an issue a few years back tho
bubbav22 | 8 hours ago
You're not wrong, I remember the interviews from locals telling tourists not to visit Hawaii.
Roymundo | 10 hours ago
My wife and I like to go to Gran Canaria each year. Last year the vibe was different. Distinctly unwelcoming. Anyway, we're going to Greece this year.
neo_sporin | 4 hours ago
my local minor league baseball team is ducking named The Tourists, we are that touristy. People hate on them a lot and i just wonder how much they realize we rely on them to keep things going
blankarage | 18 hours ago
hotels aren’t owned by locals, it’s corp greed driving up prices and pushing away travelers.
Just like how cheap flights encouraged domestic overtourism
Halo_of_Light | 16 hours ago
I'm an American living abroad in a country that also gets a fair amount of tourists and this is a big reason I wouldn't travel to Hawaii. I'd rather go somewhere where the locals don't hate me for being there. Not that I don't get it, I do, but I just don't want to add to the problem.
punarob | 15 hours ago
We know what Hawaii is without tourism. It's 35-40% unemployment rate like it was during COVID.
Inthect | 15 hours ago
So true. Worst locals I’ve ever encountered. Last I checked they’re just another state. Zero sympathy for that lot.
Direlion | 20 hours ago
The widespread “don’t come here” messaging in the wake of the Maui fire seems to have had some influence. Alongside the unbridled pillaging of the average American’s spending power since day one of Trump 2.0 while the Federal government makes enemies of every international visitor things really are just peachy.
I_Enjoy_Beer | 19 hours ago
The general trend of increased hostility towards tourists pretty much everywhere is going to be interesting to follow as oil perhaps becomes much shorter in supply in 60-90 days. Maybe when the tourist dollars dry up, they can tax Zuckerburg's property to help make up the difference.
Pasunepomme | 19 hours ago
Just one data point but I can say it definitely has impacted my wife's and my vacation planning. We visited Maui once, in 2019, and loved it. I would be delighted to go back but she was very sensitive to the messaging that it hurt locals for us to go there and said no when I suggested a return. We pivoted to PR as an alternative for our winter weather escapes.
SaxRohmer | 18 hours ago
tbf i feel like that was really only the messaging in the wake of the aftermath of the fire
todayiwillthrowitawa | 17 hours ago
It has only gotten worse among young people cosplaying as revolutionaries on social media. Random teenagers treating people who vacation there like they’re going to apartheid South Africa or the West Bank.
The funny thing is that that messaging will only keep away the people who care if their tourism has an impact or not. Joe Sunburn will keep showing up and calling the locals lazy.
SaxRohmer | 13 hours ago
i guess it depends on where you pay attention? i’m friends with a lot of hawaiians and they posted a bunch of stuff like that when Hawaii need to recover but i haven’t seen anything like that for quite a while. seems like it’s just a very specific slice if you’re still on twitter or something
meerkatmerecat | 4 hours ago
Okay but also PR is so fun.
punarob | 15 hours ago
It doesn't hurt locals at all and is what drives the economy. Please don't listen to morons.
Ghoulius-Caesar | 18 hours ago
You can’t forget about Trump’s radioactive effect on foreign tourism.
Canadians and Europeans don’t want to travel to the UsA because of the “51st state” comments and the Greenland annexation threats.
The “hospitality” expert has been abysmally terrible for the tourism industry just because of his words. Sure the economy sucks and it’s too expensive to travel, but that aside, people outside the UsA really hate Trump. He’s such a disrespectful turd to all other countries and the travel boycott is a real phenomenon.
PoopyisSmelly | 19 hours ago
I just visited recently and it felt pretty hostile tbh, I am going to visit other places going forward
Moist-Craft-1226 | 19 hours ago
Fr?? Always wanted to go there. Genuinely first im hearing of this.
PoopyisSmelly | 19 hours ago
Yeah, people were straight up telling my wife and I they hate Mainlanders and wish they wouldnt come. We visited a few beaches and had people openly talking shit within earshot.
We are both quiet introverts who keep to ourselves so it was a shock.
Moist-Craft-1226 | 18 hours ago
Damn dude. Thats a bummer... i would not want that happening.. my wife went there 15ish years ago and has always wanted to go back.
I guess its a huge benefit how expensive it is to get a family over there nowadays.
