526 thoughts on “Hawaii Travel Upheaval: Stakeholders Livid As Adversaries Now Concur”
Craig R
My wife and I still have reservations for early March after postponing an October trip. I’m figuring we will have to postpone again … Which will cost us more once again. While we love Hawaii, I wish we had chosen to go somewhere else. I don’t like thinking that we may get our trip ruined at the last minute by rule changes or late test results beyond our control.
Laurie G.
We are scheduled to go to Kona in January. With all of this going on – the changes, the rules, the testing – we are trying to decide whether to keep it or postpone, at a cost of over $5,000 that we would lose!! The rules need to be the same for the State of Hawai’i – not each individual island.
Jim H.
We have reservations at Marriott Waiohai June 18- July 2, 2021, can you provide any insights regarding what regulations might be required by then like proof of vaccination or just a negative test?
Thanks,
Jim H.
Beat of Hawaii
Hi Jim.
It is simply far too early to know.
Aloha.
Greg R.
Yes! We had a two week vacation planned for December 19 through January 2; one week on Kauai and one week on Maui. We decided to cancel the entire trip due to the uncertainties. Everything bought and payed for last year. We were looking forward to this trip since we had to cancel our June trip. The one plus that takes some of the sting out of our disappointment, is seeing all of that already spent money flow back into my bank account. Maybe June 2021 will happen but not getting my hopes up.
Scottie
Hi. I hope this finds you well. Wife and I are scheduled to go to Kauai Jan 8th and stay at an Aibnb, rent a car, do tourist stuff etc. Now we don’t know. Really bummed. Hang in there Hawaii, we will be back
PAM M
Hi guys!
Mahalo, again, for your amazing job of reporting updates on “As the stomach turns”.
Question: Does anyone know if Hawai’i has distributed all/or any of the money from the CARES act?
Seriously, this is horrific. I honestly think it’s time for the Federal Government to step in and help Governor Ige fish or cut bait.
Unbelievable mess.
Hawai’i and her people deserve better than this.
Aloha
Beat of Hawaii
Hi Pam.
We aren’t certain, so will let someone else comment on the CARE money. You always being a smile to us. Thanks.
Aloha.
Roy H
Pam
Yes the state of Hawaii is using CARES monies. The use of CARES monies changes daily. I know it’s being used for schools, unemployment insurance, National Guard, covid testing programs and in the hospitals. I’m sure there are other uses too. Josh Green has commented several times about CARES monies not being used in an expedient way.
Cf
Wow my predictions are all coming true about attacking tourists and endless random restrictions ending with financial meltdown for the state.
Im not suprised at all but was hoping i would be wrong when I started making these comments back in April. Hawaii has largest unemployment and homelessness in the entire usa, yet they want to protect every life from covid. It just doesn’t add up at all.
And the suicide rate and domestic violence rates are probably way up too. Probably more deaths from these than the covid issue. Hawaii is just way way way too extreme and will not get its act together.
It would be better to have no restrictions at all like South Dakota and Sweden than what they are doing now. Death rate in those places is about the same as the rest if usa.( And yes i have checked the statistics. )
People should probably try to vacation elsewhere just for their own wellbeing and sanity. Even when covid is over i feel like Hawaii has put the nail in the coffin for tourism and publicly humiliated themselves. The economic and social situation in hawaii is not good. I know that the carribean and Florida or cancun is looking good to me right now vs hawaii. Theres also San Diego and south texas beaches and mexico
Joerg H.
Ah, you checked the numbers? Where? North Dakota and South Dakota have the highest rate of COVID cases in the county by population. 107K and 95K per million respectively. Also, Sweden has seen the error of its ways. In Nov. they announced restrictions by area and limited gatherings to fewer than 8 people. “the Swedish ambassador in Washington, stressed that widespread trust in the country’s public agencies meant that most Swedes would voluntarily heed social distancing guidelines. Sweden’s robust social safety net and enhanced paid sick leave, she argued, would help ensure more Swedes would stay home if they felt symptoms or feared contracting the virus at their workplaces.” These are all things that the Right-wing in this country hates, which would make implementing the Swedish Model more difficult here. For example, if we would all just wear masks when in public, we could turn down the rate of spread and open up more businesses. But because of the politicization of mask-wearing in the US, fewer than 1/2 of us wear masks. Compare that to, say Spain, where it’s over 95% saying they always do, and another 2% say they frequently do. The current surge peaked at the beginning of Nov, and is now down to pre-Oct. levels and continuing to trend downward. So, all that being said, the lockdowns are necessary for this country, because people simply won’t do the Other things that are needed to get this more under control. So if you’re looking for someone to blame for the lockdowns, the bad economy, etc. just look at those people who aren’t wearing masks, not social distancing, and still gathering in bars and restaurants or having large family gatherings without masks, etc. Add to that our so-called “leaders” who refuse to take this seriously and model the proper behavior and that leaves few options beyond lockdowns.
