When you live in a visitor economy during a pandemic, decisions are difficult to make. Take Hawaii for example. The state needs tourism dollars desperately, but not at the risk of personal safety. In the end, decisions about health should take priority. But transparent and timely communication with your industry stakeholders and visitors is of paramount importance. It is simply the right thing to do but is not happening.
One BOH reader, Eve, stated the situation well:
“I understand the predicament Hawaii finds itself in. However, the Gov needs to make up his mind which way he is going to go. Either way, some segment of Hawaiian society is going to be upset – either those who would hope for a safer opening, or those who are hurting more financially.
On the mainlaind, tourists are looking for somewhere to go. We want to get away from stress, from politics, and from all the bad stuff that 2020 has brought. Hawaii is paradise to us. We’d love to come back. However, we can’t make last-minute changes, or be expected to change vacation dates with employers at the last minute. We have to know more than a few days in advance that you’re bumping the quarantine out again. Personally, I’m not due to come out till November, but in order to get a refund for my lodging, I have to let them know by September, so I’m not holding my breath on that. I’m hoping my flight gets cancelled so I get my money back on that, too. Otherwise, it’ll be a looooonnng time before I come back.”
What visitors want to know:
Is the September 1 date going to be extended? If so, on what basis will the state determine when it will allow quarantine-free travel. Any timely, honest, and candid answer here would be refreshing. Even as late as yesterday, Hawaii’s governor, in spite of all evidence from state medical professionals, would not give a clear call on extending the quarantine into September. In the end, he will definitely pull the plug on September travel, so why wait and cause further consternation for both the travel industry and for visitors? Stringing people along is simply wrong.
Will airfares and accommodations be canceled and refunded? Airlines and hotels (including Hilton Hawaiian Village and Grand Wailea) are already canceling September Hawaii travel proactively, so why does the governor need to seemingly be last to take action and advise the public? Our physician lieutenant governor, however, has already been very clear that a delay needs to occur.
The bottom line is this:
Hawaii visitors have a reasonable right to know what is happening as it impacts them. So do businesses related to travel like hotels, vacation rentals, activity providers, airlines, restaurants, shops, farmers, and more. The airlines want to sell tickets to Hawaii and Hawaii visitors want to buy them. But you can’t keep selling airline tickets and making hotel reservations that simply cannot be used. Period.
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Hello BoH!
I enjoy your emails, packed full of useful information, and often find helpful advice and additional tidbits of information in the comments.
Recently I’ve been confused.
Is “Dave R” a BoH representative?
Their copious commenting on at this point seems to be nearly every post and subsequent reader comments Is frankly quickly becoming irritating!
With the excessive commenting it becomes an extension of BoH’s information/beliefs/statements often portraying politics and judgement that I’d hate to prescribe to your site. It’s hard to believe anyone not Directly related to your site has the time and effort for what seems to be hundreds of comments. If I wanted a “Dave R” travel and opinion blog I’d subscribe!
I want Beat of Hawaii and input from the many not dictating from Dave!
I hope there’s a way to limit individual’s exposure while maintaining the sanctity of comments. Seeing the views and insights of many is helpful and positive, feeling as if an individual behind the curtain is steering the direction is discomforting.
Thank you for all that you do!
Hi Jen.
We have no relationship whatsoever with Dave R. or any of our commentators. Everyone is free to post comments as they would like. So long as they comply with our comment terms, we will post them.
Aloha.
Still no definitive answers as to Preflight Testing? We are scheduled to fly Delta 1397 to Maui in early December.Tickets already paid for in February of this year. Hawaii still has not provided a Definite answer to Whether they Will open to tested Travelers with out having to Quarantine for 14 days at one of your covid hotels? Versus the Condo we have a down payment on?
Keeping the Travel closed till the first of October with out a Definitive anser is Leaving your Travel Population Hanging.
The Hawai’i Department of Transportation has a very complete COVID quarantine information page.
I hope it’s OK to post this information on a couple of other threads as well. It might save someone some time and frustration.
Aloha!
Hi Dave.
Thanks for your close to 200 comments. We did remove the links you had and just wanted to point out that we no longer allow any links in comments. It was simply too hard to manage. We are also no longer editing comments – we either put them up or we don’t. We appreciate your understanding and all of your input.
Aloha, R/J.
Yeah wants to escape politics then goes right into politics. So demand Hawaii opens so this lady isnt inconvenienced. Ok sure
NO Matter what IGE does someone is going to be mad about it. Dont make plans to vacation in Hawaii until Hawaii is open. Problem solved. thats what we are doing. We have put our trip off TWICE and we are totally cool with it.