Dry-Substance-5879 | 18 hours ago
FWIW I have been a few times since 2020 and haven’t had any issues, and we usually spend most of our time off the resorts. I do however get a lot of “tsk-tsk”ing from some people at home when I say where I’m going on vacation.
Tacky-Terangreal | 13 hours ago
To add an anecdote, I never experienced any of this when I went to Oahu this year. And I’m like 10 shades lighter than even the white people there so I was obviously a tourist. I just did my best to be polite and the people there were incredibly kind. I also didn’t rent a car and was still able to do a lot. I didn’t want to contribute to the awful traffic on the island
punarob | 15 hours ago
Which areas or islands? This definitely isn't the norm.
candyspelling01 | 16 hours ago
Same thing happened to me and Waikiki, sitting with a friend of mine on the beach minding our own business and just enjoying the view and some local guy talk shit about us to his friend on the phone for no apparent reason.
punarob | 15 hours ago
Well there's your problem Waikiki is trashville. The sand there literally isn't even from Hawaii and wouldn't exist if it were not for constant importation and regular multi-million dollar projects to put more sand there.
Senior-Friend-6414 | 19 hours ago
Almost every time Hawaii is brought on Reddit, it’s full of people all sharing their horror vacation stories
czarfalcon | 18 hours ago
Maybe I just got lucky then, but I’ve been twice and never had anyone be hostile towards me. I feel like it’s no worse than any other place that complains about tourists (i.e., most of them).
sofredj | 15 hours ago
We just got back and experienced no hostility at all, it’s always a great time. This was trip # 5 for us
This was the most we’ve ever paid for flights though and the cost of everything there keeps going up like everywhere else.
lasercupcakes | 19 hours ago
Depends on what you want out of your vacations. If you're just staying on a resort and doing tourist things you'll have a great time. If your idea of a vacation includes mingling with locals, probably very different.
Edit: Talking shit on tourists is a pastime for anyone who lives near a tourist destination, this is by no means something unique to Hawaii. If you have thin skin or think you're entitled to experience the local secrets by spending 1-2 weeks in any given destination, you're going to have a bad time traveling anywhere.
Moist-Craft-1226 | 19 hours ago
Its nice to be nice and interact with the culture around you but guess thats not the logical idea there...
BUrower | 18 hours ago
I had a great time with locals. They key is to show reverence and respect for the land. I did the Paliku hike in Haleakala and when natives learned that, they immediately lit up. I wasn't just there to do touristy things; I was there to interact with the land.
I also got cursed out on the road to Hana by a local for not pulling over, so there was that too.
The locals who run shops and food trucks were nice, at least.
Spectrum1523 | 17 hours ago
>Talking shit on tourists is a pastime for anyone who lives near a tourist destination, this is by no means something unique to Hawaii. If you have thin skin or think you're entitled to experience the local secrets by spending 1-2 weeks in any given destination, you're going to have a bad time traveling anywhere.
Yeah idk I've traveled lots of places and not had the experience of people talking shit to me, I don't think that's actually normal at all
I spent three months in Spain last year and basically everyone was chill. Maybe a grumpy person or two, but nobody telling me off
Dependent-Juice5361 | 12 hours ago
Yeah Im not as well traveled as some here but I’ve been to like a dozen countries. Never felt the need to have “thick skin” around the residents of those countries. Not sure why Hawaii would be different but it is according to posts here.
lasercupcakes | an hour ago
>Maybe a grumpy person or two, but nobody telling me off
Talking shit on tourists and talking shit TO tourists are very different lmfao
Spectrum1523 | an hour ago
Ahh yeah fair lol. I totally agree. I try to not be entitled, stay out of the way and I speak fluent Spanish so I think I would have avoided any direct comments haha
ditchdiggergirl | 17 hours ago
You might ask yourself why you experienced hostility when most of us don’t. But it is probably a good call to move on to someplace that suits you better.
PoopyisSmelly | 17 hours ago
Idk that sitting on a public beach with my wife reading our books shoulf have have elicted a group of locals talking shit. I suspect you think we were wasted and being loud and blasting music - we werent.
