Hawaii Tourism Not Starting Up Until Late Summer

[JoshF]

i don’t think it’s that they aren’t interested in opening up right now. They are subject to local government. I know that Hawaii heavily relies on tourism, but I completely understand their government officials reluctance in opening it up. I have a trip to the Aulani scheduled for the first week in October with points I rented through David’s Vacation Rental. It looks like I won’t know for certain until mid September what will happen with that trip. We aren’t going regardless, but I just hope that I can get a credit if the Aulani is still closed.

I had a September Maui reservation. Today the hotel cancelled it and in an email said they are closed through Oct 24. That's just the Hyatt but other hotels may follow suit.

 

[Sepo]

Generally I favor the hosts when people want to cancel for weather and other “changes of plans” since the host can’t control that and they possibly could’ve rented to someone else during that time. However, yeah, when they can NOT legally rent to anyone during that time, seems to me that’s up to some combination of Airbnb and the host to figure out how to give your money back. What if you just said “damn the quarantine” and showed up at their property? Would they hand you a key? If not, then it seems they should refund your money.

Update: after 6 weeks, perseverance, highlighting PDFs of Hawaiian law and news articles demonstrating the enforced illegality of quarantining in a rental condo, and a little luck with a representative willing to listen... I actually did get a full refund!!

I will plan to stay with that host again so that she can be made whole. Maybe even during an off time that the condo might be empty otherwise. But yes, exactly, it would have been a crime to stay there and the host would have been facing a $5000 fine and jail time. And many neighbors in Hawaii were organizing to report any violators.

 

[cgattis]

Update: after 6 weeks, perseverance, highlighting PDFs of Hawaiian law and news articles demonstrating the enforced illegality of quarantining in a rental condo, and a little luck with a representative willing to listen... I actually did get a full refund!!

I will plan to stay with that host again so that she can be made whole. Maybe even during an off time that the condo might be empty otherwise. But yes, exactly, it would have been a crime to stay there and the host would have been facing a $5000 fine and jail time. And many neighbors in Hawaii were organizing to report any violators.

That’s great news. It also gives me a little reassurance since I’m considering a condo in Maui for a couple of nights (rest at a chain hotel). I generally avoid because of stuff like this. Glad you got taken care of and it’s great you’re going to stay with the same host; I know it’s tough on them.

 

[marshac]

How are point refunds working when you’ve used banked points from a prior use year with no possibility of using them? Out of luck?

 

[linco711]

My daughter lives on Oahu, and I’d love to see her. But she tells me it will be awhile. The Islanders are fine with it. Even if their economy is based on tourism, they prefer things the way they are. By the way, I’m hoping they open soon too.

 

[goterps1986]

How are point refunds working when you’ve used banked points from a prior use year with no possibility of using them? Out of luck?

We saved up our points for a big family Aulani trip using 2018 points and some from 2019. Our use year is June so they were do to expire then. We had it scheduled for May. DVC gave people a 6 month extension so we rescheduled for Oct. Now that’s not going to happen so we stand to lose a LOT of points! That’s what I know right now.

 

[corgi_monster]

That’s great news. It also gives me a little reassurance since I’m considering a condo in Maui for a couple of nights (rest at a chain hotel). I generally avoid because of stuff like this. Glad you got taken care of and it’s great you’re going to stay with the same host; I know it’s tough on them.

All vacation rentals are currently illegal on Oahu, but that's not the case on Maui. Legally permitted rentals are allowed to operate on Maui, but that can change at any time. There's generally a 24-36 hour time period between the time the government issues an ordinance/executive order and the start of enforcement so things are changing on a dime. I just stay home because I can't keep track of what I'm allowed to do anymore. But I guess that's kind of the point lol!

 

[marshac]

We saved up our points for a big family Aulani trip using 2018 points and some from 2019. Our use year is June so they were do to expire then. We had it scheduled for May. DVC gave people a 6 month extension so we rescheduled for Oct. Now that’s not going to happen so we stand to lose a LOT of points! That’s what I know right now.

Sorry to hear that! We’re not in a dissimilar position, although the salt in the wound is that our first DVC trip with our purchased points at Aulani is coming up... I’m hoping we’ll be able to go, but it’s looking grim :/

 

[corgi_monster]

We saved up our points for a big family Aulani trip using 2018 points and some from 2019. Our use year is June so they were do to expire then. We had it scheduled for May. DVC gave people a 6 month extension so we rescheduled for Oct. Now that’s not going to happen so we stand to lose a LOT of points! That’s what I know right now.

Aulani will not be reopening in October. Honolulu is working away from reopening, not towards it.

Oahu is going back to stay-at-home/work-at-home starting Thursday. Retail, sit-down dining, salons, etc will all be closing down. Then we will enter a strict, phased reopening.

Maybe you can sell your pints to recoup some of your money? People have great success selling their DVC points on the DVC rental board. Good luck!

 

[BriarRabbit]

https://www.aier.org/article/lockdo...nsmission-rates-or-deaths-new-study-suggests/

 

[linzjane88]

I logged in to check my bookings for September to find my Jet Blue flight from PDX to LGB was canceled. I never even got any notification! I'm waiting until Thursday to see about rebooking. I figure I have 24 hours to cancel and I am worried if they announce an opening of the park ticket prices will shoot up.
Then again I hate the idea of booking yet another flight that will likely be cancelled. So torn!

When they announced the opening that never happened, how much lead time was there?


Edit: OMG I meant to post this in the DL re-opening thread .(yeah, glutton for punishment. I have pending Disneyland AND Aulani trips I am sweating over cancelling in the next 2 months!)

 

[JM23457]

I'm starting to get pessimistic about our June '21 trip. I wish this hysteria would end.

 

[MightyDuck001]

I’m in the zone of having 184 points lost because I saved them to go to Aulani. I know it’s not anyone’s fault and I’m happy to comply and stay home but I do wish I could just save them to use to go to Aulani in the future given that I love the resort and it’s still not open.
Someone told me to just go to Florida and I might’ve started irrationally crying Florida is NOT Hawaii.

 

[jkips]

There are at least more rapid release tests coming to maker that might - just maybe - enable Hawaii to reopen along the lines that it was initially thinking where they would allow visitors to come to the state without quarantining so long as they had recently tested negative. Abbott is out today saying they are planning to produce 50 million in October alone of their rapid release tests that just got FDA approval. The tests take 15 minutes to provide results and will cost $5. I had all but written off my November trip to Aulani after trying to get the kids tested in California in July but now I’m hoping I was too pessimistic.

 

[goterps1986]

I’m in the zone of having 184 points lost because I saved them to go to Aulani. I know it’s not anyone’s fault and I’m happy to comply and stay home but I do wish I could just save them to use to go to Aulani in the future given that I love the resort and it’s still not open.
Someone told me to just go to Florida and I might’ve started irrationally crying Florida is NOT Hawaii.

I hear ya! We're about to lose over 300. When we moved it from May to Oct when all this started, we never thought we wouldn't make it. And yeah Florida is not Hawaii. We go to FL all the time but this was a graduation trip for our daughter. And then we have another 150 that we have to use by May. So guess we'll at least use those to go to FL.

Also, earlier in this thread (or maybe another one) someone had mentioned you can move the points into RCI that can be used later. So we will do that and try to figure it out later. We've never done RCI but people talk highly of it and its better than just losing all those points! It's probably too late for us to rent them (as corgi monster suggested) but it's another option to look at.

 

[newdeal]

For those of us in Canada going to Florida to use our points isn't even a realistic option. That said, they can't let you just push your points into the future beyond the current rules as that would create a big problem with too many points and too few rooms. What they could do but won't is give some sort of maintenance fee subsidy for points that couldn't be used. We don't have too many that can't be banked till next year but are still hoping for February 2021. The key will be for us whether Canada will still make a mandatory 14 day quarantine after returning or not as I assume Hawaii will be open but possibly not open in a way that would be realistic for us to go

 

[Sepo]

There are at least more rapid release tests coming to maker that might - just maybe - enable Hawaii to reopen along the lines that it was initially thinking where they would allow visitors to come to the state without quarantining so long as they had recently tested negative. Abbott is out today saying they are planning to produce 50 million in October alone of their rapid release tests that just got FDA approval. The tests take 15 minutes to provide results and will cost $5. I had all but written off my November trip to Aulani after trying to get the kids tested in California in July but now I’m hoping I was too pessimistic.

Just make sure it matches Hawaii’s requirements of a NAAT test type. At the moment, the rapids do not suffice that criteria.

Here’s the link for Hawaii’s latest requirements, updated daily. These change all the time:

https://www.gohawaii.com/special-alerts-information

 

[shaunacb]

For those of us in Canada going to Florida to use our points isn't even a realistic option. That said, they can't let you just push your points into the future beyond the current rules as that would create a big problem with too many points and too few rooms. What they could do but won't is give some sort of maintenance fee subsidy for points that couldn't be used. We don't have too many that can't be banked till next year but are still hoping for February 2021. The key will be for us whether Canada will still make a mandatory 14 day quarantine after returning or not as I assume Hawaii will be open but possibly not open in a way that would be realistic for us to go

We are Canadian and in the exact same position with a Feb Aulani booking. Fingers crossed. Can't quarantine for 14 days upon return.

 

[linzjane88]

I’m in the zone of having 184 points lost because I saved them to go to Aulani. I know it’s not anyone’s fault and I’m happy to comply and stay home but I do wish I could just save them to use to go to Aulani in the future given that I love the resort and it’s still not open.
Someone told me to just go to Florida and I might’ve started irrationally crying Florida is NOT Hawaii.

Going to Florida is our backup plan but yeah, it's so not Hawaii . Such a different type of vacation. Definitely no "Aloha" there! Although if the parks are way way less crowded than my last few visits maybe it will be it's own kind of special.
Who knows what will end up happening!

 

[neurosx1983]

Just booked a week at Aulani this Christmas- fingers majorly crossed! Not surprisingly there was wide availability on rooms and villas- with discounts

However flights from NY area are getting booked up already so maybe that’s a good sign for pent up demand