We only want to come when its safe for us and locals.
Really? Like the Govener can control or predict the virus. Some of we locals have had to cancel our travel plans too.
Hey Guys
Did you see the video of the lady breaking up a wedding on Waimanalo Beach in O’ahu?
You talk about so much wrong going on there. I got no problem with her talking to to the folks about the legality of the wedding, but she’s telling them the beach is closed. In the beginning of her video I saw people on the beach she wasn’t telling them to leave.
It appears the very small wedding party was right on the edge of the beach and property line of the rented home.
Also why are you videoing then posting it online? That’s not cool!
The wedding party could be in the wrong here, but the way this was handled was also very wrong.
Hard to know who is more wrong in this incident. From what I’ve found online, the wedding was staged from a short-term rental house (illegal due to COVID) and the officiant has done this before, more than once. The people in the wedding might have been misled into believing it was legal. On the other hand, maybe they just didn’t care. The woman who broke it up said or implied that this sort of thing had been happening and she was sick of it.
I will say that if I lived next door to an illegal (due to COVID) vacation rental that was the site of repeated violations, at some point I would probably react.
Context is everything.
I agree, the governor needs to address it ASAP and say this is what it will take to reopen. Then people can make plans. In my case, I cancelled my trip we had planned – about the time the governor extended it the last time. They wanted to reschedule and I said no because I don’t think there is any kind of plan – so there was a cost for not rescheduling. But, I’m not sure when we will come back to the islands – some of the email lists I’m on have said that some of the places my wife and I like to go are closing for good. I just hope the closings continue. However, if the islands stay closed much longer – there will be a bunch more businesses close. It’s sad to see and I do understand the medical infrastructure issues.
So the lack of a clear plan may delay our next trip for several years.
When the pandemic is throwing us lemons, let’s make lemonade!
So many of us have vivid memories of our time spent on the beautiful Hawaiian Islands. My husband and I were married on Oahu with our feet in the sand one of the most beautiful beaches on the island. A few years later we moved to the Big Island. Here we are back in OC, California surrounded by fires and missing our semi-annual trips to Hawaii.
Since we don’t have clarity as to when the Aloha State will open for tourists, bring the Aloha State into your home. The easiest way to do this is through music, either streamed or online. Listen to Keali’i Reichel, some of my favorite songs by Keali’i are Ke Aloha, E O Mai, Maunaleo, He Lei no Kamaile, etc. Also check out IZ’s songs Over the Rainbow, Hawai’i 78, Kaulana Kawaihae, etc. Make your favorite Hawaiian cocktail or a pitcher of POG.
Think about planting a Plumeria tree, a Hibiscus tree, Ti plants, Dragon Fruit, and some Pygmy Date Palms in your backyard, add some tiki torches (solar or flame), add a water feature and Hawai’i will always be with you.
I hope everyone will make it back to their favorite place(s) in the islands soon. Aloha!
Hi Cheri.
Thanks!
Aloha.
There is some great slack key on YouTube as well. Check out kawika nui (there are two of them).
Mahalo for being on top and often in front of what is or is not happening in Hawai’i. As a winter visitor, I decided to weather the pandemic here and am still on Maui. I plan to go to my mainland home, soon before returning in January. Faced with the possibility of having to quarantine, I decided to look for accommodations at my preferred South Maui resort, the Marriott Wailea Beach. I was disappointed to find that there were no accommodations available that I wanted. Also, I was shocked to find that their usual pricing and reservation processes have changed. 1) There were no special rates (e.g. AAA, Senior); One cannot use points; 3) To secure your reservation, you must give them a credit card which they will immediately charge with a deposit which is fully refundable, if you cancel 90 days prior to scheduled arrival or you will be charged 100% of the reservation! Who really thinks they will know what will happen in Hawai’i 90 days from any date in the future. My impression was that Marriott is poised to prey upon the Hawai’i visitor and capitalize upon the pandemic. I now find that Wailea Beach is under consideration as a hotel for a “tourist bubble.” My disappointment and suspicion are further escalated, especially in light of concerns expressed recently by Congresswoman Gabbard. There are other miscellaneous concerns that seem like an elephant in the room that is ignored. What are my condo landlord and I supposed to do financially about the reservation I have for those two weeks? Do I, as the evil tourist, get stuck with that, too? And yes, I read the many negative comments directed toward tourists, no matter that one sees me here now as kama’āina. Please advise your thoughts on this matter and as appropriate, pass on the concerns of at least one reader.
