Hawaii’s hotel tax, already among the highest in the U.S., could climb even further as the state refocuses its push for a Green Fee—this time embedding it directly into the transient accommodations tax. Ouch! This proposal differs from previous failed attempts to charge visitors separately, instead rolling the fee into existing hotel and short-term rental taxes. Both Hawaii visitors and residents will pay for this.
The governor and other lawmakers backing the proposal argue that funding environmental protection and climate change initiatives is necessary. Many residents and visitors, however, remain highly skeptical. The bills advancing through the legislature, HB1077 and SB1396, outline a plan to increase the cost of staying in hotels and vacation rentals across the state. If passed, this would push Hawaii’s total lodging tax above 18 percent, cementing its position as the highest in the nation.
The latest attempt at an old Green Fee idea.
Governor Josh Green has been a vocal supporter of visitor impact fees since he first ran for office, but previous efforts to impose a standalone Green Fee failed in the legislature. Instead of charging tourists a separate entry or access fee, which would have been highly problematic if not impossible, this latest plan embeds the charge within the transient accommodations tax, ensuring both visitors and residents pay.
The new proposal creates a climate mitigation and resiliency fund, which would at least, in theory, be used for environmental projects across the islands. However, critics argue the bill’s wording is too broad, with few guarantees that the money will be spent as intended. Some lawmakers, visitors, and residents have already voiced concerns about the lack of apparent oversight. At the same time, industry leaders warn that another tax increase could further erode Hawaii’s appeal to travelers.
What visitors and residents are saying.
Over the past year, thousands of Beat of Hawaii readers have weighed in on visitor fees, with frustration, skepticism, and some support. Many travelers say rising costs are already driving them to reconsider Hawaii.
Mary, a longtime reader, just shared her hesitation. “Visiting Hawaii has been on my bucket list ever since I was a mere child! Poring over vacation package costs, I see they are already quite expensive! One fee here, another there will definitely deter me and my plan to visit. I may bite the bullet and simply choose another, more affordable tropical location.”
Others see it as part of a broader rising cost trend across the islands. Larry, who has visited for decades, questioned the fairness of the fee. “Every state has environmental concerns. California, my state, had 11.5 million visitors internationally only, not total, in 2022. Hawaii had 10 million from everywhere. California needs to set up collection stations as you leave Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, etc. We need to man the airports, collect the money for our unique environment. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?”
Some visitors are simply reaching their breaking point. Kay, who has visited Hawaii seven times, said this could be the final straw. “There will not be an eighth time. The condo rentals, car rentals, and entertainment have gone out of sight. If the high cost and taxes continue, we won’t be the only ones leaving to never return.”
Not all responses have been negative. Some residents argue that tourists should bear more of the financial burden for maintaining Hawaii’s natural resources. One reader noted, “As a local, I see the impact of over-tourism every day. Our beaches, trails, and parks are overcrowded and littered. The funds from this fee could go a long way in maintaining our natural resources and ensuring they are here for future generations.”
Will this time be different?
Despite strong opposition from the tourism industry, the latest version of the green fee is advancing through the legislature. By embedding it within the transient accommodations tax, lawmakers may have found a way to pass a visitor impact fee without the legal challenges that derailed all prior attempts.
Even so, there are still questions about how much the tax will increase and how the funds will be used. Those aren’t clear at this point. Lawmakers have yet to set a specific rate for the increase, though past discussions have referenced at least a one percent hike, if not more. Given the existing tax burden on hotel stays, any additional increase could push total lodging taxes well above 18 percent.
The debate over visitor fees in Hawaii is far from over. Whether this latest proposal succeeds where prior attempts have failed will depend on how lawmakers address concerns over financial transparency, spending priorities, and the potential economic impact on the state’s only economic engine, tourism.
HB1077 and SB1396 continue to move through the legislature, with the outcome having perhaps profound implications for Hawaii visitors. We’ll all continue watching closely for now, wondering just how high Hawaii’s hotel tax will go.
We welcome your comments!
