Airing some Hawaii travel industry dirty laundry. How Greedflation is impacting your Hawaii vacation.
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112 thoughts on “Greedflation Smacks Hawaii Worst Among Destinations”
Airing some Hawaii travel industry dirty laundry. How Greedflation is impacting your Hawaii vacation.
There’s only one fix for this problem and we all know it.
Do tell, Roy.
My wife and I just visited Oahu for 3 days and Kauai for 7. One of the most beautiful, memorable trips and is the single most expensive vacation we’ve ever taken. We knew it was going to be and saved for it. We were practical in Kauai – out Condo unit had a Kitchen, we shopped at Safeway and Walmart in Lihue and Kapaa for essentials. We got fruits from locals at home driveways and roadside stands. Did quite well considering and still allowed ourselves to visit local Hawaiian restaurants and buy from local vendors. Unsure how you locals afford it. $8 loaves of bread, $7 bags of tortillas! Insane.
Locals told us the cost of homes has doubled in 4 years!! Regardless, we had an amazing time and hope we can afford return…
It is also worth mentioning that despite the idea that the “resorts” are benefiting, it’s not the entire “resort” – the employees there are likely doing much worse with visitor counts down as the average resort worker doesn’t benefit one cent from a $1,000 room rate and is instead collecting fewer tips, cleaning fewer rooms, serving fewer diners, etc etc. So again truly a case of the rich corporations getting richer and richer at the expense of everyone else. Definitely paradise…for the rich.
As someone who grew up with family on big island and has been visiting multiple times a year for over 40 years – it’s very sad.
Great article which crystallizes my wife and my thoughts in rising prices. We’ve been visitors to the islands (particularly Maui) for over 30 years. We have come to see past the tourism and soak in the Ohana. Last month we had what might have been our most enjoyable stay, again being part of local culture. We considered ourselves fortunate and thankful to be invited. But we both lamented how expensive everything had become. Greedflation is the perfect word. I suspect “demand destruction” is on the horizon. We will monitor closely — until then we are focusing on new and more affordable destinations.
My wife and I have gone to Hawaii every year, and sometimes twice a year for the past 12 years. Inflation is a reality, and I always expect prices to rise, but never have I seen prices rise as they have an away in the last 2 to 3 years. Condos that I used to rent for $375 a night are now $1000 a night. Please don’t try to tell me the cost of really tripled in three years. However, perhaps a Y is getting what they want. Do you have less tourists spending more money. And perhaps, as you put it, that is “the sweet spot “however, just remember, wealthier tourists, while they spend more money, tend to feel more entitled. So be prepared for a larger number of disrespecting tourists that you already have.
That’s what happens when Airbnbs and short term vacation rentals are basically made illegal and the few that are allowed to operate are heavily regulated. The hotel industry doesn’t have any competition to force them to lower prices. I’m sure the hotel industry donating to politicians had nothing to do with that (sarcasm)
I was born and raised in Hawaii, Oahu. All my Ohana is there. Moved to California 2000 and have been here ever since. When I first got here locals used to say “OMG, isn’t it so expensive to live in Hawaii?” At that time I found costs for food and housing very comparable. And my reply was “No. Actually it’s actually pretty much the same.” But now, I’m embarrassed, ashamed and hope no one will ask me that question again. Because I always stood up for my home state. I’m recently retired and my plan was to spend my remaining years back “home”, but I realize now I am already back home. Aloha Hawaii.
Been going to the Big Island for the last 12yrs. Everything seemed expensive before covid but at least the rental cars and condo prices were tolerable. After covid the rental car price increase made sense but unfortunately has never really gone back down and now has almost doubled from after covid price that is a huge challenge for anyone who visits the Big Island and actually experiences all parts of the island. Also the majority of the long stay condos have almost doubled so 4 an average Joe finding a condo below 200 is impossible. soon only the rich will visit,only the resorts get money and most of them never leave the resort to spend money in the small towns/restaurants across the island. So only the resorts get rich
Car rentals is a great example of Greedflation. There is No Chance that the the costs of the rental car companies has doubled since the end of the pandemic. So, why have their prices doubled? Same with the hotel/resort room prices. I find it hard to believe that their costs have increased so much that they have had to increase prices so much. I wonder how much if this is an attempt to make up for” the fact that profits were down so much during the pandemic. But, again, that’s just greed. In the end, just look at the profit increases for Hertz, and the resorts, and you can easily see what’s going on.
Before getting my car, I did a lot of walking or took the public bus. I also took Lyft which is still cheaper than renting a car.
That is exactly what the resorts are hooping for …local government already burdens any owner who would want to rent out their unit with heavy taxes, then locals complain about individual owners rather than resorts. Probably because their kids dip into their pools and some are employed by them.
So true! They will stay on their exclusive club type resort and freely spend. That wii leave the rest of Hawaii for the residents. Price greedflation will have this effect. Tourism, which was once valued will become a rich only tourist location and many residents will be left without jobs in the tourist industry they once depended on.
Aloha, As a business owner I am certain I can speak for most businesses, large and small. Workers are scarce as hens teeth, and those that do show up are doing less. Taxes, fuel, and food, and virtually everything else is getting more expensive. We pass on the higher cost of doing business and the anticipated inevitable increases down the road. The Jones act, union control of the state, a terrible, overly regulated business environment, rampant crime. All cost passed on to our customers. Talk to almost any business owner and you will find this to be the case. Margaret Thatcher famously said “the problem with socialism is you eventually run out of others peoples money”! Sadly, Hawaii will discover this to be true sooner than later!
Ko Olina Marina implemented this policy a few years ago. They effectively doubled their slip rates and half the tenants left. Didn’t seem to phase them. They lost no revenue and lowered the admin and maintenance costs by roughly half. Such a deal.
My family had been on Maui for five generations. Most have either passed away or moved away, including me. It breaks my heart. This greed appears to be felt by everyone yet still perpetrated by many. I can no longer afford to live in my home. Rich people rent it from me. The same jar of pickles that costs $1.99 at Grocery Outlet in California costs $7.99 at Pukalani Foodland.
These are the worst inflated costs I’ve ever seen flying back home and staying in a hotel on Oahu in the 40 years of now living on the mainland. It will most likely be the last time to afford to bring the whole ohana here. So sad to stay a malihini and not be a kama’aina again anytime soon.
If you own real estate in Maui that “rich people” rent from you, You Are Rich. I used to rent out my place because I couldn’t afford living there either, but I am living in my 1BR in Maui now. I don’t need much because I like to swim in the ocean (free), snorkel ($10 for a mask at Long’s or Amazon), don’t need heat or A/C and even saved up for an electric car that doesn’t cost me anything to charge (free at the beach and other places in Maui). Funny how people who spend $50K on an SUV that also cost about $50 each time they go to the gas station say that a Tesla is expensive (I bought mine last last year for $40K and now have 0 expense). Yes, food is expensive, but when I go out, it’s during Happy Hour or places that offer Kamaaina.