Study of Resort Fees at Hawaii Hotels

According to a study conducted by Travel Hawaii in May 2018, the 111 Hawaii hotels currently charging so-called "Resort Fees" are expected to collect around $385 million in such fees in 2018 from their guests. This is up by $114 million per year from our original study conducted in 2015, when the total was $271 million and there were 102 hotels collecting resort fees. With more Hawaii hotels almost tripping over themselves to implement such fees, and hotels that already have resort fees gradually raising them, this annual number is expected to grow significantly larger every year.
 

 
Another trend is the devaluation of "resort fee value" by the removal of perhaps the most valuable extra provided in some resort fees: free parking. As a result, many hotels having resort fees ALSO charge hefty fees for parking, as detailed in the table further below. For instance, if you choose to stay at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort , and you have a rental car, you'll pay a $37 resort fee per night, and a $40 parking fee per night, for a total of $77 additional per night, plus tax.
 
In the table further below, we list each hotel with a mandatory resort fee, the number of rooms at the hotel, the estimated 2018 occupancy for that hotel (extrapolated from the projected 2018 Hawaii hotel occupancy of 83% and data from the 2016 State of Hawaii Data Book ), the resort fee, parking fee (if present), and the computed total of resort fees each hotel collects in a year. The largest windfall--nearly $37M--goes naturally to the largest Hawaii hotel with a resort fee, the Hilton Hawaiian Village , which has a $40/night resort fee, $43/night parking fee, 2860 rooms, and a projected 2018 occupancy rate of nearly 90%.
 
The burgeoning implementation of resort fees at Hawaii hotels is a recent phenomena. Back in 2007 there were 16 Hawaii hotels, mostly high-end resorts, that charged resort fees. Since then, more and more hotels have implemented such fees, while other hotels have resisted, using the fact that they didn't charge such fees as a positive marketing point. Some Hawaii hotels have maintained their resistance and still don't charge such fees, but many others, at all price points, have recently jumped on the bandwagon.
 
So what do guests get in exchange for paying a resort fee of up to $48/night? We maintain a full list for each hotel here . But in general, you get a lot of things that you would expect to get without paying a special daily fee, like in-room coffee, luggage storage, wake-up call service, in-room safe, pool towels, and use of the fitness center.
 
A resort fee may also provide, or attempt to provide, things you don't really want or need. For example, a resort fee might provide internet connectivity and free phone calls as part of their resort fee. Sounds good at first. But in a society in which nearly everyone carries an always-available internet-connected device, the values of "free domestic and local calls" and even "wireless Internet" are dubious.
 
There's a variety of alternate names for "resort fee" that Hawaii hotels have created, including "amenity fee", "facility fee", "utility fee", "boutique fee", "convenience fee", and "hospitality fee". How can any additional fees really be "hospitable"?
 
So why do Hawaii hotels charge resort fees? It's likely due to the current strength of the Hawaii tourism industry: so many people want to come to Hawaii that even higher rates and resort fees won't dissuade them.
 
There's some other reasons, too. First, the hotels can pretend to have a lower rate then they actually do, thus putting them at a competitive advantage to other hotels that don't have resort fees yet provide the same services for free. Also, the hotels can avoid paying commission to travel agencies and online booking companies on amounts that would normally be part of their room rate, since they are charging the resort fee to guests direct at the hotel.
 
We, at Travel Hawaii, would like resort fees to go away. Such fees may help hotels with their bottom line but we feel it does not represent Hawaii's Spirit of Aloha.
 
On our hotel rate pages, we highlight hotels that do not have resort fees by following each of their rates with an item that says: "Includes: No Resort Fee" . In addition, if a hotel DOES have a resort fee, the resort fee and what it provides are explained in detail in red at the bottom of the rate table. We encourage you to patronize Hawaii hotels that do NOT have resort fees. Here is a list of Hawaii hotels with NO resort fee .