73 thoughts on “Hawaii In A Sometimes Visitor-Unfriendly World”
Fred
We’ve had a condominium on the “South Island” of Maui for five years and spend the winter months there. Five years ago, we splurged twice a week at the three highest-priced restaurants in the immediate neighborhood. This past winter we dined twice at two of them and skipped the third after checking out the menu prices online. A small local deli close by moved a few blocks away and opened a deli and restaurant open weekend evenings. We loved the deli, so we tried the restaurant. We were shocked to find the menu was Prix Fixe at — $195.00 per person – for a mini portion 7- course meal – with upgrade options for a steak at $85 and caviar for $225. We have the resources to pay these prices – but not the desire. Very sad.
Some of the hotel websites are misleading. If you look at the grand Hyatts site it shows you a price of $700 a night but then when you click to book it, you find out that $700 doesn’t include the 18% tax and the $50 per nighy resort fee. Hilton Hawaiian Village at least spells it out before you click to buy that the price shown includes the resort fee but not the tax. Biden administration has been trying to make the hotels show us the price right away up front and I’d appreciate that!
I can fly anywhere I’d like to, but won’t visit where I’m unwanted, so please continue the very useful information on where not to visit. Secondly, “if only” Hawaii’s leaders had chosen to diversify Hawaii’s economy decades ago, as did many other States, then Hawaii would not be so very heavily dependent upon tourism.
Those who created the problem (Josh green) would be incapable of finding a solution. In Hawaii we depend on tourism income, where Spain has other options.
We need to look at the school system representing trades that equip us to be independent and work at skilled labor jobs, so we are not controlled by working for the government, which creates zero income. Your article did a good job of presenting the situation.
I couldn’t disagree more. With respect, Josh Green didn’t create the explosion of post COVID visitors. Josh Green didn’t create the explosion and proliferation of those wanting to cash in on owning a vacation rental.
A decade ago, there weren’t nearly as many vacation rentals as there are now. Failure to constrain unlimited growth and greed has created an untenable situation. At least Green is trying to mitigate the damage caused by previous administrations.
We spent a month in Spain last fall, and a month in Portugal a year ago spring. We did not run into any anti-tourist sentiment, but we did not stay in Malaga. We mostly stay in hotels, and never stayed in Airbnb, in both places. The most tourists I’ve even seen was in Barcelona. San Sabastian (opposite direction) also crowded with tourists. We spent a lot of time in parts of the cities/country where no one spoke English, and my Spanish is not good. But we figured it out (the phone translator changes things) and they were happy to get our business. We are currently in Australia. they have also been very friendly. Maybe you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time?
If you look at Hawaii’s daily visitor count Maui is currently going through a tourism reset. Arrival numbers are running almost 50 percent less than same time in 2023.
My husband and I used to come to Hawaii twice a year pre-pandemic since the 90’s. Post-pandemic, our extended family visited Oahu after the Lahaina fire. The sense we got during this trip was, “leave your money here, and get the heck off of our island.” We felt exploited and gouged at the resorts and eateries. Yeah. Our money says we’re going elsewhere.
You have vacant STR homes that will eventually be sold due to low occupancy. Let the market correct itself. Do not issue new STR permits. Stop bullying the tourists that eat in your restaurants and support your economy. You restricted access to IAO Valley and now numbers are down noticeably. There is a path and most people don’t hike into the jungle. $20 per car now+ and the restroom is still not functioning. Where does the money go??????
Yes, I seemed to notice a less than usual ‘friendliness’ with the ABC store pers since the fire last year. Not much “Aloha” around, a little ‘grim.’ Not my fault, but locals don’t need to take it out on the visitors/haoles who just come to relax and have fun. Things could get better in HI, but they need to wean themselves back from the dependency on tourism and develop more ‘industry’ and redevelop agricultural enterprise. Visitors shouldn’t be the ‘ones you love to hate’, when so many depend on them, in one way or another, to make a living. Someone, with Hawaii’s best interests at heart (not the hotel owners and big land owners), needs to take charge of the rudder and turn this state around.
First of all, whoever wrote this article was remarkable articulate,
and demonstrated a well balanced view of all sides. In a way, the
author shows that there is no solution that works for all sides. Only
a compromise, and that means that all sides have some disappointment. After 35 winters on Maui since 1983, it’s become
unaffordable, with the lodging, food, tip expectations, car rental prices and costs of activities. I will leave it to others to discuss the
corruption, incompetence, and political grandstanding.
