Traveling to the Aloha State 2025 – 2026

From October 2021 through March 2025, the cost of visiting Hawaii rose to unconscionable heights. These exceedingly high rates, emanating from Hawaii’s hotels—especially on the neighbor islands (Kauai, Maui & The Big Island)—have led the way, but vacation rentals, vehicle rentals, and the cost of food & dining have been problematic as well. Increases in taxes, fees and surcharges have also made the Hawaii travel scenario more intolerable.

While neighbor island hotel rates continue to be off-the-charts, the good news is vacation rental and vehicle pricing has been softening since March 2025. Air to and from the islands continues to fluctuate with the marketplace and there are some good deals to be had, according to the outbound airport. Food & dining remains very expensive and demands some behavior modification. Most Hawaii golf courses have raised rates, but our participating Big Island & Insider recommended courses continue to be very good values.

 

Getting to Hawaii by AIR

There is only one viable way to get to and from Hawaii—air. Recalls on Airbus A321 aircraft, inspection issues on Boeing 737 Max aircraft, and extensive route cancellations by most carriers, especially Hawaiian, Alaska and Southwest, have created a “lift” issue that has been further complicated by the west Maui fire and the overall diminishing demand since March 2024. So, what we are seeing are very reasonable fares from cities with non-stop flights (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle, Las Vegas, as well as Portland, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Sacramento and San Jose—from where fares can be fairly aggressive at certain times). Other locations appear to be no bargain (due to the higher cost of connecting flights), but not necessarily through the roof.

 

HOTELS on The Big Island, Maui & Kauai

Nothing much has changed in terms of resort hotels on these neighbor islands since late 2001. Sure, the lowest end rooms (Garden View and such), have dropped a bit from the lofty heights of Dec. 2021 through Mar. 2024, but—upon information and belief—the resort hotels have employed a strategy of inflating the ADR (“average daily rate”) to extremely high levels to intentionally reduce occupancy. This serves two purposes: (1) The post-pandemic labor force on these islands is not large enough to accommodate extremely high occupancies of 80-100%. Accordingly, higher room rates mean fewer guests and far less staff. (2) Hoteliers love the more well-healed guest and are not really interested in riff-raff like me. I am not ashamed to admit that I cannot afford to spend $800+ per-night (or more) for a hotel room. Resort hoteliers fail to realize that these strategies also chase visitors from Hawaii (many of whom are not likely to be interested in the future), while at the same time inviting potential guests to explore other competing destinations that could end up being the new frequently patronized destination.

 

The much better LODGING ALTERNATIVE on Hawaii

Vacation rentals have proliferated on the neighbor islands because they deliver a far better lodging option—way more space, multiple baths, gourmet kitchens, washer/dryer and much, much more. Even more importantly, far less cost and no gratuities, no parking fees, and generally no resort/amenity fees. The savings are spectacular, as are the units HawaiiGolfDeals can direct you to. The only con is that condo and villa complexes do not generally have the oceanfront real estate the resort hotels command. However, you are playing golf or going to the beach most days, so why pay for ocean view or oceanfront hotel rooms at two to three times the cost? This is tantamount to booking interior rooms on a cruise ship. If you intend to be out and about and the accommodation is basically for sleeping and grooming, why pay for a view that is available for free when outside the room?

One of the frequent comments we used to get (not so much anymore), is: “Why do we need a kitchen? We don’t want to cook on our vacation.” Well… that’s a great point, but what about breakfast, lunch, snacks and beverages? You can save a fortune in Hawaii by limiting dining out for dinner and use the kitchen for these other occasions, including bringing in takeout a few times and enjoying it on the spacious lanai or watching a movie.

 

VEHICLE RENTALS in Hawaii

Vehicle rentals have been trending down since April 2023, which is good news. When you subscribe to our Big Island GolfHawaiiCard program, or Insider’s Guides (Maui/Kauai/Oahu), we explain how to get our industry-leading Wheel Deals. If you receive a vacation package quote through HawaiiGolfDeals, vehicles are included at industry leading rates that you’ll be hard-pressed to duplicate.