Brad B
Please continue your coverage even though it is depressing to see the sad state of the islands’ politics and the damage it is doing to your tourism.
We were planning a trip to Maui for the spring break but will shelve that until the fall. This depends on how the vaccination roll out is (mis)handled.
Karen M
This is such a sad situation, especially on Kauai. I had a 2 week trip planned for the end of the year to Kauai. For weeks I stressed about whether to cancel or not. Once I finally gave up & canceled the trip, I’m now looking at spending my travel dollars elsewhere
Robert L.
Hawaii is digging it’s own grave. No one wants to spend thousands of dollars on a gamble. As much as we love our yearly trips, we have decided to go elsewhere from now on. There are too many other places to visit. I see nothing but headaches and massive layoffs for the people. Not sure if the islands will ever recover.
Scottie
yes they will recover! Hawaii has been a paradise long before tourist
Debra N
Well, I am sorry for all the working people on Kauai. We have cancelled 3 times to go to our timeshare on Kauai, and were charged $600 additional to move all three weeks into 2021. I just received my maintenance fee bill for the first quarter. I am inclined to tell them to keep it. I don’t think we will go in 2021, and possibly never go back. I have a lot of money invested in it, and have thought of renting it, but who wants to jump through the hoops to even try? We have to move on.
Gwen C
I visit Kona or Kauai every year. This was the first year I decided to wait until after the islands were back to “normal.” I pray for all the Hawaiian residents on all the islands, that they will be able to persevere through these confusing times.
Thank you for keeping us updated.
Beat of Hawaii
Hi Gwen.
Thank you. We hope you’ll be back again soon!
Aloha.
Suzanna G
We have a trip scheduled to Maui on 12/30. Not hearing much about what’s happening there. Can you please give any updates on how things are going on Maui, especially Ka’anapali & Lahaina? Thank you! Mahalo, Suzanna G
Beat of Hawaii
Hi Suzanna.
We don’t have any updates on Maui at this time. Others have reported many Lahaina businesses aren’t open. Perhaps those there could give us a further hand with your question.
Aloha.
rochelle h
We were scheduled on Kauai for the first 2 weeks of Jan but changed in November to 2 weeks in May on Maui. Now I am debating whether to keep those reservations or find somewhere else to go. I do not feel confident that they will have a solution in place by then.
Joanb
Aloha
I just cancelled my December reservation. I know that reservations are cancelling left and right and people are telling me they will not come back to Kauai. Tiki Iniki restaurant is closing. They are one of many. Friends on the island are telling me merchants are crying and unable to stay open. It’s pretty dire.
It is a very sad state of affairs with so few sick. At least with pretesting you knew who was sick or not. With quarantine you should assume everyone is positive.
StillAuthenticDavid B
“Tiki Iniki restaurant is closing.”
Michelle will be fine. But not her employees unless they keep getting enhanced unemployment benes. PV eats just opened dining back up, but I suspect they will shut back down to take out by next week. Is owned by Foodland, same with the new “upscale” market in Kilauea. Kalypso and Opakapaka said they are going to try and stay open, but I don’t see them lasting. Same with most-all of the restaurants in Hanalei. The Nui was closed when we drove by yesterday. Maybe was just a one day thing? Same with Hops and Taps in Kapa`a. Probably whatever was open in June/July will be what is still open by next week.
Small silver lining: they finally started the slope stabilization work on mauka side of Kuhio Hwy, just west of Kilauea. The traffic back ups if we had full tourist rental cars would be for miles in either direction. So, this will be a good time to get some of that work done.
