Resort fees in Hawaii are no longer an occasional annoyance tied to a few high-end properties. Across all islands, mandatory daily charges for resort amenities and parking have quietly become standard practice, adding hundreds of dollars to the cost of a typical weeklong stay. What once felt like a line item you barely noticed now shows up as a second bill, one that many travelers do not fully grasp until checkout.
A guest who stayed eight days at Royal Lahaina Resort & Bungalows on Maui summed up that reality in four blunt words to us: “Money greedy. I won’t stay there again.” After checking out, they added the resort fee and parking charges to their bill, bringing the total to $667, on top of the room rate they had already paid and expected.
The $667 math that people actually feel.
Eight days and $667 in resort and parking fees work out to about $83 per day in add-ons before breakfast, snorkeling, or anything else that actually feels like a vacation. That is more than just a rounding error or a minor inconvenience buried in fine print.
$83 a day isn’t noise. It feels almost like a second hotel bill stapled to your hotel bill, and it forces a visitor rethink that never favors the hotel. People compare that against eating out, excursions, or an extra night somewhere else and start wondering what they actually got in return.
Peg B. joined the conversation, “It’s really ridiculous that you have to pay a daily resort fee plus another $50 per day for rental car parking. For 3 weeks, that’s an additional $2000.” For anyone staying longer than a long weekend, these fees snowball fast and become harder to ignore with every passing day.
What matters here is that Royal Lahaina is not alone.
At Sheraton Waikiki, the resort fee plus self-parking runs about $116 per day. Hilton Hawaiian Village comes to roughly $134. On Maui, Grand Wailea charges $130 or more with valet, and Andaz Wailea runs around $114. Royal Lahaina’s $87 is actually mid-pack. Stay a week at any of these properties and the math lands in the $600 to $900 range.
The “perks” list is where the math goes sideways.
Resort fees are always sold as value bundles, and Royal Lahaina isn’t an exception. The fee includes a $20 per day spa credit, discounts on tennis and pickleball court rentals, complimentary wellness classes, live music, trolley service to Whalers Village, and even a “Hawaiian Vintage Postcard.” Some of that sounds fine on first glance.
The $20 spa credit expires daily and cannot be combined. Miss a day and the credit disappears. Skip the spa entirely, as many guests do, and you still paid for it. If you want one meaningful treatment during your stay, the credits do not stack.
Dennis d. summed up how many readers see this setup: “Let’s face it, ‘resort fees’ are just a plain and simple money grabber. You aren’t getting anything for a charge that gives you ‘access to the spa’ facility. You don’t get a spa treatment, it just lets you walk in and pay for a treatment, that’s all.”
These aren’t optional add-ons you can pick. Perhaps that’s part of the problem. They are mandatory charges you prepay whether you use them, understand them, or even want them. For example, that lei greeting on arrival may be part of the resort fee you pay rather than a gift from the hotel.
There is also a structural reason this keeps happening.
Resort fees and parking charges are usually not commissionable to third-party booking sites like Expedia or Booking.com, unlike the base room rate. That means hotels can keep the advertised nightly price lower while shifting more of the real cost into add-on fees they do not have to share with anyone else.
It is a double win for the resort. The booking site takes a smaller cut, and the guest still pays more in the end. From the visitor’s perspective, the price looks competitive until checkout, when the non-commissionable fees catch up.
This is not one resort. It keeps happening.
The Royal Lahaina comment matters because it fits a broader pattern that Hawaii visitors keep running into. A Waikiki honeymoon couple goes viral over roughly $500 in fees, then a Maui guest shows up with $667 after eight days at a mid-level Kaanapali hotel.
Jack put it bluntly: “It’s not just the ‘resort fee.’ It’s also charging $200 for a ‘premium’ beach chair, or a $70 chair ‘reservation’ fee. Amidst a sea of unused chairs. I’m glad she posted the video, never ever staying at the Royal or any other Hawaii hotel.”
Wanda G shared a similar experience: “I was charged over $600 for 7 days of resort fee at the Ilikai 2 years ago. It did not include valet fees. I learned about the fee upon arrival and had to pay it before checking into my room. I continue to visit Hawaii to see my grandchildren. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense for me to keep paying the extraordinary fees.”
“Vote with your wallet” is harder than it sounds.
Some readers respond with the same advice every time. Commenter Cockroach wrote, “People, people! Stop complaining about it! Vote with your wallet! If it is not for you, do not stay at these places that charge these nonsensical fees!”
Resort and parking fees are no longer limited to a few outliers. They are common across Waikiki, Kaanapali, Wailea, and beyond, which means many travelers encounter them no matter which Hawaii resort area they choose.
