Hawaii does not have a sales tax. Rather, it has a "general excise tax" of 4% statewide (4.5% in Oahu county). This tax applies to goods & services of almost all kinds. Technically speaking, a sales tax is collected from consumers, whereas an excise tax is collected from a business generating the revenue. Using this reasoning, ALL transactions are taxed, including sales to nonprofits, sales out of state, and wholesale/resale transactions (though resale transactions are taxed at a lower rate).

The law allows this tax to be passed on to consumers, on almost all receipts you will see 4% added to the bottom line.

Bottom line, yes, you are charged tax on a service charge.

Sneaky, deceptive, and inappropriate in my humble opinion...but at least it's 4% and not 9.75% like city of LA!

Looking to go back to the big Island later this month and again in May. These will primarily be mileage runs and 1-2 night getaways.

I'd like to try other properties to compare them to FS Hualalai.

I see that Fairmont Orchid, Mauna Kea, and Mauna Lani are all Virtuoso properties. Any specific recommendations among these 3? Any full trip reports, besides Obscure2K's excellent one on Mauna Kea?

Just a note that the report I posted for the Mauna Kea was October, 2009. We were there again three weeks ago. I am just dazzled by this property. As I stated earlier, I love a beautiful beach and prefer ocean swimming to pool swimming, which is one reason to love this hotel. During our most recent stay we were awakened early (6:00AM) by an announcement over the PA system that there was a tsunami warning. All guests were told to meet in the lobby by 7:30AM where we would be taken to higher ground. We were told to only bring necessary items; not baggage. All guests & staff were transported via school bus to the MKB maintenance facility, on the other side of the highway and up to 1500' above sea level. We were amazed when we arrived at our evacuation station to see a lavish breakfast buffet all set up...tables and chairs and TV sets all in place. There was a sound system so that the manager could make announcements and there was also entertainment. The staff distributed sunscreen.^
There were clean toilet facilities.
Around noon, the chefs set up for lunch. They grilled burgers, hot dogs. There were many varieties of cold cuts, salads and amazing desserts, along with soft drinks, fruit and juice.
Thankfully, there was no tsunami. Seeing the way the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel handled this potential crisis was awesome. They even brought in beds in the event we had to stay overnight. We were at the site for 7 hours. When we returned to the hotel the manager apologized for our rooms not having been made up (all of the housekeepers were along with us). He said that if we wanted our rooms made up and fresh towels they would be happy to accommodate us.
Just another reason to love this hotel.

Obscure - thanks, that is excellent information!

Do you book via Virtuoso or AMEX FHR? If so, what has your upgrade experience been?

obscure2k, while 1.5 hours seems like quite an advanced warning, now i know how to judge other hotels' evacuation plans. ^

The tsunami was scheduled to arrive at 11:00. I don't know how other hotels handled the evacuation (except for The Prince. Same ownership and their guests and MKB guests were together. I was told by someone that the Hilton Waikoloa moved their guests to upper floors. Someone I talked to at the Kona airport said she was evacuated to a Walmart.

I booked directly with the hotel. I got exactly the room I requested and there was a bottle of champagne in the room welcoming us back.

One of the resorts I think has the most potential for being developed or renovated into a stunning Hawaiian property is Kona Village, neighboring FS Hualalai.

I was told by the Hualalai development office that the Kona Village resort was owned in part by Michael Dell but that the land was owned by the Bishop Estate, and that the Bishop estate trustees were currently considering three different development/renovation proposals. I can only imagine what the proposals are, perhaps complete rennovation of the property, turning it into a residence club (several guests spend months there), or rebranding it under a different flag.

See Wikipedia's entry for a very interesting brief account of the charitable estate, the largest in American historyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamehameha_Schools) for a more indepth account read Broken Trust by Samuel King and Randall Roth.

Frankly, I have to say that we really enjoy walking over to the Kona Village and enjoyed, discovering the petroglith area toward the back of the resort. In many respects, I hope that they leave Kona Village as is, guests seem to love it there and the grounds are really lovely.

Very impressive, this is really how one would hope that things are done.

Mktozd, I agree. I hope they keep much of it unchanged. We also love walking over to see the petrogliths (protected from construction) and the ocean front area on which Kona village sits but the resort itself isn't very appealing to me. The hales (rooms) aren't maintained to a standard I expect for 800.00 a night and the service, though friendly, isn't polished. The food is plentiful at the buffets but doesn't vary and again, the service level isn't high. I can see owners putting money into this development in such a way that it preserves the natural beauty, increases the pride of the employees, as well as increases the comfort and service levels of the guests.

dell has apparently killed KV (see recent reports here)

private residence club / fractional = weeks or about a month, rather than months

they should do an FS tented camp

YES!

Can you send link for Kona Village, it does not come through? My hope is that somehow, they go more the route the Goodmorning2U suggests

http://www.konavillage.com/