Hi Karen.
Thanks for your comment and concerns. We don’t have any answers, but perhaps others will chime in with their thoughts.
Aloha.
Thanks for the information about Marriott. They do sound predatory. If I ever make a reservation with them, I’ll be sure to read the fine print first!
I think most of Hawaii should be treated like a beautiful park. Hopefully a harmonious private and government partnership will be formed to protect the people that live on the islands, visitors and the land.
Eve does have a point. We were originally supposed to meet our son and his family in Maui in April. Fortunately, the landlord on our rental condo allowed us to postpone our visit within a specific time frame, as did the airlines. We are rebooked for December and are concerned about how long Hawaii will have quarantine restrictions. We’re not sure that the landlord and the airlines will be so accommodating again, which could result in the loss of thousands of dollars between our 2 families. However, I do understand Hawaii’s reluctance to fully open up. We live in a tourist town flooded with people from Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California. As older people, we cannot enjoy a stroll through town because of the proliferation of tourists.
Yesterday we witnessed how the Hawaii Government has been lying to the people of the state about COVID-19 Contact Tracers, what else are they lying about? They were caught red-handed and responded with anger instead of honesty. I for one am very thankful for the continued honesty the Beat of Hawaii offers, we need to hold our officials feet to the fire, electing someone and not questioning what’s going on is always dangerous. I sincerely hope all eligible voters will start asking the hard questions and not just think because a person is in office they must have the best intentions for all of us.
Hi Paula.
Thanks.
Aloha.
Your readers’ point about there being no way to avoid hurting/upsetting anyone I say really, really good. I had been looking forward to returning to Hawaii this September after three years away because I’d been taking some courses which ate up my spare cash. I want to come back, but I can’t take the risk of bringing something that would hurt so many people in Hawaii which already has a healthcare services problem, especially for the most vulnerable populations.
my other concern is that when it is safe to come back the prices will be out of my reach, a concern I think a lot of regular Hawaii travelers, particularly readers of your blog.
They should extend the quarantine only in Oahu and open up the other islands with the new 72 hour test.
Mainlanders could still travel non-stop to the other islands like Maui and the Big Island. Travellers would still have to take the NAAT coronavirus test 72 hours before. The Big Island only had 144 cases and only 5 required hospitalization. Maui is 206 cases and 27 hospitalized. Vs Oahu 4,177 cases and 242 hospitalized. It would be a chance for some tourism business and a way to test the procedures with a more controllable inflow of people.
Good, constructive idea, Rob. I’d also add that (1) the Dept. Health must work out their
Contact Tracing issues, (2) Rapid Testing must be more widely available on the outer islands, so as to not have to transport testing samples to Honolulu, & (3) IF there is a cluster-outbreak of cases, why the secrecy from DOH? Case in point: it would have been good to know which specific fast-food establishments to avoid, weeks ago, when that occurred here on the Big Island.
Rob – I respectfully disagree. I think visitors should be allowed to go to Oahu since that is where the most Covid cases are and the most ventilators. Visitors don’t have to quarantine. The other islands are not equipt to deal with a surge.
I personally am not traveling at this time because I don’t feel it is right to take the chance of inadvertently spreading some form of the virus because I may be an asymptomatic carrier. But then that’s just me. I am one of those silly people that believes if everyone had just complied with wearing a mask, social distancing and practicing proper hygiene from the start, we would not be in the economic crisis that we are experiencing today.
Surely, it isn’t just visitors who are frustrated. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this whole thing resolve itself after November 4th. If not, we will make plans to vacation elsewhere.
Just biding our time to see how this all plays out. Right now, I wouldn’t count on any kind of Hawaiian Holiday any time soon. We have July reservations at our timeshare, but will decide early next year whether to bank them and go elsewhere next year.
Under the present circumstances, Hawaii does not sound like a fun place to visit. It is all very sad. This whole mess is very sad – for everyone. We haven’t even begun to see the catastrophic after effects. They are yet to come. Hang onto your hats, everyone.
this is getting really old I mean COME ON. This is a worldwide Pandemic and has nothing to do with democrats or trying to Hurt Trump for FFS Come on. Its not going to be magically gone November 4th. Good grief
So somehow the virus will magically disappear after November 4? Wasn’t that supposed to happen already? The President said it would, and so did Jared. But all those scientists said it wouldn’t, and they were right. The medical personnel on the front lines of this, as well as the survivors of the 173,000 dead, and the tens of thousands of survivors still fighting debilitating symptoms after leaving the hospital, are under no illusions about this very nasty disease. It’s astounding that so many people don’t want to listen.
