A cheap rental car can quickly become an expensive proposition in Waikiki. We checked Costco Travel for October 26 to November 2 and found an Alamo economy car for just $258.77 for the entire week. Even an SUV was available for $285. But seven nights of self-parking at Hilton Hawaiian Village would cost about $530, including tax, more than twice the economy car rental price. Obviously, car rental prices vary widely, and the same car rental over the Christmas/New Year holiday will easily cost double.
And Hilton is hardly alone. A look across dozens of Waikiki hotels shows how widespread these charges have become, with parking adding hundreds of dollars to a weeklong vacation, whether you drive every day or leave the car sitting in a garage.
Waikiki parking charges add up fast.
At $72.25 nightly, Hilton has some of the highest self-parking rates in Waikiki, but other major hotels aren’t far behind. Hyatt Regency Waikiki and Waikiki Beach Marriott both list self-parking at $65 nightly, totaling $455 over seven nights before applicable tax. Halekulani charges $68 for valet parking, while Outrigger Waikiki Beach and Outrigger Reef charge $60 for valet, or $420 over a week.
At Sheraton Waikiki, self-parking costs $55 nightly, adding $385 over seven nights. Prince Waikiki, where we’ve also stayed, charges $45 plus tax, or $315 before tax for the same period. Even at the lower end of these examples, parking is hardly a minor vacation expense.
The figures are based on published hotel rates. The key takeaway isn’t just the advertised rental rate, but what you’ll pay to keep the car at your hotel for the stay. This makes it time to build a new Hawaii travel spreadsheet.
Renting for fewer days may make more sense in Waikiki.
Waikiki is one of the few places in Hawaii where you can easily spend several days without a car. You can reach beaches, restaurants, shopping, and many Honolulu attractions on foot or by public transportation. But having your own vehicle makes exploring the Windward Coast, Kailua, and the North Shore much easier, especially if you want to stop along the way.
Instead of keeping a rental for the entire vacation, you can rent only on the days you plan to leave Waikiki. Rental offices operate in the area, including an Enterprise location directly at Hilton Hawaiian Village. A same-day rental can save you overnight hotel parking charges if pickup and return hours fit your plans.
Shorter rentals aren’t always cheaper per day, but weekly discounts can be substantial. We’ve seen how much Hawaii rental rates fluctuate, including when we saved more than half on a Maui rental by checking prices again shortly before pickup. Comparing the total cost of a weekly rental with two or three individual days makes more sense than assuming one option will be cheaper for your Hawaii vacation.
We’ve also covered less expensive Waikiki parking alternatives, but you should check rates, restrictions, and availability before relying on them. A nearby garage might cut costs considerably, provided it allows overnight parking and in/out privileges, and is convenient enough to work.
We’ve stayed at both Hilton Hawaiian Village (link goes to our hotel review) and many other Waikiki hotels, and we understand the appeal of having a car available whenever we want to explore Oahu. But with a week of hotel parking now running from $315 to more than $500 before tax at these properties, it’s worth considering how often you’ll actually drive before committing to a rental for the entire stay.
If you’ve stayed in Waikiki recently, how did you handle the parking costs? We’d like to hear what you paid, whether you kept a car for the whole trip, or found a less expensive arrangement that worked.
Photo Credit: Beat of Hawaii at Hilton Hawaiian Village garage.
By Rob and Jeff, Beat of Hawaii.
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I always use Priceline to rent a car rather than first tier rental agency when on Oahu or Maui. I can usually find a car at $14-$18 a day (and usually the car is from a first tier agency). The key to me is not to pay attention to the first webpage offerings but to scroll to later pages where the deals are found. As for Parking when in Waikiki I pay about $25 a day but that is at Condos which are often only a block from the beach. On Maui, i never pay for parking, except where required at Parks and beaches, as I also stay at Oceanfront Condos. I try to avoid Waikiki where Avarice and Greed are king.
