azepine00

Here in LA I just drove a generic small suv where previous renter left a receipt - it was about $900 for weeklong rental with fuel option and upsell fee. The person drove less than 200 miles total. A colleague just spent nearly a thousand for kid's BOS-LAX rt. Yes there are ppl willing to spend money - more power to them as no provider can stay in business on rates i normally pay
Hawaii is where ppl are more likely to throw money no matter how crazy it seems. That being said many hotels in Waikiki can be quite cheap as there is an oversupply due to limited business and international travel. But other islands pricing is mostly out of whack.
Fiji and Tahiti are open as possible alternatives..

willywilkes

I just went a couple months ago on a timeshare presentation, it was $799 including 5 nights & car rental, had to spend 2 hours in the presentation, was very worth it IMO. Ended up buying a timeshare on the resale marketplace after that, so we are heading back for 5 nights in Feb - we have an annual maintenance fee of ~$1900, if we did that ONLY in Hawaii, we could spend at least a month in Studio rooms every year - 1-3 weeks in bigger/better rooms/views. That is how we will be affording Hawaii for years to come. A timeshare is certainly not a "savings", but we are getting rooms we are happy with a very reasonable cost/night.

On the same trip above, we also did 2 nights at a Hyatt Place in Waikiki on points that I think was something like 12K pts/night which we felt was a good value, but now that we own the timeshare we definitely wouldn't return there.

philemer

Still expensive: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hawa...sive-what.html

mtofell

Yeah, some of the resort prices are ridiculous. Condo rentals seem to be much more reasonable. We own a vacation rental on Maui and its getting a bit more than pre-pandemic but nothing like the amount the resorts are up. Having stayed in both resorts and condos I prefer the condo quite a bit due to having a full kitchen and just less people and chaos.

beachyshells

We have been spending two weeks in Maui every January for approx 15years. I noticed lately the condo we stay in has went up in price over 50%, its so high we will not be able to re-book like we do every year.... I will enjoy every minute we spend this time, knowing we got the lower rate. Not really sure what they're thinking...most people that stay at this building aren't wealthy.

TravelerMSY

The entire US seems to want a semi-exotic beach vacation without actually leaving the country, and is prepared to pay up for it.

sullim4

We're going back to Kauai in January. The flight on HA was very reasonable - $400 RT with a connection in HNL. AS was out of sight though - comparable fares were in the $600-$700 range per ticket.

The car rental was easy - my employer has a personal use contract ID at National that provides a $162/week rate for access to the executive area. This was not typically the best rate pre-covid, but is a great value now.

I booked the majority of our hotel nights (8) at the Grand Hyatt on points. There were only club rooms available at 33,000 points per night. The cash rate for this room when I booked, tax and fee inclusive (as Hyatt covers these on award nights) for 8 nights was $10,590. It's higher now.

At that rate, it pencils out to a crazy 4 cents per point of value - so I jumped on that even though there was no way I would ever pay cash for this room. Hotel points are an incredible value in Hawaii right now given the astronomical cash rates.

So, we got 8 nights worth of airfare, car rental, and hotel on the islands for about $1200, plus the Chase UR points I transferred over to Hyatt. I have to imagine that most "normal" people going to Hawaii are redeeming points, travel vouchers, etc. Otherwise I agree... it's out of reach for most folks.

denver19

West Maui local here. Yes, Maui is an expensive plce; it is a premier resort area. But there are a few ways to mitigate costs:

Likely a condo instead of a hotel room; you'll have a kitchen which is key since eating out is expensive. Think Whaler, Ali'i, Honua Kai, etc.,
I don't think you need to rent a car; Get a cab at the airport that will go to Costco, Safeway, wherever, on the way to Ka'anapali,
For activities think fun and free: swimming in the ocean, hiking, tennis. Golf is crazy expensive... Snorkel boats may be worth the fare.

You can spend a ton here. But you can also make it a reasonable vacation.

italdesign

I recently booked hotels in Kauai and the sticker shock was well noted. Hotel price basically doubled across the board.

It's not just Hawaii though. Several other places I stayed at, including Ventana Big Sur and WA Pedregal, surged madly. I think they were sub-$1,000 pre-covid, and are now firmly in the $1,500-2,000 club.

Thank God for points and FNCs.

escapefromphl

Most people (>95%) aren’t that vested in miles and points to be able to do this.

josephstern

I'm always amazed by the number of younger couples I see at nice hotels in Hawaii. I assume a decent portion are on their honeymoons, but clearly some aren't. When I was that age, I could not have afforded these hotels. But there are a lot of young professionals who make decent money, have kids later, and have different ideas about spending and saving than I did back then, and they're out there spending.

italdesign

Young people are also quite savvy with deals including easy CC SUB. Those #blessed IG photos had to be funded somehow

josephstern

Agreed, but just not in the quantity I see them in Hawaii. There simply isn't enough award availability to accommodate them all.

iahphx

Very true about Waikiki. Prices are higher there, but within reason. You can still stay at a decent Waikiki hotel for $200/night. And Waikiki works without a car, sparing you that currently nasty expense.
The question then becomes whether it's worth flying thousands of miles to vacation on Waikiki. I would generally say "no" (although I often stop there for a couple nights on a trip to the neighboring islands). This winter, though, given the hassles of foreign travel and the cheap airfares, I would say "yes," at least for people on the West Coast. And, of course, Waikiki is also much cheaper on points than the properties on the other islands.

I've been a little sad to see the Big Island get quite expensive. For the last few years, that's been a refuge from the high prices of, say, Maui. KOA looks much more expensive now, but the Hilo area is still affordable (albeit with the downside that the Kapoho vacation area is now under lava).

djp98374

families operate with a vacation budget. With hawaii being one of those once in a lifetime destinations people are willing to pay more.

say as part of budget you put 5% as a vacation/ travel to visit relatives budget. You save up for this over a few years.

hawaii and pacific coast of Mexico is the place many on the west coast travel to. On the east coast people can get to Florida or Caribbean. This travel in winter is to escape the cold. Others travel in summer.

flights from east/ central hubs are much more expensive because of limited seats and peop,e plan this much earlier 8n the vacation planning.


the low costs IS NOT the case for west coast cities. It has to do with the hub/spokesystrm.

an airline like American will do directs from Chicago and dallas and Phoenix which feeds east coast travelers. Offering direct flights from other west coast cities aren’t part of normal booking.

an airline like southwest routes it’s east/ central PAX throughphoenix , vegas, or Oakland routes but offer direct flights from San Jose, LA area airports, San Diego an other citues that aren’t part of their routing system. PAX need to book these in separate tickets. Price reflects volume of tickets sold.


prices of places depend on the island you go to.

Price wise it’s really not all that much different than trips to popular national parks that are not near big cities like Yellowstone or glacier. Park lodging is expensive and outside the park lodging given the short travel season you will find hoteks easily over $300 per night.