It’s a disease, not a political issue.
First of all, I would like to thank all of the administrators for trying to keep up with all of the changes that are happening with travel to Hawaii. We had a reservation for November for Maui and decided to change it to March 2021 to be on the safe side. It was very easy because we did purchase travel protection. Our flights are actually better than we had previously because now we only have one stop instead of 2 both ways. Thank you again fir the updates.
Hi Judy.
Thank you.
Aloha.
My fiancée spent her childhood between the Marshall and Hawaiian islands due to her father being in the military. Hawaii holds a very special place in her heart and is why two years ago we chose it for our 2020 wedding. Living in the north east we fully understand the danger of Covid-19 as we were hit hard by it early on. We were forced to postpone our May ceremony, rescheduled for September, and now have chosen to reschedule our for 2021. The health and well being of those who live local, our family, and guests is more important than our celebration.
What is troubling is the complete lack of guidance and direction from the Hawaiian government. It feels as if they are constantly kicking the can down the road and appears that they have no idea how to actually put a viable plan of action in place. What a sad moment for the people of Hawaii. This lack of leadership has us seriously considering abandoning Hawaii as our destination entirely. What a sad moment in history for everyone there.
Our local and surrounding governments here in New England put phased plans together starting in March. They provide constant updated information and have made it clear the situation is ever evolving. With a clear set of guidelines and expectations in place there is a path to reopening and recovering our economy. We can make clear, informed decisions, and actually plan our lives around Covid-19. While our local government leaders are not perfect, the difference between here and Hawaii is night and day.
Best wishes and good health to everyone. Stay safe.
Hi JJ.
Thanks for your comment.
Aloha.
It’s so easy to criticize HI government from afar! I just checked the Massachusetts website. I don’t see any path to anything. I do see that as of August 1 there were new restrictions imposed. “Starting Saturday, Aug. 1, visitors from outside of New England, New York, New Jersey and Hawaii will be required to quarantine for 14 days or pass a COVID-19 test, otherwise risking a $500 fine each day under an order issued by Gov. Charlie Baker.” Sounds pretty similar to Hawai’i. It’s true that New England has a nice outline of phased openings. So does California, but now there are problems and backtracking due to the changing health environment. The travel restrictions above are an indication that in New England, reality dictates unexpected changes to policy. That’s the reality of the situation. All states are having problems trying to figure out school openings. All sports at all levels, nationwide, ditto. The notion that any part of the US has a nice, clean, predictable program in place appears to be a myth.
My family has been traveling to Hawaii for as long as I can remember and we have had to cancel our plans to Hawaii 3 times this year. I have lived in Rhode Island for over 20 years and work in Massachusetts. The two regions have had drastically different approaches to handling Covid-19. One has had a plan in place while the other is still planning. How many months does it take to put a plan into action? The phased reopening in Massachusetts seems to be working with there being a 1.5% positive test rate and you can travel through most states in New England with a negative test result. Last I read Hawaii was over 8% with quarantine and lockdown requirements in place for months! Something clearly isn’t working there and the people of Hawaii will be the ones who pay the price for it.
It’s an island not mainland good grief. Its not as simple as that.
At the end of the day Hawaii has to look out for their own safety. It is an island. Just face the fact that you probably shouldn’t be scheduling a trip to the islands in 2020. So stop doing it. Respect the people who have to live there not so you can go have a vacation for a couple weeks and go back to your home.
The following thoughts from a conservative may seem strange but I think we all need to cut the elected officials just a little slack. This virus is a moving target. I had surgery on March 17th which was a 6 week recovery and everyone thought it was a great time to be out because the virus would be gone. Instead it is 6 months later and the virus has taken many different paths. The officials don’t have a crystal ball and even though politics are involved, they just do not know which way to go. Hindsight is always 20/20. This little voice inside of me says “Learn Patience” so we are planning on spring 2021. Experts say the thing that ended the 1918 pandemic was when everyone on the planet had been exposed. Maybe we all need a little patience.
Wise thoughts, Bob
AMEN Bob. Well stated. And no not strange to me, Smart on your part to think that out.
Aloha everyone…
I wish we could go back to the days when we were frustrated at how long it took Southwest to begin flying to HI. Keep vibing high everyone, keep the Aloha spirit, I’ll ask Hawaii to send some mana over to the mainland, we need it! Lots of mana to go around, and Aloha blessings and wisdom to everyone as we navigate this crazy Covid storm.
Mahalo for the updates.
Hi Trades.
Thanks.
Aloha.