We have to make other plans, in part, because Maui wants us to make other plans. I do look forward to the new discoveries of winter
locations.
Chris C
Bravo, local politicians think they can pull people s strings . Green only sees Japanese tourists . He has totally neglected to see that people from the mainland have supported the economy .
Trying to navigate the undefined line between encouraging tourists to “want to come to Hawaii because it’s a welcoming place” and “discouraging too many tourists from coming” is tough to find, and most people hear the negative easier than the positive. Good luck to the residents and especially the politicians! You may get what you wish for, but at a “price” that supports fewer people, resulting in some residents still having to leave because there are fewer jobs.
BOH- “What happened took us somewhat by surprise.” “An incident in Southern Spain”, “Having encountered far too much visitor push-back in Andalusia, Spain to feel comfortable, it turned out to be easier to head towards France”
Please elaborate, your readers could benefit from details of the “incident”. Were you threatened or worse? Is Spain unsafe for American tourists? Heading to France from Spain would be a huge change of plans and likely expense for most of BOH readers. Thanks.
How many times was I posting examples of how over-tourism was not just a Hawaii problem? The proliferation of STRs everywhere and the huge problems and imbalances they’ve created? It’s nationwide. It’s global.
The travel and housing boom was a result of global Central Banks easing monetary policy far too low for far too long, coupled with governments crazy fiscal policy of deficit spending in the many, many, many trillions. In short, far too much money injected into the system.
Regarding STRs, huge liquidity injections encouraged a lot of inexperienced and overzealous investors into the space in a highly distorted market with inflated prices, which is horrible for local populations and society as a whole.
We are experiencing the same thing here in Sedona AZ. However our tourist boom began during covid because folks didn’t want to fly anywhere.Then the vacation rental thing got completely out of hand.driving up prices and shutting out locals. The city gov does nothing for the residents and only focuses on wooing more tourists while our infrastructure has fallen by the wayside. state gov no help. So i completely understand the situation in Hawaii. I don’t know what the answer is but one does have to keep in mind fueling the economy. I have visited Hawaii every year for decades. I see the changes. i fear soon it will out of my price range. Best wishes to finding an amiable solution. Maybe we can follow your lead.
“Sedona officials have started a new program aimed at reducing the number of short-term rentals in the community.
Prices have risen in the city over the past several years, leaving many residents unable to afford a place to live. Sedona is often held up as a poster child for some of the problems that can arise when too many of a community’s homes are used as short-term rentals.”
Having also been to Malaga/Marbella in Spain, Venice Italy and Dubrovnik for both business and pleasure, I can attest to the same attitude. However, the change in attitude was only noticeable between staying in an AirBnB in an actual neighborhood, as opposed to being in one of the nice hotels. The overarching theme here is that we all went through a pandemic, we all learned (reinforcement for some) that life is short and you need to see the world. So we all did.
I am curious as to what specifically Hawaiian tourists should do to respect the local culture, encourage sustainability, and promote the local economy. We visit Hawaii often, adhere to the suggestions to visit respectfully, we tip generously, don’t harm or destroy any landscape or property, promote sustainability. What is expected of us?
You will never get a logical answer to this question because they don’t what is expected of visitors either, it seems like just a bunch of complaining and blaming others for their problems.
we just got back from maui in april and it was wonderful. I surfed every morning, then we would go out to help at the humane society. We love going to local restaurants and shops or taking long walks. When I broke my surfboard leash I went to a surf shop for a new one and no one batted an eye. At no time did i feel uncomfortable or unwanted. My hope is the government, locals, visitors can find i good middle ground. just because something might be difficult to do does not mean it should not be attempted. Change is hard but the status quo cant continue.
Thanks
One thing attracts many is the closeness of the Hawaiin islands to western mainland, in addition to not needing a passport and visa .
All one needs is an airline ticket.
Kids can still enjoy Big Mac !
It is that comfort zone
What we are seeing in tourist spots everywhere is a “mindset” that if you don’t see it person, it isn’t real. This has caused a cultural shift in the concept of value from “things” to experiences. Sadly, this causes vast overtourism on one hand, and in the long term, a bunch of starving seniors, who spend all their long term investment and savings on experiences, having nothing to retire on.