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Given the proposed Green Fee, should Hawaii consider implementing a ‘reverse tourism’ policy, where visitors are incentivized to stay home to reduce environmental impact, and if so, how would this be ethically and economically justified?
The legislature has demonstrated that progressivism and funding extensive programs is more important than reality. After this idea was already defeated and in the face of a difficult erosion in travelers and per traveler spend, adding more taxes on the already highly taxed most expensive US destination is… Seen as the logical choice?!
The comments here tell me that folks are interested in coming to Hawaii but not at the price of tourism today. But I’d like to point out that Hawaii was not built on the tourist dollar until an American invasion took the islands from a peaceful native population and forced an economy that favored the wealthy at the expense of the local population. The native population was forced from their local economy and offered what was slave working conditions. The Hawaiian people have had very little say in their futures – even today, as affordable housing for generational families have disappeared to the developers’ wrecking balls. These developers, many with mainland ties, provide little compensation for those they’re displacing. The blame isn’t the local people, it’s the high cost developers who’ve created social conditions unaffordable for the common man. So yes, the government has a responsibility to provide equality for the locals for all the profiteering and cultural destruction.
Raise the room tax 50%. That way you will get enough income to feed your donors and reduce tourists. Your “blue” party rule hates to cut spending. Just look as Washington DC. The move to cut wasteful spending is being fought against and one Democrat is introducing impeachment papers! Any money collected will not go to any purpose you are being told. You need to turn “red” to save your future.
Yeah, I get it. Tourists in general are respectful of the islands but you always find a few that trash the roads and beaches, act entitled and leave a mess. I used to have a place near Ala Moana so I sympathize with the residents. But I also will not return to Hawaii anytime soon because it’s gotten so expensive and I’ve been mistreated by the locals as soon as I got off the plane. But getting mistreated has opened up opportunities to explore many other parts of the world – all of which are cheaper and just as beautiful as Hawaii. I hope Hawaii can save its natural beauty, its cultural history and place a tourist limit such as Spain, Italy and Japan so that the experience is filled with great memories and not regrets for both the locals and the tourists.
Hawaiin residents keep voting for these disasterous policies…so enjoy the misery of decreased revenue, less jobs, less success as tourists say more and more that enough is enough…
What a joke.
Tourists leave trash strewn about? Many of us have seen how locals live too.
Enjoy strangling the goose laying golden eggs. Guess Hawaii just wants wealthy retirees who buy up the property.
For every hotel price increase and resort fee increase this magical percentage for the green fee also increases as it is a percent of the total hotel tax. Not a flat fee dollar amount per person but it also will vary on how expensive of hotel you will be staying in. Work it out and my guess is that it will be way more than the original per person rate that was initially written about. I think the proposed flat rate per person changed amounts twice and now 18% hotel tax plus this unknown % greens fee amount could be way more than the original flat rate started out being. Sad just sad.
I read “our” beaches written by locals, like they allow visitors to enjoy them. The beauty of Hawaii AND CA, and Oregon and all the states are their for all…the United States. Where does Maui residents think all that FEMA money came from?
A lot of vocal locals would rather visitors just send a check and stay home. How many people could afford to live in Hawaii without visitor dollars and Federal funds?
Climate change? Look at the data, and there isn’t climate change.
Environmental cleanup? Does that mean using tourist tax revenues to pay to pickup the trash locals dump on the highways?
Where are the tourist tax revenues going now? Not to address tourist impacts.
The total hotel costs, especially once taxes and high fees are added on, will make our spring visit to Maui the last one for Hawaii. We can rent a nice beachfront villa with a pool in French Polynesia for the same nightly rate as as the hotel in Maui.
Aloha Beat of Hawaii, As a kamaaina and a senior citizen I am concerned that higher accomodation taxes would too severely impact those of us who must go to Honolulu for medical care. As more physicians have left the outer islands, and most specialists are in Honolulu, I know so many friends who travel regularly to Oahu for care. It is already so very expensive for us. Is there any way an accomodation tax could be levied only on non-residents?