Besides, your argument is basically "Well she wouldnt have been assaulted if she didnt dress that way".
dancinbanana | 19 hours ago
The messaging was widespread then, but there has always been a portion of Hawaii saying to not come there
AstralElement | 19 hours ago
They are getting their wish!
jamiecarl09 | 18 hours ago
I absolutely love Hawaii. But the best thing it could possibly get, is less tourists.
Revolutionary-Two457 | 19 hours ago
At some point my subconscious definitely decided “you’re not allowed to go there or you’ll be labeled a massive twat” so I wrote it off.
I have no idea when or why exactly.
Actual_Succotash2070 | 19 hours ago
That's funny because every native Hawaiian I have met through my job at Alaska Airlines has encouraged me to visit Hawaii
punarob | 19 hours ago
Thats just not the reality here. Everyone here who isn’t a dipshit knows we have no economy without tourism and there will never be other options.
Visible_Device7187 | 19 hours ago
Might be helpful if the dipshits got called out and got shunned instead of being silent on it. Look up Hawaii on TikTok, YouTube, X, Facebook and you'll see hundreds of people saying don't come and very very few Hawaiians saying come
Revolutionary-Two457 | 19 hours ago
I believe you 100%. As a mainlander with no ties to Hawaii whatsoever I’m only expressing that something in the cultural zeitgeist from the last 15/20 years made that decision for me.
riverratriver | 19 hours ago
I have to echo this, I have zero plans of ever going. There’s soooo much out there and Hawaii definitely is a douchey vacation
ripcitybitch | 19 hours ago
Why is it a douchey vacation lmao what tf does that even mean?
Conscious-Magazine50 | 15 hours ago
Native Hawaiian people have made it very clear that tourism has ruined their way of life and they don't want visitors.
ripcitybitch | an hour ago
It’s my country as much as theirs.
Hawaiʻi is part of the United States, and American citizenship can’t mean that some citizens are morally ‘at home’ in the country while others are merely tolerated guests. Just because I am not entitled to exploit Hawaiʻi, I am also not a foreign intruder in my own country either.
lapideous | 19 hours ago
You could go to Southeast Asia, South America, or the Caribbean for 1/2 the price or less and you’d get more of a cultural experience. Hawaii is beautiful and poke is great but the value proposition isn’t exactly insane
For people who are rich enough that time and money aren’t an issue, I can definitely see the appeal
TheScrote1 | 19 hours ago
When I was in Kauai everyone seemed nice enough. Definitely got what felt like some dirty looks at the off the beaten path beaches, didn’t stay long at those for fear of rental car damage. Maybe it was all in my head, but we were trying to explore the whole island so moving on was fine.
binarybandit | 11 hours ago
Theres definitely a feeling of "give us your tourist money but also we dont want you here"
candyspelling01 | 16 hours ago
Not in your head. I have a friend that lives there and he still gets shit from the locals when he surfs there. Super nice guy and great respectful surfer.
Dependent-Juice5361 | 12 hours ago
Yeah I’ve been to Hawaii and was just there like 8 months ago and I agree with you. BUT the messaging in the internet and even in person form some graffiti and other things is different than that. It has an impact.
trogdor1234 | 18 hours ago
Probably after the fires.
Tim_Drake | 19 hours ago
Maui Fire?! Since COVID!
Direlion | 19 hours ago
Honest question, did you read the article?
Tim_Drake | 19 hours ago
I did! I was commenting on that the “don’t come” anti tourist mindset has gone back further than the Maui fire.
MaapuSeeSore | 14 hours ago
I want to know who the idiot that was interviewed cause they for sure don’t own a local business, work in service or hospitality.
It even more hilarious if they are from Maui , since like 30-50% on Maui is heavily reliant on tourism
Waste-Time-2440 | 17 hours ago
Spending power has gone down for the average American, that's for sure. But what's driving hotel prices so high? Less demand should mean lower prices. I'd argue that average people are being priced out by the upper tier everywhere - people who can and will pay $1500 a night for something worth a quarter of that. If not, who's doing it?
Sonoranpawn | 18 hours ago
The PGA Tour decided to nope out of Hawaii for next season. It’s crazy to think of the economic hurt hotels and restaurants will take during those two weeks.
Stackitu | 19 hours ago
Well when people keep spreading “tourists are destroying our island” combined with hotels that raise prices to unaffordable levels this is what you get.
bagofweights | 18 hours ago
Don’t forget flight costs.