I lived in San Jose CA for years, then Boulder CO for 6 years, then Cambridge MA for a few years before again living in Silicon Valley. Every one of those places has become unaffordable for local residents. Should they have figured out ways to increase costs for newcomers? I think that some places identify easy to blame groups, such as tourists, who they then hold responsible for a broken economic system – a system which has created winners and losers. So they choose the intellectually easy and emotionally satisfying solution. This blog isn’t political – yet our lives are defined by politics – we ignore it at our peril.
Meanwhile, some of us short-term rental owners will be going bankrupt.
Meanwhile, the trash and abandoned cars alongside the roads are absolutely not tourists. It’s locals who try to blame everything on tourists…Lots of locals are way more disrespectful of their own island. Very sad.
Excellent post. BTW – do you know what law (or County “policy” or whatever) is responsible for the abandoned cars on the sides of the roads. Three years ago, a relatively new car was left in the middle of the road in front of our condominium. The Wailea Community Association Security Patrol could do nothing. Three days later it was driven away (towed?) in the middle of the night.
Bizarre.
Fred,
It’s not a law. It is a part of the local culture that so many commenters on this site claim to love. The ones on the main highways are eventually removed (at least on Kauai), but the ones sitting on privately owned land may rot there forever.
Aloha
I would disagree. We must revisit the history books so that we can better understand how the dynamics have played out over the years, and never in favor of hawaiian culture and people.
One would remiss and be inaccurate in paralleling
financial and political climate to stateside cost of living vs. that of tourism in Hawaii. It’s much more involved.
Wow. I think a lot of “old timers” in San Jose would be stunned to hear their centuries of history dismissed so casually. Same thing for those “old timers” I knew in Cambridge – with proud roots that go back to European immigrants and well-before. So I’m not sure that any appeal to an argument of “well, our history is special” has ever justified the actions or inactions that we all see being done in our society. We do agree though that “it is much more involved” – with more serious thinking needed all around.
We’ve had a condominium on the “South Island” of Maui for five years and spend the winter months there. Five years ago, we splurged twice a week at the three highest-priced restaurants in the immediate neighborhood. This past winter we dined twice at two of them and skipped the third after checking out the menu prices online. A small local deli close by moved a few blocks away and opened a deli and restaurant open weekend evenings. We loved the deli, so we tried the restaurant. We were shocked to find the menu was Prix Fixe at — $195.00 per person – for a mini portion 7- course meal – with upgrade options for a steak at $85 and caviar for $225. We have the resources to pay these prices – but not the desire. Very sad.
Some of the hotel websites are misleading. If you look at the grand Hyatts site it shows you a price of $700 a night but then when you click to book it, you find out that $700 doesn’t include the 18% tax and the $50 per nighy resort fee. Hilton Hawaiian Village at least spells it out before you click to buy that the price shown includes the resort fee but not the tax. Biden administration has been trying to make the hotels show us the price right away up front and I’d appreciate that!
I can fly anywhere I’d like to, but won’t visit where I’m unwanted, so please continue the very useful information on where not to visit. Secondly, “if only” Hawaii’s leaders had chosen to diversify Hawaii’s economy decades ago, as did many other States, then Hawaii would not be so very heavily dependent upon tourism.
Those who created the problem (Josh green) would be incapable of finding a solution. In Hawaii we depend on tourism income, where Spain has other options.
We need to look at the school system representing trades that equip us to be independent and work at skilled labor jobs, so we are not controlled by working for the government, which creates zero income. Your article did a good job of presenting the situation.
I couldn’t disagree more. With respect, Josh Green didn’t create the explosion of post COVID visitors. Josh Green didn’t create the explosion and proliferation of those wanting to cash in on owning a vacation rental.
A decade ago, there weren’t nearly as many vacation rentals as there are now. Failure to constrain unlimited growth and greed has created an untenable situation. At least Green is trying to mitigate the damage caused by previous administrations.
“Failure to constrain unlimited growth and greed has created an untenable situation.’
Couldn’t agree more Drew. This is the problem at hand.
We spent a month in Spain last fall, and a month in Portugal a year ago spring. We did not run into any anti-tourist sentiment, but we did not stay in Malaga. We mostly stay in hotels, and never stayed in Airbnb, in both places. The most tourists I’ve even seen was in Barcelona. San Sabastian (opposite direction) also crowded with tourists. We spent a lot of time in parts of the cities/country where no one spoke English, and my Spanish is not good. But we figured it out (the phone translator changes things) and they were happy to get our business. We are currently in Australia. they have also been very friendly. Maybe you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time?
If you look at Hawaii’s daily visitor count Maui is currently going through a tourism reset. Arrival numbers are running almost 50 percent less than same time in 2023.
My husband and I used to come to Hawaii twice a year pre-pandemic since the 90’s. Post-pandemic, our extended family visited Oahu after the Lahaina fire. The sense we got during this trip was, “leave your money here, and get the heck off of our island.” We felt exploited and gouged at the resorts and eateries. Yeah. Our money says we’re going elsewhere.
You have vacant STR homes that will eventually be sold due to low occupancy. Let the market correct itself. Do not issue new STR permits. Stop bullying the tourists that eat in your restaurants and support your economy. You restricted access to IAO Valley and now numbers are down noticeably. There is a path and most people don’t hike into the jungle. $20 per car now+ and the restroom is still not functioning. Where does the money go??????
Yes, I seemed to notice a less than usual ‘friendliness’ with the ABC store pers since the fire last year. Not much “Aloha” around, a little ‘grim.’ Not my fault, but locals don’t need to take it out on the visitors/haoles who just come to relax and have fun. Things could get better in HI, but they need to wean themselves back from the dependency on tourism and develop more ‘industry’ and redevelop agricultural enterprise. Visitors shouldn’t be the ‘ones you love to hate’, when so many depend on them, in one way or another, to make a living. Someone, with Hawaii’s best interests at heart (not the hotel owners and big land owners), needs to take charge of the rudder and turn this state around.
First of all, whoever wrote this article was remarkable articulate,
and demonstrated a well balanced view of all sides. In a way, the
author shows that there is no solution that works for all sides. Only
a compromise, and that means that all sides have some disappointment. After 35 winters on Maui since 1983, it’s become
unaffordable, with the lodging, food, tip expectations, car rental prices and costs of activities. I will leave it to others to discuss the
corruption, incompetence, and political grandstanding.
We have to make other plans, in part, because Maui wants us to make other plans. I do look forward to the new discoveries of winter
locations.
Chris C
Bravo, local politicians think they can pull people s strings . Green only sees Japanese tourists . He has totally neglected to see that people from the mainland have supported the economy .
Trying to navigate the undefined line between encouraging tourists to “want to come to Hawaii because it’s a welcoming place” and “discouraging too many tourists from coming” is tough to find, and most people hear the negative easier than the positive. Good luck to the residents and especially the politicians! You may get what you wish for, but at a “price” that supports fewer people, resulting in some residents still having to leave because there are fewer jobs.
BOH- “What happened took us somewhat by surprise.” “An incident in Southern Spain”, “Having encountered far too much visitor push-back in Andalusia, Spain to feel comfortable, it turned out to be easier to head towards France”
Please elaborate, your readers could benefit from details of the “incident”. Were you threatened or worse? Is Spain unsafe for American tourists? Heading to France from Spain would be a huge change of plans and likely expense for most of BOH readers. Thanks.
Hi Rob.
We will write more about the situation in Europe. Thanks for asking and we were both fine.
Aloha.
Great article.
How many times was I posting examples of how over-tourism was not just a Hawaii problem? The proliferation of STRs everywhere and the huge problems and imbalances they’ve created? It’s nationwide. It’s global.
The travel and housing boom was a result of global Central Banks easing monetary policy far too low for far too long, coupled with governments crazy fiscal policy of deficit spending in the many, many, many trillions. In short, far too much money injected into the system.
Regarding STRs, huge liquidity injections encouraged a lot of inexperienced and overzealous investors into the space in a highly distorted market with inflated prices, which is horrible for local populations and society as a whole.
‘inflated prices, which is horrible for local populations and society as a whole.’
agree completely with the above statement.
We are experiencing the same thing here in Sedona AZ. However our tourist boom began during covid because folks didn’t want to fly anywhere.Then the vacation rental thing got completely out of hand.driving up prices and shutting out locals. The city gov does nothing for the residents and only focuses on wooing more tourists while our infrastructure has fallen by the wayside. state gov no help. So i completely understand the situation in Hawaii. I don’t know what the answer is but one does have to keep in mind fueling the economy. I have visited Hawaii every year for decades. I see the changes. i fear soon it will out of my price range. Best wishes to finding an amiable solution. Maybe we can follow your lead.