Lanai is the goal the mega hotels for all other islands. Only affordable by uber rich people. No competition. Pay the locals as little as possible because there’s no place else to work. Politicians are quite willing to accept donations and pass laws that please these hotels. Keep electing them and the situation in Lanai will soon spread to the rest of the islands.
Given, it’s been 47 years since the talk of Train Transpirtation from Ewa to Honolulu, is not even half way there, despite now adding Honolulu International and potentially Ala Moana as stops. Despite, former Governor Ige taking the Room Taxes from the other Counties (Maui, Hawaii, Lanai, Molokai and Kauai) and placing it in the States General Fund, necessitating the Counties already raising their Room Taxes in 2023! Governor Green, got his fingers caught in Federal Law, proposing a Tax to those coming from other State’s, so ‘Green’ becomes the magic word, real or imagined! With just under 100 trips since 1986, I’m glad I’m where I am, a beautiful State, but it’s not the tourists that leave Refrigerator’s and stripped down cars on the highways, One Party Rule, has taken our 50th State to this precipice!
Good work Hawaii tourism decision makers. We are now hearing from golfers worried about an additional tax on Greens Fees, not to mention all the other taxes, fees and surcharges, which can amount to 30-40% of each visit. If you want to keep tourists coming, adding taxes & fees is not the way, and be careful what you call them. Our regular customers are abandoning Hawaii in droves. Advance bookings beyond the end of March are woeful and getting worse every day. Have a seat and watch the world pass by Hawaii for the balance of the year and the next several. You may not notice it from Dec. 15 thru Mar. 15, but the rest of each year will be a disaster for all.
As a Hawaii visitor almost every year for over 50 years I feel the impact of all the visitor fees. They are outrageous! The visitors didn’t permit all the hotel rooms to be built. Don’t blame them if the Hilton Hawaiian Village is allowed to build another 500 room tower. Blame your government for approving all the over building which has not benefited the people of Hawaii. Does anyone remember the news story about all the politicians getting bribes at a dinner party to enact what the rich & powerful want? The people of Hawaii need to address the root cause of the problems they have. It isn’t directly and only the visitors.
This is starting to feel like an annual tradition—another year, another tax hike proposal. Will this one actually stick, or will it just be another failed attempt? They keep floating these ideas, and yet nothing seems to get done. Maybe that’s for the best.
As a local, I see the impact of over-tourism every day. Our beaches, trails, and parks are overcrowded and littered. The funds from this fee could go a long way in maintaining our natural resources and ensuring they are here for future generations. But I also understand the skepticism—if the government doesn’t prove that this money is being spent wisely, people won’t support it.
Tourism numbers are struggling, and now they want to make it even more expensive? I don’t understand the logic here. Hawaii depends on visitors, and making it cost-prohibitive won’t end well. Do lawmakers really think people have unlimited budgets for vacations or what exactly is the end game?
Lawmakers (politicians) have never had a limited budget as long as you have money they can spend.
People keep calling this a visitor fee, but residents stay in hotels and pay this too! What about residents who travel between islands for work or to visit family? They’re going to get hit with this tax just like everyone else.
If this money actually went toward conservation, I wouldn’t mind. But let’s be real—how much of it will actually go to protecting beaches and trails, and how much will get swallowed by administrative costs? We’ve seen these “special funds” before. They rarely work the way they’re supposed to.
Once again, you get what you vote for and this is just another example of the democrats Still believing that they can tax the state into prosperity when nothing could be further from the truth!!
Many of the people that I encountered over my 37 trips to Hawaii, primarily Maui, were return visitors that truly enjoyed just being there and yes, cared about the aina too! If I was a first time visitor to Maui with all of this nonsense that Greenie is proposing it would be once and done for me! Congratulations Hawaii! You are now going to get exactly what you clamored for by pushing the life blood of Hawaii away which may eventually turn the State of Hawaii into a pauper state where there are not enough jobs to keep the locals gainfully employed along with the tax base to keep Hawaii afloat!
