Diners in Hawaii face surprise charges that can add up to 23% to their bill, combining an 18% takeout fee with a 5% resort fee, leading to frustration and calls for greater transparency.
Diners in Hawaii face surprise charges that can add up to 23% to their bill, combining an 18% takeout fee with a 5% resort fee, leading to frustration and calls for greater transparency.
Recently we went through the Burger King drive-through for quick snacks and beverages. The small soda was $4+, small fries the same. Small shake $7. We have been residents for over 20 years and were shocked by the price increases.
What if the restaurant is fully occupied and you opt for a to go order. Are you still charged the 18% service fee? I guess pay 5% resort fee or cover charge or get stiffed with a 18% service fee. Might as well call the resort fee a reservation fee. After deducting from your original tip all these unexpected fees makes it complicated and too much math to figure out. When it is said and done the tip is closer to no tip at all. Places like this will IMO start charging for restroom visits too. Just one hassle to wreck a start of a vacation. If this don’t signify the Aloha Spirit. No wonder so many people say it’s gone.
This isn’t exclusively a Hawaiian issue we just returned from Las Vegas all restaurants were including same type of fees.
Oh wait isn’t Las Vegas considered the 9th island?
I live in Las Vegas. Although I rarely eat at a resort, I have Never encountered a resort fee or a mandatory tip for take-out. Your “all” is extremely misleading.
Sherri Sherri Sherri seriously you live in the city that invented “Resort Fees”. Also since you live in LV how many resorts are offering free parking these days. I believe it’s none.
Europe is a very large area, are there some places that charge, without prior notifications, for bread, butter, etc. It’s possible. Many Countries have decided that this practice of defrauding tourism will now be Illegal. It may still occur, when reported and found to have occurred the restaurant, etc. is closed permanently. Tourism is a great way to make money for businesses and governments, bad press loses repeat visitors. Bad practices are simply bad all around.
Hawaii is in a self induced death trap. Everything that you are witnessing has been years in the making. From poor planning to shortsighted policies, it’s only going to get worse. How bad will it get? Only time will tell but there’s palpable tension on the islands. The citizens need to hold their elected officials accountable first and foremost. They aren’t doing anything for the natives which is making the resentment towards tourists even worse. With that said the tourists are also to blame. I have seen countless interactions with tourists and locals where the visitors are extremely rude, demanding, and entitled. They think that by complaining they will get their way, the world doesn’t work that way folks. If you want a better experience I suggest you check your ego at the airport gate…
When I encounter those fees, it comes right off the tip. Yeah it may not be the servers fault but it’s not mine either. It’s the restaurant. I just make a note on the bill regarding the other bogus charges so the server can show the manager.
Just as Hawaii continues the full time war against STR’S, these fee’s a born. A deterrent to this is cooking for oneself and friends, it makes sense along with Dollars! Unless, and Until, these fee’s are rescinded everyone should Boycott. Soon enough, the way things are going, an additional fee for cleaning the floors and grease trap will be added to the bill. Seems like, for the most part, these fee’s are born of State Values, 🤔 😳 🙄 I believe that it’s time to book my next 2 vacations, Florida in November and, the second is more neutral, Jimmy Buffet’s Resort in Punta Cana. The Dominican Republic, where there’s not any hidden fee’s or surcharges to ruin your vacation! Hawaii? Probably a “thing of the past!”
Apparently, the “resort fee” is bogus. I read that Waipouli Beach Resort has stated Oasis is not part of the resort. Either way, why should diners have to pay a resort fee? They’ll never get my business again. I call shenanigans.
I say get used to it tourists. If you’ve been to Europe lately you would know that every restaurant charges for everything that you have assumed would be free. For example, in Portugal you will see bread, butter and olives on the table when you sit down. Do not assume these are free! They will charge you for every pad of butter and if you take a piece bread you from the basket you pay for the whole basket. So Hawaii is not so different. This is the global tread. Enjoy the islands and pay the price.
Strangely enough a friend and her husband were in Portugal 6 weeks ago, the bread and butter, along with the olives, were free! The government stepped in due to these hidden abuses, outlawing them. Even Greece has outlawed these types of abuses, it’s bad for Tourism!
Our first trip to Europe was in 1995. At that time, and on every trip since, the bread has always been an additional charge if you take any of it. This is not a new practice there.
New practice or not, without any type of notice it becomes fraud if you pursue it. That also gives tourists a good reason to vacation somewhere else, that’s why some countries decided to make it illegal unless there’s plenty of notice informing the public.
Recently visited the World of Wine museum in Porto, Portugal (totally worth the visit).
Upon finishing our lite meal at the main restaurant, a totally different server approached us to offer 20% off our bill if we tipped 20%. WTH?! We were so confused, we just paid the markup.
Hidden fees and tipping culture is a menace that needs to be stopped! If expenses are an issue for a business, just raise the prices. When dining out at home in Hawai’i, pricy food is something we just live with.
We had read about this practice before we went to Portugal in 2023. Spent a month there, and this never happened. Everything was (relatively) inexpensive, anyway, so not big deal.
