make a prediction! (Honolulu: budget, hotels, travel)

[PalmSpringsDan]

Aloha....I need your predictions. My wife and I are going to be on Oahu and Maui in later November of this year (yaay!). Anyway, do we:

1. book now, anticipating rates to go up further as the cost of everything rises and hotels, in turn, raise rates to compensate

or

2. Wait....let the hotels realize the economy is so bad they need to lower rates to lure travelers in and fill vacancies.

What do you guys predict? Rates will go up, or go down???

Mahalo!

[HankDfrmSD]

Originally Posted by PalmSpringsDan

Aloha....I need your predictions. My wife and I are going to be on Oahu and Maui in later November of this year (yaay!). Anyway, do we:

1. book now, anticipating rates to go up further as the cost of everything rises and hotels, in turn, raise rates to compensate

or

2. Wait....let the hotels realize the economy is so bad they need to lower rates to lure travelers in and fill vacancies.

What do you guys predict? Rates will go up, or go down???

Mahalo!

I would wait. November is "Low Season" in Hawaii (except for Thanksgiving weekend), and this year may be even lower than usual.

I just flew back from Honolulu to San Diego, and spent the last few weeks watching air fares on Hawaiian Airlines' web site. The prices dipped as the date(s) I might travel grew closer, and seemed to bottom out about a week in advance.

Hank

[PalmSpringsDan]

hey Hank......nice to hear they may actually come down.....I thought Nov. was low season, but expedia hotel prices and other such sites are still pretty high.....but thanks!

[Mar0]

I know at my hotel we don't input lower prices into our system until we have a more accurate representation of what our occupancy will be. Generally, because Nov is the low season, you will find cheap rates. But, you will probably find cheaper rates in Sept or Oct, than you will now. We gotta draw the tourists in to meet our budget!

[Mar0]

Oh and Maui and Oahu are especially being hit by the down-turn in tourism, so they will be trying harder to get guests into the door, rather than to charge them for a higher rate, if that makes sense.