Stephane
Hello,
We are a family of 4, with young kids on the East coast. We want to visit Maui, Kauai and Big Island on 2 weeks. 5 days by islands.
It means for us 4 test during our vacation. If one of us don’t have a result, it change our vacations from Difficult dream to a nightmare…
With Kauai now closed… and us not visiting twice a place … we cancelled for the 2nd time this year.
We will try this spring but when I see how Hawaii manage this crisis … my hope is very low. That’s sad for you Hawaiian people …
That’s a lot of work and organization for me to re-re-book these island… (without talking of money wasted)
Sad… sad… sad…
Wish you all to finish well 2020 and hope for the best in 2021 !
Beat of Hawaii
Hi Stephane.
Thanks for your comments and this update. We hope you can return again soon.
Aloha.
Vicki B.
Was scheduled to fly into Kauai on Thanksgiving, then flying over to Maui three weeks later for a month long stay there a total of 7 weeks. On Thursday before Thanksgiving I was notified by the resort I was booked, that if our COVID tests were still pending upon arrival I would not be permitted to stay at said resort. With all the unknown of getting our test results in a timely matter prior to departure and the quarantine, I cancelled the entire trip. At first the resort in Kauai (which I will not name) was not willing to refund my money as I had paid entire balance on October 25th once the islands had re-opened, they indicated that I was within 30 days of arrival and that was their policy. I got corporate involved and only then did the resort in Kauai agree to give me a full refund.
Thank you BOH for all your informative articles. Much aloha.
Beat of Hawaii
Hi Vicki.
Best to you too. Thanks for your update and we hope you can return again soon.
Aloha.
Bev F
We currently have travel plans for March 24-April 8. 6 days on Oahu and 9 in Kauai. I am trying to change Kauai to Maui, presently. Everything I read makes me uneasy about keeping reservations for The Garden Isle. We will decide by the end of January if we will travel at all to Hawaii.
Gary S
This latest mess has caused us to delay our winter trip (10 weeks) twice, then move it back twice and shorten it, and finally yesterday, cancel it altogether. Aloha.
Martin M
I had planned on Kauai trip then decided to go to Maui but now i plain don’t trust the every daily changes and cannot plan a trip that may be postponed. while i can get my airfare back from what i’m reading getting accomodations back is next to impossible as owners are not easy to work with. good luck, and thanks for keeping us informed!
Beat of Hawaii
Hi Martin.
Thank you. We hope it still works out for your Maui travel plans, but understand if you decide to go elsewhere.
Aloha.
Comments are closed.
Aloha!
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My wife and I still have reservations for early March after postponing an October trip. I’m figuring we will have to postpone again … Which will cost us more once again. While we love Hawaii, I wish we had chosen to go somewhere else. I don’t like thinking that we may get our trip ruined at the last minute by rule changes or late test results beyond our control.
We are scheduled to go to Kona in January. With all of this going on – the changes, the rules, the testing – we are trying to decide whether to keep it or postpone, at a cost of over $5,000 that we would lose!! The rules need to be the same for the State of Hawai’i – not each individual island.
We have reservations at Marriott Waiohai June 18- July 2, 2021, can you provide any insights regarding what regulations might be required by then like proof of vaccination or just a negative test?
Thanks,
Jim H.
Hi Jim.
It is simply far too early to know.
Aloha.
Yes! We had a two week vacation planned for December 19 through January 2; one week on Kauai and one week on Maui. We decided to cancel the entire trip due to the uncertainties. Everything bought and payed for last year. We were looking forward to this trip since we had to cancel our June trip. The one plus that takes some of the sting out of our disappointment, is seeing all of that already spent money flow back into my bank account. Maybe June 2021 will happen but not getting my hopes up.
Hi. I hope this finds you well. Wife and I are scheduled to go to Kauai Jan 8th and stay at an Aibnb, rent a car, do tourist stuff etc. Now we don’t know. Really bummed. Hang in there Hawaii, we will be back
Hi guys!
Mahalo, again, for your amazing job of reporting updates on “As the stomach turns”.
Question: Does anyone know if Hawai’i has distributed all/or any of the money from the CARES act?
Seriously, this is horrific. I honestly think it’s time for the Federal Government to step in and help Governor Ige fish or cut bait.
Unbelievable mess.
Hawai’i and her people deserve better than this.
Aloha
Hi Pam.