We’ve lived PT on Kauai for over 15 years, and have never been to Oasis. Or even thought about going there. You all want something nice and a bit different in Kapa’a? Try Fish Bar Deli. Pro tip: try to get a seat at bar between 5 and 6 – the cocktails are 50% off, and very good, even for this beer drinker.
Additional fees on checks while eating out is getting out of hand. I was reading reviews on a hotel we were considering on St Thomas, but nixed the idea after they add an 18% tip on every meal and drinks order; even the buffet where you serve yourself. The servers were also not very helpful as they know they get that tip no matter how poor their performance is. We pay cash at a local restaurant now after they charged us a fee to use our credit card without any notice posted.
Look…the problem is not the restaurants charging outlandish fees, it’s the government issuing bills for more taxes. Then the convenient comes in like the “savior” requiring transparency. CA has several taxes involved with running businesses. Hawaii the same.
All the more reason to support local farmer’s markets and fish mongers. Cook your own dinner it will be tastier and healthier and comes with no added fees from which you receive absolutely nothing.
Brad, this isn’t reasonable or possible for most visitors. The majority of hotels and resorts do not have kitchens. The ones that do, command a large premium typically. Me personally, I agree with you and always do my best to stay at resorts with kitchens and or BBQ grills on the property. However that isn’t the case or possible for most. Plus some people want to go on vacation and truly get the vacation experience and might not want to cook their own meals for once. Restaurants and resorts implementing all of these bogus fees is a major stretch.
Aloha! Fees, fees, fees,. Hawaii is out to fix their mistakes with someone else’s money. Everyone would love to have prices like 1990, but aren’t willing to work for those wages. Get it however you can. By the way, threatening to go to the Caribbean? Didn’t work. The influx of people showed them they could charge more too. Price it and see. After everyone gets over their made spell they’ll go back. A few hundred bucks isn’t going to keep them away.
So as a visitor to the islands (or elsewhere) who needs to control the cost of my trips, what am I to do? Let’s face it, eating every meal “out” especially with a family really adds up in both money and time. This has always been one of the big reasons we opt for an STR with a kitchen. Now that STRs are under fire it has really impacted our Hawaii travel. These shady fees that pop up with everything you do only make it worse and act as a deterrent to us vacationing in the islands, which we have been doing since the 70s.
Aloha to you too….
Timeshare deeded owners coming to HI for over 25 years. In the bpast overlooked lots of the many issues and negatives about visiting the islands. Now getting to thee point where we are not as exicited about our visits anymore. Too many negatives popping up.
To the diner that reduces tip due to unanticipated fee(s), you might bear in mind this unnecessarily impacts the server and not the restaurant. I’d like to think this would be obvious.
Take this up with the Hawaiian government and with the HTA. These junk fees should be illegal and actual prices reflected in the menu. It’s fraud to put a “disclosure” in seven-point font, on the last page of the menu, in a double-asterisk footnote, that your bill will be jacked 18% higher due to a “fee.”
An “unanticipated“ fee is fraud. This is restaurant’s and the Hawaiian government’s responsibility to correct — not innocent diners, locals, tourists, and consumers.
Kevin, eventually it does effect the restaurant. Reducing or Eliminating the tip has a ripple effect, the labor market in Hawaii is tight and no one wants to replace good employees. Does everyone who lives in Hawaii need to be reminded 🤔 you caused all of this by the way that you voted.
I have noticed several random fees on dining in Maui. Health insurance surcharge, other type of three letter word fees. When this occurs, I typically off-set my tip if the service is average or less. If service is good I typically tip favorably. I always write a note on the receipt/cc bill, stating, “Fees should be upfront & on your menu,” Mahalo
These fees are popping up everywhere–we were charged a 5% “linen fee” in London for our tablecloth & napkins!
If your country embraces capitalism so much then let it take its course. A fool and their money are easily parted…..vote with your wallet. Just dont support that establishment.
Its an island, of limited size and resources, in the middle of the Pacific. Its going to cost more than average to live or stay there. We’ve found efficient ways to visit (purchased our own car on island for example).
Its not the caribbean, and never will be, so don’t always compare that orange to this lovely pineapple, or to the apple that is Europe.
When a place becomes popular then capitalism takes over (many caribbean islands since the 90s for example), the price goes up….its the nature of the system. Supply and demand. It’s how you make your money/pensions on the mainland so dont expect anything different in paradise.
Paradise Lost! The D.R. is every bit as Beautiful as Hawaii ever will be, Without any gouging fees. Competition is what differs between Hawaii and most other destinations, the D.R. has plenty and the costs have not significantly risen. Other places know the benefits of Tourism, Hawaii only sees the Green of Greed, as the bottom falls out, who will be left holding the bag? The State? Get Real!
Such fees are disingenuous. As a former Executive Chef (no longer in the business because of the insanity of the business), if there is an expense that is affecting the cost of operation, those costs should be included when the menu is planned and pricing is calculated.
These bogus “fees” simply reflect the fact that such service industries have historically “rode on the back” of underpaid employees, and with the wage increases over the past few years, the industry can’t cope with integrating the cost.
Well I think you can solve your tourist problem by keep on adding fees so that you will have no tourist to worry about. What do you think?