Why Are Hotels in Hawaii So Expensive? (And Clever Ways to Save)
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Hotels in Hawaii have always been expensive, but in 2022, the sticker shock is real. In early 2021 as the island was opening its doors to travelers again, hotel deals could still be had. But now it seems like there are no deals to be found anywhere and that hotel stay is going to take a serious bite out of your vacation budget.
All four of the major Hawaiian islands make the top 10 list for most expensive average daily rate for hotel rooms in sand and sea destinations around the world. French Polynesia and the Maldives are the only two locations that have more expensive average daily hotel room rates than Maui.
Why are hotels so expensive in Hawaii right now? And how can you make sure you get the most value for your vacation dollars? I’m going to help you make sense of it all so you can plan your trip confidently.
Why are Hotels in Hawaii so Expensive?
Demand is up. Way up.
Demand for hotels in Hawaii was pretty terrible in 2020 and slightly less terrible in 2021. But now that all travel restrictions have been lifted and people feel comfortable traveling again, demand for hotels have seen a huge surge.
According to the Hawaii Tourism Authority, in April 2022, room demand was up 58% vs April 2021. So hotels are adjusting their prices accordingly. The average daily rate on luxury hotels was up 18% and 14.5% for midscale and economy rooms.
Airlines have also been offering bargain basement deals for flights from the mainland to Hawaii, which is helping to drive demand for vacations and is bringing more people to the islands who are in need of a hotel room.
Fees add to the total
Resort fees and parking are an often overlooked fee that can add substantially to the bottom line of your bill, especially if you’re looking at one of the luxury accommodations. For example, the Grand Wailea on Maui charges a $50 per day resort fee and a $65 per day valet parking fee (self parking is not available). Turtle Bay on Oahu charges $49 – $90 per day for their resort fee and $35 per day for parking. So at some of the luxury hotels, you’re looking at over $100 per night just in fees!
These fees are usually on top of the published room rate that you see when browning for a hotel room. Before booking, it’s a good idea to make sure you know how much your total will be.
Our things-to-do lists for the islands include a lot of free and low-cost options to keep you entertained.
- 21 Things to Do on the Big Island
- 68 Things to Do on Maui with Kids
- 21 Best Things to Do on Lanai
- 10 Free Things to Do on North Shore Oahu
How We Save and Splurge on Hawaii Hotels
Traveling around Hawaii is our job, and it’s expensive. We are lucky to occasionally have discounts available to us as Hawaii state residents or through hotel media rates (though the latter is extremely rare for us). So we are always looking for ways to maximize our travel dollars.
Here are some of the ways we are able to save during our vacation, or strategies we plan to take in the future.
If you’re looking for ways to save on guided tours on Maui, see our Maui coupon codes on our favorite Maui tours and activities.
Travel in the shoulder season
This is our biggest tip to anyone who has flexibility in their travel schedule. Traveling during less popular times is such a huge help in getting better prices for accommodations as well as getting restaurant reservations and activity reservations more easily. We try to do a majority of our island-hopping September – November and April – May.
This year, we were trying to make a trip to Kauai in June. We got started a little late on our travel planning and were shocked to find that not only were prices through the roof, most hotels we were trying to book didn’t have availability. We pivoted and were heading there this fall for much less than we were going to spend in June.
Shoulder season prices are just one of the many reasons we love traveling in October.
Check prices right before traveling
While we try to plan as far ahead as possible, we rarely lock ourselves into a prepaid, non-refundable hotel room. With two kids and juggling different ideas for filming on trips, we like to keep things flexible. And we’ve been pleasantly surprised with cheaper hotel rates right before traveling. Last minute price decreases aren’t incredibly common, but they do happen.
A few days before a trip, I do a quick check to see if I can find any better deals. Sometimes I’m able to find a deal on Hotwire for the same hotel we’ve already booked. Other times, an alternative hotel nearby will pop up with great last-minute pricing.
Reward member pricing
This is an easy way to save a little. We reward members with a number of different hotel chains. These programs are free to join and come with little perks (like free wifi or late checkout) plus you can earn points towards future free nights. But the most helpful, instant benefit I’ve seen is discounts for rewards members. I’m usually able to find 5%-10% discounts on room rates, but I’ve heard of other rewards members receiving up to 30% discounts on their room.
We end up staying at Marriott properties quite frequently as we can usually get at least a 5% discount through the free Marriott Bonvoy program. And when hotels are as expensive as they are out here, ever little discount helps.
Take advantage of multi-night stays
We rarely take two or three night trips — we’re generally traveling for a longer period, like most people visiting Hawaii. So one of the first things I do when checking hotel pricing is to head to the offers page and see if the hotel is offering any discounts for extended stays. Often, hotels will have promotions where you stay for four nights and get the fifth night free (or some variation of that).
For example, the Fairmont Orchid on the Big Island is offering a fifth night free.
And many hotels are currently offering extended stay discounts through the Malama Hawai’i program. Participate in a dedicated volunteer opportunity and receive a discount on your hotel stay. Not only will you feel good about giving back, it will enrich your vacation experience. There are a lot of opportunities that are actually really interesting, like restoring a fishpond.
Split time between hotel and vacation rental
If we’re taking a long trip, we switch up the accommodations. While we used to be firmly in the “I love vacation rentals” camp, since having kids we’ve really seen the beauty of both picking a hotel and picking a vacation rental.
With a hotel, things are easy. We step out of the door and have grounds that we can quietly explore early in the morning and a pool that our son can spend hours in. We can easily head back for nap time and most everything we need is at our fingertips (though we do pay a price premium). Staying at a hotel feels like a vacation for us parents, too.
Vacation rentals offer us more space, a glorious (and much needed) kitchen, and they usually have much better pricing.
If we’re traveling for a week or more, we usually book a mix of hotel stays with a vacation rental booking. For example, we’re heading to Oahu for two weeks. Our first few days and our last few days are at a hotel with an eight night stay at a vacation rental in the middle of the trip. On previous trips we’ve stayed our first week at a vacation rental and then enjoyed our last few nights at a hotel. When we adopt this strategy, we plan to go out on daily adventures more while staying at the vacation rental and then do more mellow pool and beach days while staying at the hotel.
Not only do we get to see more (and provide more reviews for you!), but we also get to save. The nightly cost of our vacation rental is less than half of what we’re spending per night at the hotels.
Trying to decide your vacation vibe? We help you choose between a hotel and vacation rental.
Use credit card rewards wisely
We have mentioned before that 2022 is the year of us finally learning how to maximize our travel rewards. Part of that includes using credit card promotions to our advantage. But as airline prices took a dive and hotel costs soared, we realized that we needed to use our points to book stays around the island.
(Note: it’s important to say that credit cards can be damaging if not used correctly. They can lead to a cycle of debt and large interest payments.)
We aren’t credit card point experts but we’ve been learning from our friend Zac at Travel Freely. He’s published two guides that we’ve found very useful:
We’ve been using a combination of Chase Ultimate Rewards Points and Marriott Bonvoy Points to help us splurge on some luxury hotels. Right now we’re saving up our points for a trip to the Big Island and we’re planning to spend a week at a VRBO in Kona Coffee Country followed by a few nights at the Mauna Kea Hotel, where we can use some Marriott Bonvoy Points we’ve been working hard to accumulate.
If you’re headed to Hawaii, you won’t want to miss our in-depth island guides: