Where to stay in Hawaii and how to avoid Hawaiian Islands tourist traps and save over $400 per day.
Book your hotel and rental cars early and stay in Oahu and fly roundtrip daily to the other islands. Book a hotel that allows changes. The price dropped three times when I booked my hotel, and I was able to modify the reservation to a lower rate.
If you are booking any stay in Hawaii, you will realize the grand total to book any type of room on the islands can double with fees. A three-night stay for $600 will usually double to $1200 when you try to book it in Maui, Kauai. If you are just visiting just for sightseeing, you may find staying in Oahu/Honolulu/Waikiki and flying round trip on Hawaiian airlines each day and using a rental car can save you so much money on your trip you can use the extra money saved to travel somewhere else. The island of Oahu has the best prices on everything for the entire state of Hawaii.
Misertravel stayed on Waikiki beach every night and made round trip flights to the other islands and was able to see the entire island of Maui and Kauai by flying to each island early in the morning and returning to Waikiki at night on the last flight. The Hawaiian airlines flights were $40 each way and my hotel in Waikiki was $160 per night with fees. For example, the lowest cost one night stay on Maui was just under $600 per night with all the fees.
You need a rental car. Keep checking the rental car rate you book since the price often drops. Lately, the ‘pay now’ rate on rental cars on third party websites are extremely lower than the actual company. Read the reviews from Google from actual customers that rented cars there. Hawaii has a lot of sand, don’t forget to clean inside your rental car before returning it. It’s a good idea to take a video of the car inside and out when you pick it up. Make sure to fill up the gas tank before returning. Park the rental car at the hotel and don’t leave any valuables in your rental car.
Pack your snacks and drinks and go to the supermarket for additional items on your road trips. Don’t forget any of your travel gear. Everything is a lot more expensive on the islands.