RadioFieldCorner | 18 hours ago
Hawaiian hotels have to raise their prices to insane levels for what they offer because their cost of labor is insane. There is a huge high end hospitality labor shortage there.
It's easy to offer high end service and huge staff to guest ratios when your cost of living in low like in Asia, not so much when your employees need to be paid $30-40/hour to afford rent.
Stackitu | 18 hours ago
As usual, it is the high cost of living destroying everything. I hope we have a deflation crisis to bring prices back to normalcy.
LarrySupertramp | 18 hours ago
Deflation is way worse than inflation because most people will lose their jobs and then it doesn’t matter how cheap things are.
Stackitu | 18 hours ago
Meh, I’ve lived in an economically disadvantaged place my whole life where words like “city budget crisis” and “managed decline” have become so common place that they’ve lost all meaning. I have 0 faith in the current system that rewards workers by making their paychecks smaller every year and having their savings shrink. If the stock market has to take a haircut to put more money in everyone’s pocket then so be it. The economists and MBAs of the world gave up on my community long ago so I don’t really trust anything they say.
Spectrum1523 | 16 hours ago
the state of this sub :(
Stackitu | 16 hours ago
Being force fed the poisoned medicine of capitalism but only seeing rust and decline in my lifetime are a surefire way to make me doubt the whole system.
Spectrum1523 | 15 hours ago
Seems like a weird subreddit to participate in if you literally don't believe in economics
Stackitu | 15 hours ago
I’m sorry. I had a shitty day today and I’m just in an unreasonably bad mood. I need to stay off the internet.
Spectrum1523 | 14 hours ago
yeah I mean I get it bud
Spectrum1523 | 17 hours ago
You definitely don't actually want that
You want very low inflation and time for wages to catch up
One_Pineapple8553 | 16 hours ago
Except wages haven't been catching up for decades.
Spectrum1523 | 16 hours ago
... Right, which is why you want very low inflation so that they do
Stackitu | 16 hours ago
Or instead of more of the poison that’s killing us consumers could take back their power and their savings.
Spectrum1523 | 16 hours ago
Deflation would mean massive job losses lol, it would be good for a select few and horrible for most people
RadioFieldCorner | 18 hours ago
Deflation is x100 worse than inflation fyi.
Hawaii will never, ever be cheap because living there is limited supply due to zoning laws and the fact that it's an island. Honolulu is super dense, and the locals bitch and moan about traffic. Other islands have intense zoning laws by it's own government.
It's a genuinely incredible place to live for various reasons, which makes land and building costs expensive. In a world where we have extremely high paid remote workers/business owners/retirees, it's a recipe for disaster.
On top of it being an island that has to have everything barged in.
punarob | 15 hours ago
Pay is routinely lower than most mainland states. They certainly don't have to raise their prices to these ridiculous levels.
jamiecarl09 | 17 hours ago
Maybe people should quit destroying the island. If they can't manage that, stay away.
Yesterday_Infinite | 19 hours ago
Why they crapping on tourists and not the millionaires buying thousands of acres of land? Zuck, Oprah, Ellison etc etc etc....
Eat the rich.
jackalope134 | 16 hours ago
All I could fucking think about. Tourists aren't the reason everything is fucking insanely over priced in Hawaii and no normal person can go there.
mahnkee | 17 hours ago
You can walk and chew gum, you know. They hate the rich even more BTW.
punarob | 15 hours ago
Our politicians here do not, however. Virtually every elected official is a Democrat and 90% act like Republicans on many issues.
coffeesippingbastard | 12 hours ago
meh. A lot of the tourists who can afford to go to Hawaii are those same techies who slave away for Zuck and Ellison.
Dry-Interaction-1246 | 17 hours ago
Uh, international has to be way down, probably more than domestic tourism. That's one of the costs of having a fascist lunatic running the country. There are many more, unfortunately.
gaoshan | 17 hours ago
The “stay away” outsiders vibe has definitely impacted our vacation choices. I love Hawaii but being somewhere where the locals do not like you or want you matters to me. We no longer visit.