If we rent a car in Waikiki it is either just for the day or we park next to the Hilton in the marina parking lot. You do have to be careful you are parking in an overnight spot, but at $1/hour it’s worth a walk to us if needed. We usually overpay since it is paid in advance and we wnat to be sure we can be late coming back if we want to. so far it has worked well for us, but it’s rare now for us to go to Oahu.
I’ve heard once you move from you parking spot you loose it. Parking is so scarce in Waikiki that you might spend hours just to gain another open spot.
I know people who tell me they are afraid to leave the parking garages because of not finding a spot later. The result is people travel from the airport to the hotel and leave their car in the garage for a week. Only to find it useful in returning it back to the airport during departure. Oahu years ago had an average of 1 million cars on the island. Most cars per capita in the US. Do you really think Oahu has that many open parking garage spaces available. Even street parking fills up by 10am. IMO that’s why parking fee’s are so high priced.
Because there are twice the amount of cars rented than spaces available. If you don’t pay the outrageous fee the next tourist will.
The correct spelling for Hawaii nowadays is Hawa$$
We typically stay at The Waikiki Banyan which has Free parking with the unit we stay in. It has a just renovated recreation deck and pool, new BBQ’s and we can cook most meals in so we’re not forced to eat out all the time. A nice ocean-view and walkable to anything in Waikiki, we love it!!
I am a Maui resident and the last 2 times I had to go to Honolulu, first for medical treatment and the second for a dear friend’s memorial service, we stayed at the Ala Moana and taxied everywhere. I do not want to drive on O’ahu and probably can’t safely, cuz I am in my 70’s and blind in one eye (It was a dueling mishap…). I am sure we came out ahead financially, and I found it amusing that every taxi ride basically cost $50, even with slightly different destinations. Except up to Nu’uanu Memorial, a longer distance. But Ala Moana Hotel has a rep as where the locals stay, and is next door to the Ala Moana Shopping Center, biggest mall in Hawai’i, so it wasn’t a typical visitor experience. But even if I finally go O’ahu to see a great musical act at the Blue Note and stay at the outrigger Nextdoor in Waikiki, I will never rent a car in Waikiki. And I will give da Bus one chance from the airport to Waikiki cuz I try to support mass transit.
Aloha! We definitely play a parking “game” when we stay at our regularly booked hotel in Waikiki. While the lot is ridiculously small they do have a reciprocal location off site but within walking distance. We often cut activities short just to get back to the hotel before slots fill up or run errands/trips during window of checkouts/check-ins as that’s when lot most available. Parking fees definitely impact where we stay and rates have almost doubled in a few short years. But so far, we are grudgingly willing to “play the game” in order to have a car to visit family on island.
It really doesn’t matter where you stay in Hawaii anymore when it comes to parking. The whole concept of charging exorbitant fees for parking absolutely proves the concept of “The Greed creates the Need” by the property owners. They have a captive audience and there is literally no viable alternatives available and they know it. The really sad thing about this is that most of the same properties also charge you a resort fee on top of the parking that usually has very little benefits for most people. Neither one of those fees really costs them anything either as many of the hotel parking lots have gates that are activated by your room key card too. Very rapidly what you thought that your finances thought would be enough for a week long stay turns into a 5 night stay and that really does not help the local economies at all when that happens.
No parking fees if you rent a VRBO etc. Why stay in an over priced hotel and pay for parking etc. Makes no sense to me.
We stayed in Waikiki for almost a week, and did single day rentals, and rented from the facility at the hotel. Picked up first thing dropped off end of the day no parking fee. It was great.
How many rental return inspections did that require? How much time did you loose in the rental office every morning and the return process in the evening?
IMO you spent 25% of your time at the rental agency. Same day rentals aren’t cheap. Who has the patience to do that every morning just to go to an event or place. Instead of 1 AI camera inspection you probably got 5. Hopefully you don’t get dinged with 5 damage claims after returning home. IMO more of a pain than convenience. You know the phrase. Pay me now or pay me later.
