Anyone have any insight into when Hawaii will reopen?

They just had another record set yesterday in daily new cases and the internal polling on the island indicates that 2/3 want to shut it all back down.

My wife and I rescheduled our April "wedding" to November because of the lockdowns (vendors didn't have the $ to refund our deposits anyways) but now I think it's unlikely that the islands will be back to normal by 11/17.

Any insight into upcoming announcements? I'm trying to get the wife onboard with canceling all together but she's heartbroken (as am I). I think I have to pull the rip cord before the next shutdown is announced or everyone else will be asking for refunds.

Thx fam

Stinks, but I've got a relative who lived there for a while and they are not optimistic about their window to get back at all this fall.

Next year, forget about 2020.

Daughter and SIL live in Honolulu. They say the restrictions keep getting extended, and may be tightened further.

Same in agreement. I'd head to the Florida panhandle or something. Or maybe wait until 2021

Hawaii's plan was bound to fail. Too much uncertainty for me to book there any time soon.

Austintm said:

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Daughter and SIL live in Honolulu. They say the restrictions keep getting extended, and may be tightened further.

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Talked to her late yesterday. Yesterday they re-imposed restrictions closing beaches and parks, and requiring quarantine even for locals for inter-island travel, at least through the end of the month. They are still "hoping" to open the islands for tourism 9/1

Bluecat_Aggie94 said:

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Hawaii OUGHT to be talked about more. They shut the place down, they have about as strict regulations as anyone, and they have a lot of advantages that... IF containment was going to work, ought to have worked.

And yet their cases are going up. It's a virus, it is going to run its course.


STOP THE SHUTDOWN MADNESS, UNLOCK THE ROCK.

Open the economy
Protect the vulnerable
Isolate the sick

EVERYWHERE

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Before you think I'm an anti-reopening guy, I'm not.

That said, the spike in Hawaii has been attributed (again, per my daughter who lives there) from large groups (families, friends) congregating at the beaches. It's pretty common for the locals to hit the beaches on the weekends, and you'll particularly see the beaches that have parks nearby full with tents set up for grilling and picnics -- it looks like a big tailgate. It's spreading because it's there to begin with, and people aren't wearing masks and distancing.

What's ironic is that they are following people from the airports and making sure they quarantine, but it's the locals that are spreading it.

yukmonkey said:

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You mean people acting like human ****ing beings?

Isolating the island forever was never going to be the solution and all it has done is kill the economy. If I'm a local, I am livid with my government.

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Hmm. I'm going to go with what my daughter is telling me, who has lived there for a few years, and the pretty substantial amount of time I have spent there, as opposed getting advice from someone that I'm guessing has never been. Oahu in general, and Honolulu in particular, is a pretty crowded place. The reason they are trying to isolate somewhat is the same reason they are very strict about trying to keep invasive species of plants and animals off the islands they're small and it's easy for [whatever] to spread.

I'm not suggesting not living life. I'm suggesting that the locals in Hawaii aren't being smart about how to live life and are creating their own problems, which is preventing a wider reopening. Other islands (Aruba, for example) have figured things out and have reopened for tourism. You can get out and do plenty without sticking your face in someone else's for hours at a time.

And, yes, I am a life long Republican. So if you want to go tailgate with hundreds of people you don't know, go for it. But it's not your place to decide what another group wants, or needs, to do.

We just canceled last night.

Going to be hard to get money back from our vendors. Even the return of the "refundable" portions of the deposits seem dubious at best.

Our on island wedding coordinator was actually trying to pitch us on having our contract "transfered" to someone else who is having a wedding next year. That other couple would literally pay us for our contract. Seems like a terrible idea and a worse strategy for everyone long term. It's the same as the contractor taking your money to finish the neighbors house - eventually that game always crashes and burns.

We are lawyering up and will send letters threatening litigation if they don't refund our FULL deposits. Even the "non-refundable" portions need to come back because no one can execute on their end of the contract.

For example - why is the cake vendor not giving us our $400 back? She hasn't baked the cake or brought ingredients or spent any time thinking about the standard "off the shelf" cake we ordered for delivery in November. She's apparently playing hard ball with other cancellations but that's just not right.

Curious if anyone has experience in fighting with vendors for refunds. I'm thinking a combination of litigation and scorched earth social media ratings will do the trick. There's about $15k in deposits spread across all my vendors... Will use what I can recoop to make a bigger down payment on our first house.

Thanks all for the recommendations

I would think on the legal end your options will be limited to small claims court in Hawaii. Unless your lawyer is working for free or you have huge deposits / prepaid out there, then what you pay the attorney would easily exceed your potential recovery.

Our October 2005 wedding in New Orleans was cancelled. Hotel was easy to refund. Pat OBriens scheduled for the rehearsal dinner tried to play hardball but eventually came around. The photographer at first said no refund but then randomly had a daughter living in Dallas where we rescheduled wedding to and so he fulfilled his contract. The DJ who lost everything in the storm told us to pound sand - and we understood that even if we did not like it.

Point being is that some of the places you are asking for your money back from may be in dire financial straights and simply unable to pay the money back. The baker doesn't put your money in a savings account like a lawyer is required to on a retainer, they use that cash in their business. When COVID hit, your deposit was at risk. It sucks and it's not right, but it's reality.

FYI, I'm a Hilton Grand Vacations owner and HGV just announced their properties on Oahu and the big island opening back up on the 6th