Visible_Device7187 | 19 hours ago
Tells everyone not to come, labels them colonizers, says horrible shit to them in person and online, then charges up the ass for everything tourist related it's no wonder they are seeing a steep decline they explicitly don't want people there and don't even make it affordable to come.
nooby_goober | 19 hours ago
Nah, it's all about money. You think the people pricing shit up are Natives? They have real-world reasons to be mad more than you being annoyed.
babesboysandbirb | 18 hours ago
Corporations are duly gouging visitors and displacing locals with rising cost of housing. They are the only enemy here.
Tacky-Terangreal | 12 hours ago
Word. Almost every hotel on the islands is owned by some soulless conglomerate. Stay at the locally owned places if you’re able to find one
nosoupforgoats | 9 hours ago
I disagree, the hotels didn’t put everyone on blast after the fires, the locals did. The whole don’t come here we hate you movement was heard loud and clear. The Bahamas are closer, more friendly, great beaches and I don’t have to hear “fucking haoulie “ all day. I totally understand why they feel the way they do and they’re not wrong. But this is the way they wanted it, so they got it.
babesboysandbirb | 4 hours ago
This is big corp 101 to suck the resources from their sectors and make sure it’s the people against themselves at the end of the day. I think we can see that big corps are causing intense strain on every part of Hawaii by their greedy practices and their mere existence. Hawaiians have been forced out of much of their housing, businesses, and left with corporations. It’s plain to see that locals will have strong resentment towards tourists as tourists represent much of what has been taken from them. We really have to dig deeper than moaning on about “locals hate us”. I haven’t even touched the subject of tourist’s behaviors while on the island. Behaviors that are tough to manage with local businesses and emboldened by mega corps.
Visible_Device7187 | 18 hours ago
They can be mad all they want still doesn't change the outcome if being hated solely because you vacation in Hawaii
punarob | 15 hours ago
Well these aren't the same people. The first group are largely uneducated, and when they are, our education is up there with Mississippi, along with high levels of unemployment and dependence on benefits (which are quickly going away). The extreme charges come from corporate assholes who have never even set foot here but own the resorts and hotels.
Dependent-Juice5361 | 12 hours ago
I agree with you but that first group has an oversized voice for the minority it is. Hawaii is economically better off than pretty much every other South Pacific island because it’s a state with a large tourism base. If that weren’t the case would would it end up like Tuvalu or something. Whether one considers that good or bad, independence or not is up to option but something to consider
punarob | 9 hours ago
It does and agreed, having been to Tahiti and a few other of their islands I was shocked how impoverished it was and how there was so little tourism. I thought France would take better care of their people. And French Polynesia is way better off than most Pacific island nations.
nosoupforgoats | 8 hours ago
Interesting, Mississippi 4th grade reading levels over the last few years are the best in the country. Maybe you meant up(down) there with CA?
Tomcruizeiscrazy | 19 hours ago
Flights are cheap but the rest of Hawaii is expensive - it works for a certain kind of trip but you can go all over the world now for beaches and beer
NewHope13 | 16 hours ago
Airplane tickets everywhere are about double what they were last year. Add in much higher hotel and food costs and…. well, tourism goes down.
Septaceratops | 18 hours ago
I wonder if the bots are out in strength here because Hawaii just recently started fighting against Citizens United? Isn't it funny how so many comments here are anecdotes from people saying they felt locals were hostile and they'd rather visit somewhere else, but the article is actually about the state of the economy and poor weather due to storms.
throwaway00119 | 17 hours ago
I’m a rando who regularly contributes to this sub.
I came to comment an anecdote of mine. I’ve been to all 50 states. I travel a lot. Hawaii was my 50th last year. It’s way too expensive for what it is. I’ll just fly to Central America or the Caribbean for the same experience for half the price.
LarrySupertramp | 18 hours ago
I mean when most of their economy is based on tourists I think it makes sense that people will bring up tourism.
The amount of hate I remember directed at tourists at the time of the north shore fire was the last time Hawaii tourism was really brought so it makes sense to me.
Septaceratops | 17 hours ago
Cool story. The article is about how tourism is down because of the economy, but most of the comments are random anecdotes about how they feel hate from locals - so it must be the culprit. It's easy to use bots to push a narrative, even if the data/reporting tells a different story.
no_rest_for_the | 5 hours ago
Exactly. I was literally about to post the same sentiment.
Love how locals feelings on this thread are all extrapolated from the title of post sitting on the Economics subreddit.