Others route around the system entirely. Clark S. said, “Outrageous! These fees were news to me. I always stay at Halekulani, which does not charge a resort fee and also does not charge for the use of any chairs. I will never stay at a hotel that charges extra, hidden, or ‘resort’ fees.”
Drew808 explained why resort fees persist despite guest anger: “Resort fees are unbundled from the room rate for a very specific reason. It allows hotels to pay a lower commission to third-party booking sites. The resort fee was just a way to hike the room rate without having to pay commission.”
Timing could not be worse.
Hawaii hotels are still trying to stabilize demand and rebuild confidence. Some fees are now shown earlier, and many booking pages list them more clearly than before. But even when that happens, the total still hits hard when multiplied across a full stay and combined with additional parking charges. Seeing “$45 per day” feels manageable. Seeing “$667” on the final bill feels very different.
Have you been hit with resort fee and parking totals like this in Hawaii, and if so, where did it happen?
How do the fees compare with those at other vacation destinations? Does seeing the fees upfront make them easier to accept, or does the total still feel like the real issue? At what point do fees stop being annoying and start becoming a reason not to come back at all?
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Right in the middle of the photo are the two Whaler towers. The daily amenity rate is $35 with no parking fees, full kitchens, lots of free-bies. The most affordable in the picture–it’s a true value proposition.
I was angry about the “surprise” resort fee added by the Hyatt on Maui in 2003 and that was only $35 a day. This is completely ridiculous. These resorts are misleading people on purpose – they know that when they surprise you at the check in desk, it is too late to cancel, so they have you captive at that point. As a long time Maui visitor and former resident, I’ve had enough. If I come back, it will only be if I stay with a friend, or If the resort has no (or very low) resort fee. This is crazy. I’m done. Goodbye Maui, you bit the hand that fed you too many times.
I’m waiting on that One politician that will absolutely kill these fees. Hotels, airlines, added forced tips to food, what in the world is going on people. How long are we just going to be complacent and tolerate all of this? I think we all need to agree on a day where literally the entire nation doesn’t book one hotel room or flight. These arrogant execs forget we hold the voting power with our dollars and citizens finally need a common ground reason to align together. I think it should already be April 1, because They are the fools!
Good luck with that! They keep voting for the same people every election.
We really miss our Maui trips every year but we are doing other things and going other places because we feel we are not wanted. There are other places in the world just as beautiful.
I remember the 1st time I was charged a resort fee after prepaying my hotel stay in Waikiki. It was $45 for “nothing” and I don’t know how the hotel got away with this …in my case, I told them it was not disclosed and they removed it. That was a few years ago and it seems that tourists have somewhat accepted these fees and there is no limit? I am totally against it. You are already paying for staying at a resort. In the example of this article, a $20 per day spa credit that most people don’t use because you probably spend $200+ if you do) and even worst, being charged when you don’t use it Live music and trolley service to Whalers Village is free for everyone. I live nearby and have used the trolley many times and go to the “free music events” which are open to the public! As to the “Hawaiian Vintage Postcard” I bought several in Lahaina for $1. I am sorry to hear what these resorts are doing. No wonder tourists don’t look happy! What a shame!
When we go on vacation to Hawaii, I tell my wife and kids to completely ignore the individual prices for everything – resort fees, drinks, rentals, food, green fees, etc. – otherwise you’ll go crazy, as reflected by the travelers quoted in this article. Instead, we only look at the entire vacation’s total cost as one lump sum, established and known before we book and depart. Makes our Hawaii vacations less stressful and more enjoyable.
Expedia / hotels.com is aggressively going after fees not included in the booking. There are federal laws on their side. If you booked with either, and were charged any mandatory fee, they want to hear about it.
We have stayed at Kumulani at the Uplands on Hawaii many times. They offer access to Mauna Kea and Westin Hapuna’s beaches, gyms etc as they are part of Mauna Kea. You can also use valet parking. However, if you want to use this privilege the cost this year is $130 per day and you must pay for all days you are booked. They call this a Resort Access Fee. The first few years we stayed at Kumulani the cost was $65 per day. When hotels started raising their resort fees, they saw an opportunity to raise this fee as well. I love having access to the beaches as parking can be difficult, but it sure comes with a price! We are not going to the Big Island this year because the cost of accommodations is now over the top. We do not want to stay in Kona, and this is the least expensive way to stay in this area as far as we know. I honestly feel as much as I like the benefits of the fee, I feel that they are taking great advantage of the people who keep them in business and it angers me.