We aren’t certain, so will let someone else comment on the CARE money. You always being a smile to us. Thanks.
Aloha.
Pam
Yes the state of Hawaii is using CARES monies. The use of CARES monies changes daily. I know it’s being used for schools, unemployment insurance, National Guard, covid testing programs and in the hospitals. I’m sure there are other uses too. Josh Green has commented several times about CARES monies not being used in an expedient way.
Wow my predictions are all coming true about attacking tourists and endless random restrictions ending with financial meltdown for the state.
Im not suprised at all but was hoping i would be wrong when I started making these comments back in April. Hawaii has largest unemployment and homelessness in the entire usa, yet they want to protect every life from covid. It just doesn’t add up at all.
And the suicide rate and domestic violence rates are probably way up too. Probably more deaths from these than the covid issue. Hawaii is just way way way too extreme and will not get its act together.
It would be better to have no restrictions at all like South Dakota and Sweden than what they are doing now. Death rate in those places is about the same as the rest if usa.( And yes i have checked the statistics. )
People should probably try to vacation elsewhere just for their own wellbeing and sanity. Even when covid is over i feel like Hawaii has put the nail in the coffin for tourism and publicly humiliated themselves. The economic and social situation in hawaii is not good. I know that the carribean and Florida or cancun is looking good to me right now vs hawaii. Theres also San Diego and south texas beaches and mexico
Ah, you checked the numbers? Where? North Dakota and South Dakota have the highest rate of COVID cases in the county by population. 107K and 95K per million respectively. Also, Sweden has seen the error of its ways. In Nov. they announced restrictions by area and limited gatherings to fewer than 8 people. “the Swedish ambassador in Washington, stressed that widespread trust in the country’s public agencies meant that most Swedes would voluntarily heed social distancing guidelines. Sweden’s robust social safety net and enhanced paid sick leave, she argued, would help ensure more Swedes would stay home if they felt symptoms or feared contracting the virus at their workplaces.” These are all things that the Right-wing in this country hates, which would make implementing the Swedish Model more difficult here. For example, if we would all just wear masks when in public, we could turn down the rate of spread and open up more businesses. But because of the politicization of mask-wearing in the US, fewer than 1/2 of us wear masks. Compare that to, say Spain, where it’s over 95% saying they always do, and another 2% say they frequently do. The current surge peaked at the beginning of Nov, and is now down to pre-Oct. levels and continuing to trend downward. So, all that being said, the lockdowns are necessary for this country, because people simply won’t do the Other things that are needed to get this more under control. So if you’re looking for someone to blame for the lockdowns, the bad economy, etc. just look at those people who aren’t wearing masks, not social distancing, and still gathering in bars and restaurants or having large family gatherings without masks, etc. Add to that our so-called “leaders” who refuse to take this seriously and model the proper behavior and that leaves few options beyond lockdowns.
Please continue your coverage even though it is depressing to see the sad state of the islands’ politics and the damage it is doing to your tourism.
We were planning a trip to Maui for the spring break but will shelve that until the fall. This depends on how the vaccination roll out is (mis)handled.
This is such a sad situation, especially on Kauai. I had a 2 week trip planned for the end of the year to Kauai. For weeks I stressed about whether to cancel or not. Once I finally gave up & canceled the trip, I’m now looking at spending my travel dollars elsewhere
Hawaii is digging it’s own grave. No one wants to spend thousands of dollars on a gamble. As much as we love our yearly trips, we have decided to go elsewhere from now on. There are too many other places to visit. I see nothing but headaches and massive layoffs for the people. Not sure if the islands will ever recover.
yes they will recover! Hawaii has been a paradise long before tourist
Well, I am sorry for all the working people on Kauai. We have cancelled 3 times to go to our timeshare on Kauai, and were charged $600 additional to move all three weeks into 2021. I just received my maintenance fee bill for the first quarter. I am inclined to tell them to keep it. I don’t think we will go in 2021, and possibly never go back. I have a lot of money invested in it, and have thought of renting it, but who wants to jump through the hoops to even try? We have to move on.
I visit Kona or Kauai every year. This was the first year I decided to wait until after the islands were back to “normal.” I pray for all the Hawaiian residents on all the islands, that they will be able to persevere through these confusing times.
Thank you for keeping us updated.
