Readers felt taken advantage of as Hawaii vacations canceled.
Get Breaking Hawaii Travel News
Leave a Comment
91 thoughts on “Hawaii Visitors Say Travel Industry Is Preying on Them”
Readers felt taken advantage of as Hawaii vacations canceled.
Get Breaking Hawaii Travel News
Mahalo! for the nice comments and thoughts!
Hi Kay.
Thanks.
Aloha.
Seeing how this is a Hawaiian travel website, I wish they’d have more understanding for the opinion of the local people. Our hospitals can’t just send patients somewhere else-we’re 3000 miles away from anything else. Please wait until COVID is under control before planning to visit.
I think that most if not all of the readers of this site are agreement with your sentiments; we DON’T want to come before CoVid-19 is under control. The issue in this thread is that some of the airlines and landlords have been less than forthcoming and/or not acting in good faith in refunding money and/or providing alternate arrangements for trips cancelled due to CoVid.
Exactly Dennis. Alaska Air is one of them it’s horrible. I even called there corporate office. They were complete jerks
Aloha from Wailea Beach Resort. We noticed the comment by Karen and would love the opportunity to connect with her directly to discuss please. I am Laurie Garzon, the Director of Sales and Marketing, and it appears the time frame of the reservation falls over our special event and festive/holiday dates. It is our top priority to take care of our guests and provide them service that exceeds expectations. Look forward to the opportunity to take care of her. Thank you for the opportunity to comment and connect.
Hi Laurie.
Thanks for helping.
Aloha.
I booked an Airbnb September 4th in Kawaii for 7 days . Then Oahu for 7 days included a Memorial for a friend that was canceled. Cheap air is not working with us. We want to cancel and get our money back. Really makes me never want to go on vacation.. So frustrating!
My aunt was planning to come down from Alaska to work on family home in Maui, she was supposed to come in August. But due to the lock down happening again and going back even more into July, she was following the news firm to only where she lives (Alaska) but also checking to see what’s going on in Honolulu and Maui. She was able to make an educated guess that based on what’s going on, it would be smart to cancel or reschedule tickets as early a date as possible. She got all her $$ back… it seems like yes people are not able to get their full refunds or going in circles with hotels and businesses trying to get their money back since they weren’t even able to make it. That sucks regardless. Losing money that you weren’t even able to spend for your pre-paid vacation sucks. But times haven’t changed that greatly. I’m pretty sure most businesses esp in Waikiki and st hotels have never been so easy going with refunds and cancellations…. especially if you’re going to wait till the actual date of your vacation to try and handle it! That’s a no brainer!! Pay attention to what’s going on in the islands to better predict and protect yourself from this frustration because if you call early before your reservations, most of the previously mentioned places are cool about rescheduling or canceling/refunds
As a frequent vacationer to Hawaii I can’t see opening with restrictions being feasible. Who wants to spend their hard earned money on a vacation that limits all the freedoms that you have been looking forward to for the year
Waiting for a time slot to sit by the pool in the heat of the day or in the rain for a two hour limit and not being able to leave your tracing area to sight see or visit the beaches would be full of more anxiety than staying home and working.
Thanks for all your tremendous input during this pandemic. I feel for the Hawaiian people and hope for a vaccine as soon as possible. That is the only way Hawai’i can fully recover
Hi Randy.
Thank you.
Aloha.
We’re in Maui annually for 6 weeks in November & December. We purchased our tickets long ago and have resigned ourselves to the possibility of being locked down for the first two weeks of our stay this year.
The question we have is how do we prove to anyone that we’ve gone through quarantine? Do we get a card or a wristband? Maybe a tattoo or an implanted RFID chip? How can anyone distinguish us from someone who has just arrived?
I have been through quarantine. Keep your paperwork and your airline ticket. That proof is golden during your stay. We came prepared. Brought all our food for 2 weeks. I made a game of it. Kept a diary daily. Ate meals in different rooms and pretended we were going to different restaurants with different views, it is doable. Play cards, watch tv, read. Have fun with it. Then enjoy Hawaii!