Papakea eliminated all resort fees sometime in the last year. No fee for parking, use of tennis courts, pickleball courts, bbq’s, putting greens, etc.
Given those fees, I do not understand why hotels in Maui are doing a blockbuster business and condo complexes like ours at the Maui Banyan are half empty or more.
At our place, if you reserve directly with an owner, you are not charged any amenity fees or parking fees at all. The beach is right across the street – a one-minute stroll from our door.
The hotel industry’s PR is that powerful? Explain, please.
I was thinking the same thing. The advantages of hotels are shrinking to non-existent. I have stayed in condos exclusively for years. I dont get the appeal
No we don’t!!!
Papakea does not have resort fees anymore!!!!
No we don’t!!
The Waipouli Beach Resort condos in Kapa’a on Kauai have somewhat lower resort fees—$45 per day and free parking. I should add I am a vacation condo owner there.
I was charged ‘Resort Fees’ which I was told covered WiFi….and when the WiFi didn’t work in my room….I was told they also covered ‘lots of other things’. As I was ill, in bed, for the entire time they paid no ‘never mind’… Even as kama’aina I received No grace….
Stay at the Outrigger next time. Check out their kama’aina and/or Discovery discounts! I stayed at 2 different locations in Waikiki and no hidden charges!
What a rip off. I’ve gotten beach front resorts in Vanuatu, Fiji, and the Cook Islands for under $100 a night. No one in their right mind would vacation in Hawaii anymore, and when the economy collapses I’ll just laugh, because there’s no one to blame, but themselves for continuing to vote in who sabotage them.
I am a frequent Hawaii visitor. The resort fee/daily fee is not isolated to just Hawaii. Resorts in the Bahamas or anywhere else has escalated the past few years. Las Vegas hotels charge upwards of $50 resort fee that basically includes access to the pool you will never use (especially in the winter) and maybe a bottle of water. Of course these fees and the ever rising parking fees are a money grab, but it is everywhere, not just Hawaii. Expect everything to be expensive no matter where you go.
Family trip planned for a year, coming in 20 days and all this is definitely depressing, maddening and puts a huge damper to our long awaited vacation….
Sounds like we will be looking elsewhere where in the future.
Current booking I have with Costco Travel..
8 day 7 Night stay at Grand Wailea for October
Perks
USD 438 Digital Costco Shop Card Shop Card
7 Day Rental Car Reservation
Daily buffet breakfast for two
Daily USD 100 food and beverage credit (per room)
Hydrotherapy garden passes for two at Kilolani Spa
USD 200 spa credit (per room, per stay)
Complimentary upgrade from Garden-View to Ocean View
Mandatory daily resort fee included
USD 296.00 Costco Executive Member & Credit Card Holder
If you take advantage of it all that it’s 4,394.00 of perks, upgrades and credits
Including all taxes and fees it’s 5,921.02 Total…
The only thing I’ve got additional to pay is the 65.00 a day valet fee.
Currently Costco Travel has several packages to the Hawaiian islands that have perks like this one. There are some excellent deals if you’re willing to put in a little effort.
That’s a great deal. However, it is in October. Does Costco ever offer deals like this during peak travel times?
This was a Hot Buy deal had very few blackout periods there was plenty of available dates during peak travel times. As I stated in my original post it takes a little work to root out these deals. I check Costco Travel twice a day once a quick search in the morning then again in the afternoon.
You wonder why Big Hotel Chains want to get rid of STR’S. Eliminate the competition so they can keep raising fees and taxes, where and when does it stop, maybe Mayor Bissen can tell us!
I am a timeshare owner at The Westin Villas Kaanapali North. So, that being said I am already an ‘owner’. However, now self-parking is $35 a day. I am just flabbergasted about this charge. It is only $5 less than valet. What in the world.
Your parking at self pay is free at Westin Kaanapali if you are an owner. If you are using your owner’s week you get free valet parking on the day you check in. After that self parking is free. There is no way you were charged for parking using your ownership. If you just booked with Marriott points and not your ownership, then you would be charged.
This is why the hotels were paying lahaina strong and maui county council to ban STRs. Makes them the only option and opens the door to these ridiculous fees. Greed taken to a whole new level.
To me the cost of staying in a Maui (or pretty much any Hawaiian island) hotel is something I haven’t considered since we were staying at the Renaissance Hotel (now Andaz) in Wailea back in 2001. We love staying in a vacation rental where you know in advance what you are paying.
Don’t want to let the cat out of the bag but Napili Kai Resort doesn’t have resort fee or parking charge.