Hi Gwen.
Thank you. We hope you’ll be back again soon!
Aloha.
We have a trip scheduled to Maui on 12/30. Not hearing much about what’s happening there. Can you please give any updates on how things are going on Maui, especially Ka’anapali & Lahaina? Thank you! Mahalo, Suzanna G
Hi Suzanna.
We don’t have any updates on Maui at this time. Others have reported many Lahaina businesses aren’t open. Perhaps those there could give us a further hand with your question.
Aloha.
We were scheduled on Kauai for the first 2 weeks of Jan but changed in November to 2 weeks in May on Maui. Now I am debating whether to keep those reservations or find somewhere else to go. I do not feel confident that they will have a solution in place by then.
Aloha
I just cancelled my December reservation. I know that reservations are cancelling left and right and people are telling me they will not come back to Kauai. Tiki Iniki restaurant is closing. They are one of many. Friends on the island are telling me merchants are crying and unable to stay open. It’s pretty dire.
It is a very sad state of affairs with so few sick. At least with pretesting you knew who was sick or not. With quarantine you should assume everyone is positive.
“Tiki Iniki restaurant is closing.”
Michelle will be fine. But not her employees unless they keep getting enhanced unemployment benes. PV eats just opened dining back up, but I suspect they will shut back down to take out by next week. Is owned by Foodland, same with the new “upscale” market in Kilauea. Kalypso and Opakapaka said they are going to try and stay open, but I don’t see them lasting. Same with most-all of the restaurants in Hanalei. The Nui was closed when we drove by yesterday. Maybe was just a one day thing? Same with Hops and Taps in Kapa`a. Probably whatever was open in June/July will be what is still open by next week.
Small silver lining: they finally started the slope stabilization work on mauka side of Kuhio Hwy, just west of Kilauea. The traffic back ups if we had full tourist rental cars would be for miles in either direction. So, this will be a good time to get some of that work done.
Hello,
We are a family of 4, with young kids on the East coast. We want to visit Maui, Kauai and Big Island on 2 weeks. 5 days by islands.
It means for us 4 test during our vacation. If one of us don’t have a result, it change our vacations from Difficult dream to a nightmare…
With Kauai now closed… and us not visiting twice a place … we cancelled for the 2nd time this year.
We will try this spring but when I see how Hawaii manage this crisis … my hope is very low. That’s sad for you Hawaiian people …
That’s a lot of work and organization for me to re-re-book these island… (without talking of money wasted)
Sad… sad… sad…
Wish you all to finish well 2020 and hope for the best in 2021 !
Hi Stephane.
Thanks for your comments and this update. We hope you can return again soon.
Aloha.
Was scheduled to fly into Kauai on Thanksgiving, then flying over to Maui three weeks later for a month long stay there a total of 7 weeks. On Thursday before Thanksgiving I was notified by the resort I was booked, that if our COVID tests were still pending upon arrival I would not be permitted to stay at said resort. With all the unknown of getting our test results in a timely matter prior to departure and the quarantine, I cancelled the entire trip. At first the resort in Kauai (which I will not name) was not willing to refund my money as I had paid entire balance on October 25th once the islands had re-opened, they indicated that I was within 30 days of arrival and that was their policy. I got corporate involved and only then did the resort in Kauai agree to give me a full refund.
Thank you BOH for all your informative articles. Much aloha.
Hi Vicki.
Best to you too. Thanks for your update and we hope you can return again soon.
Aloha.
We currently have travel plans for March 24-April 8. 6 days on Oahu and 9 in Kauai. I am trying to change Kauai to Maui, presently. Everything I read makes me uneasy about keeping reservations for The Garden Isle. We will decide by the end of January if we will travel at all to Hawaii.
This latest mess has caused us to delay our winter trip (10 weeks) twice, then move it back twice and shorten it, and finally yesterday, cancel it altogether. Aloha.
I had planned on Kauai trip then decided to go to Maui but now i plain don’t trust the every daily changes and cannot plan a trip that may be postponed. while i can get my airfare back from what i’m reading getting accomodations back is next to impossible as owners are not easy to work with. good luck, and thanks for keeping us informed!
Hi Martin.
Thank you. We hope it still works out for your Maui travel plans, but understand if you decide to go elsewhere.
Aloha.