GETTING MARRIED IN HAWAII IS GETTING EXPENSIVE
Well, that’s not an honest title. Scratch that! Take Two!
Vacationing in Hawaii IS expensive!
I’ve been writing these articles about the cost of vacationing and getting married in Hawaii, for the last three years, and I’m sorry to report to you that the situation is still dire. While wedding prices have not gone up, the price of everything else – has. It’s an election year, and the narrative coming from the White House is that the economy is strong and inflation is under control. It’s a lie. At least from what I can see, and from what my pocketbook tells me, not to mention, what by clients report. If our economy were strong, prices would start to come down due to price wars.
Why is everything still expensive?
Well, let’s be blunt. It’s politics. And it’s the fault of the Democrat party.
When President Biden took office, he immediately reversed every executive order President Trump signed into law. Subsequently, drilling and exploring for oil on American soil became nearly impossible. Biden also canceled the XL pipeline. Upon completion, this pipeline would take oil created in Canada through the states, to the Gulf of Mexico, where it would then be transported via barge to Europe and Africa. These two actions gave the power of the price of oil back to OPEC oligarchs and Russia. The prices of gas began to rise immediately after Biden took office, and since EVERYTHING touches oil, the cost of doing business went up as well.
But it wasn’t all of Biden’s fault. Local Democrats fell into line and started enacting other left-leaning policies.
Here in Hawaii, our government embraced green energy policies. We spent money on a $12 billion electric rail that no one used and that we couldn’t afford. Our local politicians then ignored our aging oil generators, which were older than our State, and focused our energy production on solar and wind, both of which are becoming failing investments. That raised our energy prices even higher. Consequently -households, on average, have electricity bills of $500 plus. And, made our energy grid here on Oahu incredibly unstable. The Democrats here, like all Democrats, are just looking to tax, regulate, tax, regulate, and tax more – because apparently, they know better than all of us.
They tacked on a “Hawaii Transient Accommodations Tax” of 10.25%. The revenues of this tax are supposed to help market Hawaii, but that doesn’t happen. Then there’s the “Oahu Transient Accomation’s Tax,” of 3% which is another tax added to vacationers for who knows what. And on top of that, you’ll pay a 4.75% tax. Now, here’s the kicker. With every tax, there’s a subtotal, and that new total gets taxed. And then you get a new subtotal, and that’s taxed. So each tax – actually taxes tax. So you won’t just end up paying a total of 19.75% of taxes, you’ll probably end up paying 25% more!
Where is all of this money going? Well, our politicians did give themselves a 60% pay raise. They surely are not spending money on our roads, government buildings, or getting the homeless off the streets. They did spend money trying to sue Trump a while back, though. And they are trying to kick them off the ballot here as well. See what I mean by trying to be in the Democrat Cool Kids club?
Oh, what else are they doing now? A lot of State Parks that were free to use. Well, they want to charge tourists to use them – because of – you guessed it – Climate Change.
It won’t surprise me if local Democrats start pushing for $20 minimum wage. They already raised it a year earlier, which resulted in a handful of restaurants going under. Outback and Buca De Beppo said they are closing due to the high operating cost in Hawaii.
Sticker shock from most of my brides
Just a few weeks ago, a client of mine who’s having their wedding later this year, finally booked their hotel. They paid close to $7000 for a week-long stay. It was around $600 a night. Then, with taxes and the car rental, it came out to a whopping 7k. And this wasn’t for an oceanfront suit. This was a mountain view regular room.
Why did this happen?
The hotels just settled a strike with their unions (who the politicians back). Consequently, the hotel’s operating costs shot up, and vacationers were stuck with the bill. It didn’t help that our politicians destroyed the vacation rental industry, with pressure from the hotel lobby/donor class. Less competition from the vacation rentals meant hotels could jack up their prices.
Pre-COVID, hotel rooms in Waikiki were only $150 a night. Now, they’re close to $600 a night.
So, what’s the solution?
If possible, book a vacation rental that is considered “grandfathered” so it is unaffected by the instead of 3-month vacation rental booking law. Yes, vacation rentals that are not “grandfathered” or not in the resort area, can only take accept 3-month long reservations. It’s unconstitutional and communist, in my opinion. After all, that vacation rental is private property. How can the government tell you who you could rent your property to, and how long? Anyway, back to business. My favorite vacation rentals are the ones available on Team Real Estate’s Website. For one week, you can book a 2 bedroom 2 bath A-frame house on the ocean for $630 (w/o taxes). Here’s the kicker. It sleeps eight, so this bill can be split. Per person, it’s $78.75 per night. Per couple, it’s $157.50 per night.
Do I think things will get better? Only if this dude gets into office
Honestly, even if Trump gets elected and our gas prices go down, our local government will still continue to tax and regulate us to death here. Unless we can get smart politicians in our local government, who are moral and creative, paradise will continue to be affordable to only the wealthy. Trump’s win will definitely bring the cost of oil down, but things here in Hawaii will still be expensive with the Democrats in power. I can only pray that his policies make us all richer to overcome liberal policies that continue to make Hawaii unaffordable – for everyone. If you’re richer, you can say, “$600 a night is a drop in the bucket.”
Steve Young
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