Having concluded the car rentals on Oahu are absurd bordering on a scam, we’ve ditched the concept altogether our exceptionally tall family doesn’t fit in a compact rental anyway. We get Uber for our drop off and luggage needs winding up much cheaper all around.
I don’t know whether you’ve done this previously, but it would be a service to your readers to highlight the advantages of “renting local”, that is, renting a car from one of the many locally-owned rental businesses. On Maui, for example, I can save significant costs by renting a “slightly used but well-maintained” vehicle for the week. It’s also great to support local businesses!
Aloha Scott,
I live on Maui and if we need to rent an extra car, we always rent local. It is way cheaper and it appears genera To be a “local” car, so maybe less likely a crime target. Buy and rent local! You get more aloha…
Hotels seem to want to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. Hawaii travel is getting so expensive tourists may start going elsewhere.
This past week, we flew to Honolulu for three days. The car would have been $235 with all the tax and parking at the downtown hotel was $55 plus all the taxes. My husband is from Honolulu and checked the bus schedules. We paid $1.25 for each ride on our HoloHolo card. Between walking a few blocks and TheBus – it was about $12.50 each for the entire weekend including to and from the airport.
We stayed at Hilton Hawaiian Village for 21 days in Feb.
Car rental was about $800, parking was $100 a night for valet & tips. Total would have been $3,000!
We did 2 island trips also, so didn’t need a car then. We preplanned our rental days by reserving thru Costco at the Enterprise at Hilton.
We used Uber/Lyft to/from airport and for short trips (Leonard’s, etc).
1st trip was sightseeing and Costco.
2nd trip was North Shore/etc.
3rd trip was Diamond Head and more as well as Costco again.
We spent less than $1,000 for our trips saving $2,000 by not renting for the entire trip.
Costco savings add up too!!!
I opted out of Hawaii altogether and went to Saipan. Cost a little more to fly there but once there the hotel was half the cost of hawaii and the room came with a beach view, the rental car was cheaper and I didn’t have to pay to park the car anywhere including at the hotel. Has all the same beauty to enjoy with out all the nickel and dimeing to death they do in Hawaii and a lot less crowded. It was a superior experience compared to Hawaii
Great post! Saipan or bust imm checking it out, Thankyou
Our last several trips to Honolulu, we used uber/taxi. Sometimes we buy a day pass on The Bus. And if we want to venture out of Waikiki we rent a car for the day.
We stayed at the Waikiki Shore September 30 – October 5, 2026. Parking is $40.00 a night and parking isn’t guaranteed. I was never made aware of this when booking through the Castle Resorts website. When we arrived at Waikiki Shore, I was surprised, tired and trying to figure out where to park. The receptionist finally found us a parking spot but for only one night. She said I would have to come back the next morning to see if a spot would come available. She did say someone was checking out the next day and we could possibly have that spot. Our rental car price for the five days was $256.00 and five days of parking was $200.00
We haven’t rented a car on Oahu for at least a decade. Our most recent visits did not require a rental car, and Uber/taxi works just fine. The last time we rented a car on Oahu was to visit the North Shore and windward side for a few days, and once that was completed it was returned to the rental lot.
We plan to visit Oahu next year for a few days during a mult-week Kauai stay, and we will only rent for a day for the North Shore visit. Everything else will be Uber/taxi. If your visit is going to be confined to Honolulu/Waikiki/Pearl Harbor, then skip the rental car completely, and your wallet and Hawaii trip budget will thank you for it!
Aloha to all
Using Uber/Lyft for trips around town is way cheaper than renting a car. If you need one for a day of two – Turo has been great. We’ve been doing this for the past for the past four trips and it works great.
Just be aware that insurance coverage is different with Turo. I live in BC Canada and my insurance which has high coverage is good for rental cars anywhere so I do not need coverage. However as Turo is person to person it is not valid. Any coverage that covers rentals does not work with Turo.
I found this video pretty useful for explaining parking options around Hawaiian Village:
youtube.com/watch?v=cvSr1YMiCR4