This entire thread is a dumpster fire, not an Economics forum. The hate filled comments for Hawaii locals are getting over 200 up votes and the educating ones are getting down voted.
Spectrum1523 | 17 hours ago
Maybe redditors just don't read the articles
I feel like that predates AI lol
todayiwillthrowitawa | 17 hours ago
I hope Hawaii wins their CU case and there’s unreal hostility from Hawaiians towards tourists (read some of Haunani-Kay Trask’s statements about it). Not everything is a conspiracy.
Septaceratops | 17 hours ago
It is a verifiable fact that there are a thousands of bots on Reddit and other social media sites pushing all sorts of narratives to influence people. I'm not going to review every account that posts/comments, but more often than not you can identify a trend related to comments and the timing of events in the (more often than not) political landscape. So when I see the majority of comments on here spouting the same line about how people don't travel to Hawaii because Hawaiians are hostile - despite the posted article discussing a completely different reason - then it leads me to think there's a reason behind the random anecdotes that happen to coincide.
Coldsmoke888 | 19 hours ago
I’ve been to all the islands over the years and don’t recall ever getting any shit from a local. But then again, I just eat rice plates, chill on the beach, or go for a hike. The malasada lady was never mean to me either.
Also been to Japan multiple times and had an awesome experience. Hear the same stuff going there and if anything, I had to give tourists shit about being stupid.
Blending in with your surroundings and not being an obvious tourist go a long way. Dress a little muted and leave the USA themed apparel at home guys.
monkeybutt10 | 18 hours ago
I agree. Had the same experience whenever Ive been to Hawaii. I and the people I travel with are very mindful and respectful and have never encountered any issue. I believe most of the people commenting about bad experiences must be some obnoxious and inconsiderate travelers because believe me I have seen many on my trips.
TheWurstOfMe | an hour ago
I have a acquaintance who was complaining that people were honking at him just because he drove a bmw and they were haters.
I'm thinking, "Dude, your driving must suck and I think you are oblivious."
TheWurstOfMe | 16 hours ago
I've been to different Hawaii about once a year for the last 12 years, typically 10-14 days at a time.
I'm very white, look like a tourist, don't eat typical local food and have never had a bad experience with a local.
I know it's part luck of not bumping into someone on a grumpy day but I'm also super respectful of people.
muffinTrees | 13 hours ago
It’s really just respect. So many tourists are oblivious morons..so after a while locals are trained to think all tourists are the same
i64d | 18 hours ago
Flight costs from Seattle have doubled after Alaska Air bought Hawaiian air (typical monopoly). How many families of 4 can afford $10,000 for just the flight?!?
azurensis | 17 hours ago
I flew there in February from Seattle for $450 each round trip. 🤷🏻♂️
i64d | 9 hours ago
Sorry, I should have noted $10k is the Christmas/thanksgiving/school holiday rate.
azurensis | 3 hours ago
Going over mid winter break is the cheat code.
adcimagery | 17 hours ago
$10K? SEA to HNL, nonstop on Delta throughout the summer is less than $700 a person with bags. That feels pretty reasonable against $90 a barrel oil.
i64d | 9 hours ago
Sorry, I should have noted $10k is the Christmas/thanksgiving/school holiday rate.
Beginning_Noise_6844 | 15 hours ago
Southwest business model shift doesn’t help either.
Plus_Drag1977 | 19 hours ago
I'd say visit the 'ninth island', but Las Vegas is stupidly expensive these days too, and rapidly losing its tourist allure. (plus, the international travelers, especially Canada, are generally not showing up either.)
macaron1ncheese | 15 hours ago
If everything didn’t cost a billion dollars we’d go there more. My best friend from college lives there and I used to visit her often, now it’s so expensive we’d rather use the tickets to go to South America.
anoldradical | 14 hours ago
Exactly. My wife and I spent 2 weeks in greece last year. People would comment at how expensive it is. Come on- I live in the US, almost anywhere is cheaper by comparison. Shit, Greece was half the price of 8 days in Hawaii. And so much more to do too.
Oddisredit | 12 hours ago
I was in Hawai two years ago. On Maui there were zero Japanese tourists and one of the taxis I used in Oahu said that the Japanese tourists have dropped off. The hen is now weak, so I doubt many Japanese will come
skynetcoder | 8 hours ago
I thought japanese like fish more than strong chickens.
goodformuffin | 19 hours ago
I’d love to go to Hawaii.. but seeing how the president of that nation is a seditious, pedophilic, annex happy anal polyp, I’ll have to pass for the foreseeable future.
