I’ll admit it. I’m stumped. I have never seen so many insane prices for airfare and hotels in the 29 years that I have been in this industry. There is no getting around it. PRICES are high and we honestly don’t see them coming down in price anytime soon.
My Vacation Lady has 2 Facebook groups and 2 Instragram pages (@myvacationlady and @HawaiiHoneymoonsandVacationsTipsand Trips) and we get a good number of requests from both.
Sometimes, we’ll get a request for 2 weeks in resorts in Hawaii with air from Charlotte for $5000 and sometimes we’ll get requests for a luxury honeymoon for $20,000 in Maui and Kauai for August. I may have to advise both sets of honeymooners that it may not be possible.
A request came from our Hawaii Facebook Group for a honeymoon in June 2023 for 8-10 nites in 2 islands for a total of $5000. The Bride gave me the airports that she could travel from (Charlotte and surrounding airports) and with a fast look, I told her that airfare alone was between $1200 and $1500 each.
Her response was- other people told me that it may be cheaper to fly from airports other than Charlotte. YES, that’s true but HOW are you getting to the other airport?
A fast google search can tell you the cost of airfare. I’m not making it up. The airlines decide the cost and if you don’t want to pay for it, they’ll sell those seats to someone else.
I checked June 5-13, 2023 and United was coming in the least for the round trip flights from Charlotte to Honolulu- $1109. Delta was coming in at almost $1500.
I checked the same dates from Seattle into Honolulu. NONSTOP flights were pricing between $518-950. That’s a huge difference in the cost of the flights. BUT first you need to be able to get to Seattle. Similar for other west coast airport. Guess what, the air is still going to cost you the same $1200-1500 each when you get to the west coast airport.
For couple #2, I checked their desired resort in Maui for 7 nites in August. A mountain side room (that overlooks a lovely landscaped parking garage) was $11765.18, including taxes. That is more than 1/2 of their honeymoon budget without the 2nd island accommodations, the 2 cars, inter-island airfare or any activities. Can I get them a luxury honeymoon in their budget? 100% but we may need to switch hotels or reduce the # of nites they want to stay in each island.
BUT I can get you 4 nites at the Hyatt Regency Aruba for 2 adults and 2 kids with breakfast for 2 and a $100 resort credit in late April for just over $3000.
It’s been an insane year and we expect the craziness to last a bit longer.
My Vacation Lady is a top rated honeymoon and vacation planner according to Wedding Wire, the Knot and a couple of other consumer facing review sites.
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