It’s the same story, everywhere…
“Sedona officials have started a new program aimed at reducing the number of short-term rentals in the community.
Prices have risen in the city over the past several years, leaving many residents unable to afford a place to live. Sedona is often held up as a poster child for some of the problems that can arise when too many of a community’s homes are used as short-term rentals.”
More:
kjzz.org/content/1864884/here-are-2-ways-sedona-trying-stop-more-short-term-rentals
Having also been to Malaga/Marbella in Spain, Venice Italy and Dubrovnik for both business and pleasure, I can attest to the same attitude. However, the change in attitude was only noticeable between staying in an AirBnB in an actual neighborhood, as opposed to being in one of the nice hotels. The overarching theme here is that we all went through a pandemic, we all learned (reinforcement for some) that life is short and you need to see the world. So we all did.
I am curious as to what specifically Hawaiian tourists should do to respect the local culture, encourage sustainability, and promote the local economy. We visit Hawaii often, adhere to the suggestions to visit respectfully, we tip generously, don’t harm or destroy any landscape or property, promote sustainability. What is expected of us?
You will never get a logical answer to this question because they don’t what is expected of visitors either, it seems like just a bunch of complaining and blaming others for their problems.
we just got back from maui in april and it was wonderful. I surfed every morning, then we would go out to help at the humane society. We love going to local restaurants and shops or taking long walks. When I broke my surfboard leash I went to a surf shop for a new one and no one batted an eye. At no time did i feel uncomfortable or unwanted. My hope is the government, locals, visitors can find i good middle ground. just because something might be difficult to do does not mean it should not be attempted. Change is hard but the status quo cant continue.
Thanks
One thing attracts many is the closeness of the Hawaiin islands to western mainland, in addition to not needing a passport and visa .
All one needs is an airline ticket.
Kids can still enjoy Big Mac !
It is that comfort zone
What we are seeing in tourist spots everywhere is a “mindset” that if you don’t see it person, it isn’t real. This has caused a cultural shift in the concept of value from “things” to experiences. Sadly, this causes vast overtourism on one hand, and in the long term, a bunch of starving seniors, who spend all their long term investment and savings on experiences, having nothing to retire on.
Please, what does going to the paradise of Hawaii have to do with “starving seniors”?
I lived in San Jose CA for years, then Boulder CO for 6 years, then Cambridge MA for a few years before again living in Silicon Valley. Every one of those places has become unaffordable for local residents. Should they have figured out ways to increase costs for newcomers? I think that some places identify easy to blame groups, such as tourists, who they then hold responsible for a broken economic system – a system which has created winners and losers. So they choose the intellectually easy and emotionally satisfying solution. This blog isn’t political – yet our lives are defined by politics – we ignore it at our peril.
Meanwhile, some of us short-term rental owners will be going bankrupt.
Meanwhile, the trash and abandoned cars alongside the roads are absolutely not tourists. It’s locals who try to blame everything on tourists…Lots of locals are way more disrespectful of their own island. Very sad.
There is certainly a victimhood mentality with certain people. It’s sad to see people deprive themselves of their own agency.
Excellent post. BTW – do you know what law (or County “policy” or whatever) is responsible for the abandoned cars on the sides of the roads. Three years ago, a relatively new car was left in the middle of the road in front of our condominium. The Wailea Community Association Security Patrol could do nothing. Three days later it was driven away (towed?) in the middle of the night.
Bizarre.
Fred,
It’s not a law. It is a part of the local culture that so many commenters on this site claim to love. The ones on the main highways are eventually removed (at least on Kauai), but the ones sitting on privately owned land may rot there forever.
Aloha
I would disagree. We must revisit the history books so that we can better understand how the dynamics have played out over the years, and never in favor of hawaiian culture and people.
One would remiss and be inaccurate in paralleling
financial and political climate to stateside cost of living vs. that of tourism in Hawaii. It’s much more involved.
Wow. I think a lot of “old timers” in San Jose would be stunned to hear their centuries of history dismissed so casually. Same thing for those “old timers” I knew in Cambridge – with proud roots that go back to European immigrants and well-before. So I’m not sure that any appeal to an argument of “well, our history is special” has ever justified the actions or inactions that we all see being done in our society. We do agree though that “it is much more involved” – with more serious thinking needed all around.