ThelIIusion0fSeIf | 19 hours ago
"Ha, sucks to be that guy. Must be really low IQ or something"
- Trump
ripndipp | 19 hours ago
Visited Hawaii, all prices are Hawaii expensive except jacked the fuck up, but on top of all the jackups youre expected to tip %20 and it's getting kinda crazy.
simplesimonsaysno | 16 hours ago
My wife and I used to go to Hawaii every year from Australia for 11 years in a row.
Our last visit was in 2023 and everything was just so expensive. The tips, mysterious taxes and resort fees. It just wasn't worth it in the end.
We just stopped going completely.
Crazy_Suggestion_182 | 15 hours ago
The US, and HI, used to be good destinations for holidays when you come from other places (I'm Aussie). Now, though, it's just too expensive. Back when it was cheap it was fun and you didn't mind the bits that weren't great. At current prices there are much better places to go.
Hnl2Nrt2025 | 11 hours ago
The chronics and the Zombies make so it attractive. Ala Moana Beach Park is a homeless camp After living there for 30 yrs I finally had enough. Life is much better now
Dont-be-a-smurf | 5 hours ago
Frankly, the politics around visiting the island has kept my family away.
I don’t want to go where I’m unwanted, when there seems to be plenty of places that encourage visitors.
altaleft | 17 hours ago
fkna i live on Maui and the only tourons that get any sideeye from the local community are those showing disrespectful behavior. whether that is throwing rocks at monk seals, drunk in public, cranking garbage music at the beach or littering, to name a few, it’s easy to be kind. Hawai’i is an inclusive State and that includes our appreciation for the industry that revolves around tourism.
frontfrontdowndown | 12 hours ago
The whole state is one of the friendliest places to outsiders that I’ve ever been to.
I don’t know where all the comments here are coming from.
veracity8_ | 16 hours ago
Hopefully Hawaii can start to transition away from a tourist economy. I’m not sure that the native people or fawns will survive that long term
Boo-Bees67 | 16 hours ago
They can’t. People would literally starve
punarob | 15 hours ago
Exactly. We have nothing here. The only profitable agriculture are high end things like coffee and chocolate and such which none of us here can actually afford. Even macadamia nuts have suffered because they can be grown for much less elsewhere. Anything else depends on shipping stuff out and we simply can't compete with the rest of the world. The military and tourism is all we have and all we'll ever have.
fucking_unicorn | 13 hours ago
Hawaii is poor in economic tangible resources so tourism is pretty much what they have to offer to bring money in. Remote location and limited size also works against them. The islands are absolutely majestic though so thats what the state has to offer.
veracity8_ | 4 hours ago
Why does it have to offer anything though? Like why can’t it have a small economy for the people that live there?
fucking_unicorn | an hour ago
Because thats not how the modern economy works. Thats an idealist situation but frankly isnt reality. The world has been globalized and the US runs on capitalism. If you really want to understand then read up on micro and macro economics. Its too complex of a topic to try and explain over a reddit comment and I havent the time for it. Hawaii can totally cut out tourism. Those related jobs disappear. The cost of living isnt going to change. You just see houselessness increase and desperation rise and government resources dwindle.
Dependent-Juice5361 | 12 hours ago
Yeah look at other south pacific nations, if they don’t have a tourism base… well there is little economic opportunities
HAIL_LUMPUS | 15 hours ago
I mean they've also spent years telling people not to travel there? I have friends who have friends in Hawaii and even they feel morally weird about going to visit. I understand their reasoning why they don't want over tourism, but you can't have it both ways. Paired with high travel costs now, there's two main reasons people won't go.
RadioFieldCorner | 18 hours ago
I had a guy in a work van throw a milkshake at my car for 'following too close' to him in Maui when he was going 10 under the speed limit and I myself had no shit 15 cars tailgating me.
He pulled over to a light next to me, said some extremely vulgar things then threw a milkshake at my car window. My girlfriend reported him to his job and the police.