I’ve been visiting Hawaii for years, and every time I come back, the cost has gone up. First, it was resort fees. Then, rental cars skyrocketed. Now, they want to hike the hotel tax even more? I love the islands, but at a certain point, it just makes sense to go somewhere else. Please stop pushing me away.
I get that protecting the environment costs money, but does every solution have to be another tax? It feels like the state just keeps adding more fees instead of figuring out how to manage what they already have. Where does all the current tourism tax money even go?
Hawaii is already one of the most expensive vacation destinations, and now they want to push hotel taxes even higher? At what point do travelers just say enough is enough?
The key to avoid paying hotel taxes & fees is not to direst book, but to use 3rd party vacation sites, airline vacation packages and of course Costco Travel.
Example: We’re booked October for Maui at Grand Wailea.
Direct booking for a 9 day 8 night stay is 7,520.08 taxes & fees 1,869.79 total $9,389.87 no perks.
Same trip Costco Travel Limited Time Package deal 5,004.48 taxes & fees 828.44 total $5,832.92. Avoided 1,041.35 in taxes & fees.
But wait there’s more.
Costco’s package also includes rental car, upgraded room, 348 Costco Gift Card, Daily Breakfast, 500.00 food & beverage credit, hydrotherapy garden passes for two at Spa and waved resort fee.
Don’t ask me how they do it, but if you’re not looking at all your options then you are paying to much
And, as S&C used to sing, “And the beat goes on , on , on”. The ‘cash cow’, informal term for ‘visitors’, continues to come to the islands. The legislature should bump the visitor accommodation tax to 25%. Then, see how much visitation drops off (If it does!). Then, if visitor arrivals drop off significantly, they can notch it back, say 1%, the next year and see if that helps restore visitor arrivals. The same the next year, if necessary, until a ‘just right’ tax level is achieved. Remember, the accommodation tax of 18% is added to whatever rate the hotels, STRs, etc., happen to charge you for lodging. So, as that goes up, the dollar amount of that 18% also goes up. Adding to the tax will more than add 1% or so to the bill. The real answer to ‘the visitor problem’ is, visitors. Get rid of them, then people (who don’t have to work) can enjoy island life, and those that need to work can lounge on the beaches, unemployed. Culture back, at a cost.
They effectively increased the fee by 3% just a few years ago when the state took the 3% that was given to the counties, causing the counties to start charging their own HCTAT. The money that the state “stole” from the counties should be reallocated for the tourist impacts. We had a budget surplus. In addition to providing some tax relieve, we should be using that money for efforts like this.
Aloha – Pretty amazing while our tourists are saying no to Hawaii and heading elsewhere, Hawaiian government just keep pouring on the taxes and fees. West Maui down to 52% of normal occupancy, insurance rates, from the fire, have skyrocketed on all properties. Our 40 unit condo is now over a half million for fire and hurricane insurance. Complete government mismanagement and all of them hide so there is no access to our elected leaders.
The government doesn’t have much to do with your private insurance rates. And if they interfered to cap it, it would require a tax somewhere else. Life is expensive.
They need to trim the government instead of raising taxes.
We have one of the fatest governments in the nation and all they do is ask for more and never clean themselves up. Just look at how long it takes anything to get done, even critical permitting for victims.
Unfortunately, government has never been very good at ‘giving itself a haircut’, so unlikely to happen. What bothers me most, is the lack of transparency in government spending. Tens of millions (100s?) come into the state just from fees paid by visitors. Where does it all go, and to whom? Is HI unable to support itself without visitors? It used to. You can make life unpleasant enough to significantly reduce the numbers of visitors, but can HI afford to do that and stay viable as a State? Maybe they could ‘withdraw’ from the ‘Union’ and become a ‘Territory’ again? (just kidding!)
You are absolutely right in your statement about government never keeping their costs under control. Not as long as they have people who don’t vote to tax, and tax, and tax some more. And even those who get to vote don’t pay attention to where the money goes. That brings up the question – where did the money from the previous tax increases go?
Hawaii government is about jobs for local friends and family. That’s the problem. Period.