Bargain-Basement Hawaii Deals

If you can scrape up the cash and a free week or two before May 19, you can get a fantastic deal on a trip to Hawaii.

It’s possible, right now, to book round-trip air to Hawaii from the East Coast for under $500, all taxes and fees included. From Bradley International, fares are as low as $460 right now.

You can book a room with a balcony at the budget favorite Ambassador Hotel in Waikiki (close to my fave restaurant: Keo’s) for about $100 a night, including taxes, or at the Maile Sky Court, a massive budget hotel tower, for about $85. Or take a crack at Priceline and see if you can do even better.

I don’t know if this fare sale will be extended beyond May 19, or how low hotel prices will stay once the kiddies get out of school. I wouldn’t expect things to get cheaper, but the travel business is tanking so dramatically that it’s hard to make predictions.

But I can guarantee that Hawaii is gorgeous, year round. This includes the vibrant city of Honolulu and its happening, man-made beach at Waikiki. And it doesn’t have to be expensive, especially now. A McDonald’s hamburger under the palms can be bliss.

Too Broke To Travel Or Too Busy?

Citing a survey by Forrester Research, The New York Times reports that “47 percent of people who use the Internet say they think they will cut their travel spending in the next 12 months because of their personal financial situations.”

This comes at a time when air fares and hotel rates are plunging, the Times points out, and the newly unemployed have the time to travel. A recent article in the Los Angeles Times treated that very subject at length, describing the travel industry’s attempts to market to unemployed and furloughed workers.

This has always been my conundrum. The available time and the available money do not seem to be properly synchronized.