exp

I just did some searches on Kayak for October, February and June, 5-day rental out of LIH.

Cheapest are actually SUVs at $750 from Euro for October and February.

But in June, the prices are back to normal? Compact cars at just under $300.


Do they expect more supply of cars by June or there just hasn't been enough bookings that far out?

MDTyKe

I don't actually think county mayors *do* have the authority to implement capacity controls on hotels. County licensing on STVs - yes. That gets complicated quick - why would a county mayor have the right to limit your private business, and effectively limit your profit. On what grounds? They can hardly claim public health justifications anymore.

However, this is mostly political fluff, as people here are frustrated their beaches aren't dead quiet anymore. I'll admit too - it was nice - very nice. I had lots of moments on beaches where I was *the only person*, and it was special. The reality is though, the mayors know they'll do nothing about it. Maui Mayor has talked about tolls on Hana - because you know, $$ will make a difference? This is simple appeasement of voters, with knowledge nothing will be done.

The reality is, things will go back to "normal" once International travel opens up. Everyone is just coming to Hawaiʻi because travel everywhere else is so limited.

LIH Prem

This is what the fields around OGG looked like last April. (Scroll down in the article to see all the photos, most are from Maui.)

https://www.businessinsider.com/coro...00-cars-2020-4

COSPILOT

Drove by them every week. Seemed nice at the time, but at least for me, got super boring.

I appreciate locals wanting to diversify the economy and not make life solely focused on tourism, but that will be a challenge that will require someone smarter than the current administration.

Plus Hawaii needs to attract business not deter them. I apparently missed some obscure license, as I thought the one I had exceeded the one I apparently also needed. I payed off the state of Hawaii to avoid flying back to fight it. Not exactly attractive for me to come back, after paying you off a penalty for some obscure license. If they continue, I’ll hire an attorney not because of the money, but because Hawaii shouldn’t be a blocked state for business entrance.

Bank of Hawaii? Good luck ever getting a human on the phone.

Point being it’s a difficult state to do business in, so why should any company move there? Tourism works, it’s beautiful, and that’s what the focus should be, not reducing it. For the love of God, make it four lanes to Lahaina.

ExplorerWannabe

Funny how people are happy to be in a seller's market when they have product to move and love to talk about market forces when it benefits them (e.g., the low low prices last summer) but talk about "exploitation" when they're the buyer and the market forces work against them.

The hotels still don't have the infrastructure (workers, dining options) to handle full capacity so it's not a matter of letting rooms go empty in order to get higher prices for the rooms they do let (something that apparently is common in NYC commercial real estate). It's a matter of getting market prices for the rooms they can let.

Tourist behavior when I went back in June was frequently horrid. The open market at Kapiolani Community College has large clear signs about mask protocols and not eating inside the market area at the entrances to the market and tourists clearly from the US mainland were just ignoring them. I get the annoyance with the mask protocols but when in Rome ... Demand is still high -- if you want to go to Mexico or some place else, someone else will be happy to take your spot. Hawai`i still remains very welcoming for those who respect the local culture, laws, habits, etc. and like any place else, they really won't miss those who don't.

Weatherboy

As the Delta variant surge continues and hospitals in Hawaii approach the brink of collapse again, there is talk of reintroducing restrictions in the islands.

The biggest change being discussed is the reintroduction of the testing requirement, regardless of vaccination status, for all travelers flying into Hawaii, to get out of the quarantine requirement.

Hawaii still has its mask mandate, but some other things could be rolled back, such as capacity constraints at restaurants, and the closure of "high risk" places such as bars, gyms, and religious institutions. Allowable group sizes on things like weddings could also be cut back, even if everyone is vaccinated.

Hawaii's healthcare system begins to get overwhelmed at 200 new cases/day; the model the Governor uses from UH to make policy decisions on is forecasting over 600 new cases/day by September.

DELee

Any discussion on expanding/enhancing the heath care infrastructure across the islands? Near term? Far term? Ever?

David

MCO Flyer

Hawaii got a little to greedy on their original goal to allow vaccinated visitors to the islands without quarantine. The original goal was they would allow it once the island hit 60% fully vaccinated but they essentially disregarded it and allowed fully vaccinated vaccinated individuals in 3 weeks ago and Hawaii just yesterday hit 60% fully vaccinated.

BlueZebra

You sure it was 60% fully vaccinated, or 60% had 1st dose? Then there is the common confusion between percentages of eligible people, or of the entire population. These percentages are tossed around regularly.

I see Hawaii is now 60% fully vaccinated, 70% first dose. But I don't know if that is eligible or of the entire population.

MCO Flyer

They just hit 60% fully vaccinated across the entire population yesterday according to local news sources which is the benchmark the state has been using and was when restrictions were supposed to be lifted (they did it early on July 8th). The state is at 66% vaccinated with at least 1 dose of Pfizer or Moderna which you can find on the states tracker.
https://hawaiicovid19.com/

https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/...hind-schedule/

mtofell

Yeah, lots of ways to massage numbers depending on one's agenda - first dose or fully vaccinated, eligible population vs. total population. On Monday one of the news stations in Oregon did a great one - presented the weekend count (Fri/Sat/Sun) as a single number to compare to the peak daily levels back in the eye of the storm. It's good to know we can count on the media to really help out in a crisis by throwing fuel on the fear porn fire.

The good news is the Delta variant (or at least the threat) seems to be encouraging a lot of people to get vaccinated (Hawaii and elsewhere in the US). I'd like to be able to get my kids <12 vaccinated but that still seems to be a ways off.

Weatherboy

No discussion.

DELee

<sad>

David

MCO Flyer

Where did you hear that Hawaii was thinking about mandatory testing to avoid quarantine again? I’ve looked for news articles and I couldn’t find anything.

ESpen36

In addition to the current circumstances of the Delta variant, it might be part of the recently-approved strategy of reducing the total number of tourists on Oahu by making it a bit harder, more complicated, and more expensive. Word is that many locals enjoyed having very few tourists during the height of the pandemic, and are not excited about the current flood of visitors who have chosen Hawaii over international topical vacations this summer.