Never going to Hawaii again. I've been to all the islands before already. You need to walk on eggshells to not insult locals. Your prescense just feels like an insult to them. Don't even get me started on the locals FB group for Hawaiian islands and the subreddit.
I go to French Polynesia and Fiji instead, for half the price, and locals will invite you to dinner and actually want you business. $1,000/night anywhere else in the Pacific gets you excellent boutique luxury, but in Hawaii, you barely get a 4 star hotel that is usually a mega hotel.
candyspelling01 | 16 hours ago
Fiji is amazing!!! I think it’s probably how Hawaii was in the 40s. I’d always stay on a island resort there and it’s all included and it is very affordable and amazing.
Any-Difficulty2782 | 16 hours ago
a trip for my family of 4 , from LAX was going to end up costing me $8k+, and nothing we chose was luxury. Oregon will be half that even with high gas prices.
1RedOne | 13 hours ago
We went to Honolulu and just the price of tickets alone was wild, then the price of our rental car was eye watering and everything there was just insanely priced
But it was so gorgeous, felt like being back in Japan in a lot of ways, well more it looked like Shikoku rather than felt like being there
I would have loved to stay
But the price of the hotel practically gave me a heart attack
macjunkie | 13 hours ago
It’s too expensive and a lot of natives there are a click short of openly hostile towards nonnatives. I’d rather spend my money somewhere I at least feel welcome.
maplecremecookie | 13 hours ago
I went in 2024. Not my choice, my dad had a ticket booked and he got hospitalized shortly before it was planned, so he gave it to me. Back then, it was expensive but not exorbitantly so...and I knew it would be a once-in-a-lifetime trip, so I didn't mind spending a bit more than usual. You can save a lot of money by buying groceries and alcohol rather than eating out all the time. I did feel a bit weird about going because of the history of colonialism and because of how damaging tourism is to their unique ecosystem, but I had fun and their culture is so cool. I would never go back again, even if I could afford it, because there are just so many other places that are equally cool and cost less.
kitzelbunks | 11 hours ago
I went to Hawaii twice, and the first time was back when SARS meant people from Asia could not go. Great snorkeling. I am glad they wanted tourists back then.
Aanity | 16 hours ago
Im surprised that anyone who read the article actually thinks that exorbitantly expensive hotel costs and flights has anything to do with declining tourism. It’s OBVIOUSLY because Hawaiiguy52 made a TikTok calling tourists meanie weenie’s that went viral. That caused Kevin, 45 year old investment banker with 3 kids, to cancel his reservation. The guilt just got to him y’know?
wadejohn | 19 hours ago
I guess this strong anti tourism sentiment started when some rich karens moved to hawaii and decided tourists are annoying. Yes tourists can be annoying but when it’s your main economic driver, you just have to live with it.
Boo-Bees67 | 16 hours ago
Yeah sure blame the suburban soccer mom over the people being assholes for just setting foot on their land. Except it’s not their land anymore and they need to learn to get along with others
me_ke_aloha_manuahi | 6 hours ago
> Except it’s not their land anymore and they need to learn to get along with others
I mean can you blame them? The same shit that happened to the Tibetans and the Uyghurs happened to the Hawaiians, with the whole being annexed thing, and then the occupying country shipping in a bunch of people to drastically change the local demographics, and then economic inactivity causing natives to go outward... but instead of sympathy, the western world is just telling them to deal with it. Like it Tibetans or Uyghurs were complaining about Han Chinese people in their historic countries, I doubt you would just say "it's not your land anymore, learn to deal with it."
MontasJinx | 18 hours ago
Living in Australia I am not going anywhere near the US atm. Even in transit via the US. Kinda like I would have avoided Germany in the late 30s.
Eye_foran_Eye | 14 hours ago
I went to Kona in 2023? Maybe 2022…Had to book an air B&B with 3 friends to afford the place. Could not afford the hotel right next to us. Won’t be going back because I can’t afford it now.
vertigo3pc | 14 hours ago
I can't afford to go to Ono Hawaiian BBQ let alone Hawaii. And with the energy crisis starting to finally emerge, pretty soon I'm not sure I can even drive to Ono.
cool_side_of_pillow | 13 hours ago
As a Canadian, Maui has become just too expensive with the exchange rate. It would be hard to enjoy ourselves and we just can't justify the cost. Even Mexico has gotten crazy, but it's more affordable generally.