 

GOLF in Hawaii

Most Hawaii golf courses, especially on The Big Island (The Golf Capital of Hawaii), have only nominally increased the cost, especially in our Big Island GolfHawaiiCard program. Just peruse the golf pages of our website and you’ll be thrilled with we have to offer. Be aware that we only offer a GolfHawaiiCard program on The Big Island of Hawaii. On Maui, Kauai and Oahu, we offer our exclusive Insider Guides. We strongly recommend visiting The Big Island if you want wall-to-wall golf, outstanding golf courses, and incredible value. The other islands cannot compete with The Big Island and your golf experience will not be nearly as good from the standpoint of course quality, rates, travel time to and from the course, and the weather.

Issues with Golf in Hawaii

Golf is of no issue in terms of availability or price, since you will be using our exclusive Big Island GolfHawaiiCard and Insider Recommendations for pay-as-you-go golf, but how much golf you intend to play is key to help us create a perfect golf adventure package.

It is important to note that golf courses generally aerate tees & greens (and sometimes fairways) from the last week of April thru the 3rd week of May, as well as the last week of August thru the 3rd week of September. This does not mean you cannot play, and they don’t all aerate at the same time. Rules for sanded greens allow you to pick-up after two putts. The good news during those two periods is that it is low season on air, lodging & vehicles in terms of pricing and availability.

 

What to expect in the near future concerning Hawaii Golf

Since April 2024, Hawaii is suffering a dearth of visitors that is unparalleled during the past 40 years. We have been forecasting this downturn since mid-2022 and it is here in all its unfortunate manifestations. But this is not necessarily bad for golfers looking to take their game to stunning golfscapes in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Vacation rentals are the perfect substitute for resort hotels, vehicle prices are down, and golf—especially on The Big Island—is still a terrific value. HawaiiGolfDeals knows how to get it done and match your needs and budget. Even the well-healed enjoy value.

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PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

So, what will work best for your proposed Hawaii golf adventure?

If you want the best deals avoid Dec. 15 through Mar. 15, although this upcoming period offers more availability and slightly better pricing than the past several years.

How we do it

We are often able to find hotels and some vacation rentals through our wholesalers, but we can also lock-in units shown on the online behemoths for less than what you will find on those sites due to our ability to go directly to the source to save you hundreds of dollars. Similarly, we have the best Wheel Deals in the Hawaii vehicle rental universe. It is virtually impossible to beat our package recommendations.

If we work outside of our wholesale avenues, we do charge a service fee, which is always covered by what we save you. Our expertise, from more than three decades of delivering golf visitors to Hawaii and only Hawaii, is unquantifiable.

How can we save you the most on a Hawaii Golf Adventure?

1. Can you visit Hawaii between now and Dec. 15 or Mar. 15 thru Dec. 15?
2. What is your spending tolerance? Moderate ($$) • Deluxe ($$$) • Premium ($$$$) • Luxury ($$$$$)
3. Do you have any available air miles (or points) and can you use them on flights exactly when you want to travel? Now is a good time to use those accumulated miles.
4. For air, the best days to fly to Hawaii are generally Mon/Tue/Wed/Sat. The best days to fly out of Hawaii are Tue/Wed/Thu/Sat.
5. Visit The Big Island if golf is your thing.
6. Do you have date flexibility? Let us know your preferred dates as well as the earliest and latest dates you can travel.
7. Visiting for 7 nights is not much more than visiting for 5 nights, and 5 nights is rarely enough time to fully enjoy making the trip to the islands.
8. Have you checked with your vehicle insurance carrier and credit cards as to what alternate insurance coverages you may have for vehicle and overall trip coverage?

 

Closing Notes

If we cannot book you through wholesale avenues due to price or availability, and you are not comfortable with paying us a service fee for scouring the vacation rental market and all that entails, please let us know right away. It is a very time-consuming process. That being said, no one can possibly equal our 30+ years of experience and knowledge of virtually every condo and villa complex in the islands.

Lastly, if you are visiting Oahu, our inventory is almost exclusively hotels. We have wholesale rates for every Oahu hotel, and some condos in Waikiki. Oahu hotels are much more reasonable than the neighbor islands, but resort fees and parking fees can be outrageous. We can help ferret out the best places for you to stay! But The Big Island is really the place to go for great golf, near perfect weather, superb vacation rentals, and an amazing island!

 

How can we get you a great deal?

Fill out our travel application as completely as possible. It only takes five minutes, and you can add a written message near the end. Be sure to let us know your preferred date, flexible dates, category/price tolerance and how much golf you’d like to play. The more you can tell us, the better the visit and the more you’ll save!