Mahalo Kay! That’s what I’m planning on doing in October. The view of the ocean from the lanai will be a nice change from the view in my backyard.
This is the first year since 2005 that we have not made it to Hawaii. We made plans nine months prior to our July 2020 trip. Of course we cancelled and we are grateful that all monies were refunded. I would like to make plans for 2021 but I have zero confidence in planning a trip anytime in the next 6 or more months. All the best to the residents of Hawaii and prayers that your state’s health and economy returns much sooner than later. Aloha.
Hi Phil.
Thanks.
Aloha.
Our flight from Hawaii to the mainland was cancelled 3 times back in may by untied. We still haven’t seen a refund or credit. It’s been SUCH a hassle. They’ve been awful to work with. I don’t think I will ever fly with United again. It’s close to $4000 they owe us!
We have had to cancel our trip twice. Rescheduled once and had to pay extra due to rate increases for both the airline and the condo. Second cancelation looks to be the same issue. No full refunds and increased prices again! This trip is costing a fortune but what can you do? Not willing to just lose the 10k already paid. This will be our last trip to Hawaii at this point. Next time we will try something way more exotic and it will be cheaper than the 10 days we had in Maui, if we can ever get there!
oh and I also forgot to mention the limited availability for the Condo rental. So extra time off from work and school will cost us money and added stress as well!
Had our Marriott timeshare canceled three times. Add us it our week on Maui in Interval. Which me angry, why should I give up my week, when it wasn’t my fault. Marriott should let me use my week with my next even week.
we rescheduled our trip to hawaii from august to september, then just yesterday, cancelled the whole trip and will postpone till 2021. we had no trouble with southwest airlines providing immediate refund of points, and quick refund of full payments of lodging and all deposits.
Aloha everyone
Like so many others, our hearts ache for the people of Hawaii.
Foe now all we can all do is hope the best for Hawaii and dream that we came some day return.
A Hui Hou
Bill
Hi Bill.
Thanks for all your comments.
Aloha.
Visitors – please do not come to Hawaii until our collective elected official’s heads are extracted from their butts.
Otherwise you are subject to arbitrary Government nonsensical actions that will on;y cause financial hardship and frustration. I hear Texas and Canada are nice this time of year.
The difficulty for homeowners who rent their places out are that the State is not reducing their property taxes, the homeowners associations still have to collect and pay their expenses and the banks still expect their mortgage payments to be paid on-time.
Our big time birthdays/anniversary Maui vacation in April, 100% paid for in Feb thru VRBO, cancelled by owner ten days before our arrival. Alaska cancelled non stop to Maui also, but still arranged and guaranteed First class non stop to Honolulu, then inter Island air with little layover. Was ok by us. Didn’t care about quarantine, was planning to chill out in large condo anyway. Owner couldn’t rent by law because cleaning service had been laid off. We didn’t care. Owner refunded less than 50%,VRBO wouldn’t refund a penny. Never ever use/trust them, telling all our travel friends. Alaska refunded 100%, even though they did nothing but act professionally. As usual.
You may have cancelled too early. VRBO initiated the cancellation of 100% refund due to COVID. They were terrific with handling all 10 of my cancellations. Might I suggest you contact them and inquire why you were denied the VRBO fees because of COVID? Give them another chance. I felt if VRBO was willing to refund 100%, I had to do the same, which I did!
We had reservations for the last week of August. We received an email from our hotel that our reservations had been canceled. When I contacted Hawaiian Airlines I was told that they would not refund our money since they did not cancel our reservations. They said they would give us a credit. Sadly since I don’t see any end in site as far as the state of Hawaii goes. We could really use our money back. Don’t know what we can do though. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Mohalo
Hi Ann.
As we have said, we suggest contacting airlines via direct messaging in social media.
Aloha.